(I think this is why people think we're snobs. :biggrin
You know, I
am a huge snob. Shocker, I know.
Hah!
Ya know, the world is full of contradictions and that's what makes it a fun place. F'rinstance, good equipment and the hodgepodge combination of "I want this because I'm into the best playability and tone" and "I want this because it looks cool/has high status, etc."
High status snob items achieve that cachet because they are very good items to begin with. Then as the word gets out, if they're also a bit more expensive items, they become status symbols of a sort. It's very difficult to separate that sort of thing. I can tell you that I bought my first PRS before it was ever a status symbol and an object of snobbery. Heck, I walked out of the store with one the first time I played it, and had never even heard of a PRS before (this was early in 1991). So was I a snob or simply someone who liked good items with good tone? As it happens, at the time, I got funny looks from people who'd never heard of these guitars and had to explain the whole thing when folks would ask me about it.
I've always been picky about my audio. That's why I started recording my own ideas instead of hiring studios and engineers. That's not snobbery, I think it's good sense.
But when clients came in and saw my recording setup (at the time there was only analog gear and I had 5 racks of it that do less than what's in my computer now), they were also impressed. So there came to be a sort of status around that. And I didn't mind that. I never minded having people be somewhat impressed.
So do you call it snobbery, or do you call it enthusiasm for a way of life, or something else? I think there are just grey areas out there where things kind of become a mashup. That's not a bad thing.
I do want people to think well of me, that's human nature. But at the same time, if my taste in recording or gigging or even practicing equipment turns them off because they somehow contrive the idea that I'm a snob...well, screw 'em.
At the same time, I try to post helpful threads on forums. Is that because I'm the most enlightened teacher of things relating to sound and want to share my thinking with the world, or because I like a little attention? Probably both.
