I don't see him as being a real player. Pete? Of course he's a real player.
This was the video that made me think (rightly or wrongly) "this guy doesn't REALLY know what he's talking about...not compared to a real player like Pete."
If you are looking to Phil to be a ripping player, that is probably not a fair comparison to Pete. Pete plays guitar for a living. Phil is a gear guy that is mainly a bass player. I have seen some pretty decent playing from him in some of his guitar reviews, especially for a person that mainly plays bass.
He knows his way around doing setup and repair work on guitars. He also winds his own pickups and is knowledgeable in that area.
To be really honest, one area that I can compare Pete and Phil in is getting an honest answer about a product from them. Phil is much more willing to give you an honest opinion. Pete will give you a sales pitch. I will give you an example.
I put a post on TGP when I was really digging into compressor pedals recently. I tagged Pete in one replay and asked him for his honest opinion because he had done product review videos for the main three pedals I was looking at. He basically addressed them one at a time and just said they were cool then gave me a recommendation for the latest Suhr compressor pedal that didn't have the level of control on it that I stated I wanted in my original post.
I rephrased my question and made it directly pointed to the three pedals I was asking about and he never answered me. I even told him that I understand endorsement deals and if hey didn't want to answer publicly that he could send me a PM. I don't want to cause him any issues with his endorsements.
The part that kind of ticked me off about the whole thing is he obviously was paid to do a video for each of the pedals I was asking about but wouldn't give me his honest opinion on which one he thought was the best fit for my use case that I posted. That to me says I can't really trust his opinion in his videos anymore. He is just saying the things the manufacturer wants you to hear. Phil would have given me his honest opinion with reasons for why he has that opinion.
I ended up buying all three pedals and have figured out which one fits my need best. All three are great but one had some features that made it get the spot on the board.