New Gibson (modeling?) GTR (FIREBIRD X)

Re: New Gibson modeling GTR (FIREBIRD X)

I don't think it models anything. It just has built in effects. Trust me. You do not want their robot tuning system if reliability is anywhere a requirement for you. I have a Dark Fire. I love the way it sounds but I've gone through 2 and I've had to work on two of my tuners on my current one. If they even get a little out of alignment they flake out. It is not a very good system IMO. Too many things to go wrong.
 
Think you'r right, it doesn't seem to be like the Line 6, or Roland VG modeling, they include software for creating your own presets, but that could be just for effects and tunings, not sure what else it can do; it's too bad they haven't improved the tuners, I assumed by now they would have them working perfectly.. + I think the price is like 5 grand!!! not sure if it will work out for them, with guitars like Line 6's new Tyler coming out..
 
Go to the "media" page and a) watch Henry's presentation; and then b) listen to the sound samples.

Here's what I wrote on TGP after watching Henry's presentation on video and hearing the demonstrator play the guitar at that event on video:

That guitar... is hideous. That's like the chick in high school that, well, 'has a nice personality' except this guitar show here doesn't have anything going for it... including no personality.

The presentation was as awkward and sophomoric as I've ever seen in my 22 years in the corporate world giving and seeing presentations on all sorts of levels. It's like watching a 6th grade parody skit. That's not how you give a new product launch presentation. Henry just isn't a dynamic or charismatic speaker at all, the curtain raised with the guitar hanging there alone and a little display on the stage with an odd wisp of smoke? He even blows the powerpoint by going backwards on a slide. He just reads the slides to boot. I like how he walks into the crowd and there is NO reaction from the crowd to ANY of it. No applause. No yells. Silence. Like death. When he hands the guitar to some poor guy in the crowd, I laughed pretty hard when he said, "Don't break it...." over the live mic.

facepalm.gif

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The whole enterprise is just inane from the concept, to the execution to the presentation.

I am flat baffled at the entire episode. I mean, honest... that's your big announcement? That's a revolution?

Dude, that's just poop.

Meh.

What a pickle the poor magazines are in now. One of their biggest advertisers will want front covers and "Editors Choice" reward puff-piece reviews. I can see the board meeting tomorrow morning about this, glad I am not in that industry. "But we HAVE to!...."

Bwahaha.

Hilarious.

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I thought that I was the only one that was mortified by the presentation itself. I have to mentor instructors on occasion at work and he broke a ton of presentation rules. He definitely would have failed an evaluation by me. Just proves that because you own something doesn't mean that you should be out in public. The only thing that would have been better is if he walked in said "good morning....but I digress" :lol:

As a fan of Gibson guitars I was absolutely embarassed. We pretty much ripped it apart on HC to the chagrin of poor Craig Anderton who was there and posted pictures and clips.

First off the marketing hype was ridiculous. I mean a "revolution"? Seriously? It sounded and looked like they took the leftover warehouse stock of the old Line6 POD1.0's and cobbled them into a guitar. The pickup switching system is pretty clever because it can sound like 13 different types and configurations, but it's hardly revolutionary and to be honest, I think that Line6 or Variax or someone's been doing that for like a decade now.

The smoke coming out from a cinder block? WTF was that about? And they raised the projector to get to it then lowered it back down? Don't they have people to help with coordinating something a bit more dramatic and professional?

But all of that would have been forgiven if it sounded or even looked halfway decent. It looks like pure crap. It's utterly hideous. It sounded worse. There wasn't one tone where I said, well that's nice.

Now let's talk about the function here. How many of us absolutely hate having to step on buttons in order to change patches or tones? Probably none of us. I know that when I am playing the guitar and want to change a sound I would much rather have to use one of my hands to reach around on the guitar to fumble with these little sliders and buttons and crap instead of playing.

If this was a First Act guitar that was selling for $200 I could see a market for it. I'd possibly consider buying one for my son to play with. But no, it's a $5000 guitar "designed for the professional gigging musician"....really? REALLY? Most pro musicians are going to have their own pedals and amps and crap that they use for a gig or session. It was absolutely the worst product announcement I've ever seen.

For $5K I can buy a nice Gibson (proper one), an Axe-FX and an MFC-101 and it would absolutely destroy anything that the Firewood X could ever try to do. But instead they ignore the outcry of the buyers and players that want them to make more of the LP Goldtop's with P90's that sold out in like a day. :roll:

I suppose that if they meant the traditional definition of "starting a revolution" in the sense of an uprising accompanied by violence than they hit the nail on the head. I know that if I had any interest in the business I'd be looking to beat someone.
 
DigitalTube said:
You guys are right, just finished watching the "Presentation" and all I could think was SPINAL TAP... lol
Click to expand...

Yeah, the whole time you're expecting a miniature Stonehenge to come down from above. :lol:


Actually, if anything that might have made an amusing way to present the guitar. Get Nigel Tuffnel to talk about it. Probably wouldn't have been the most informative presentation, but at least it would have been funny in a good way.
 
"It's a revolution!" Nope, sorry, try again.

It's hard to pull off Jobs-ian levels of hyperbole and Harry just didn't do it here. I actually cringed while watching this at several points.

On the positive side, I don't think the Firebird X is as ugly as the reverse V.
 
I split my side watching the NYC Press Event. A boring speaker giving a protracted and completely irrelevant slideshow that never seems to end. I felt sorry for those in attendance. Here was Fred Rogers addressing his preschoolers..."Can you say re-vo-lu-tion? I thought you could." It was like watching an episode of The Office.

I couldn't help but laugh out loud when the screen came up, the lights went wild, music blared, and the anemic puff of lonely smoke wisped its way sideways to an absolutely silent room. How could this guy not be completely embarrased? This was cheesier than any corporate event I've ever played in Vegas. That is saying a lot. Again, The Office.

The Promotional Video might be even worse. It really does look like a 6th grader made it. Completely amateur.

Keep in mind, they are only making 1,800 of these things. I'm sure they will eventually sell them. Lots of people have lots of money that they don't know how to spend. Why this product exists is a mystery to me. I guess it is more of a prototype for future products. And the name of the finish...Redolution. Holy cow!

Some of my favorite moments:
Les Paul electrocuted himself. But then he got better.
This is the eighth version. You wouldn't recognize the first.
Seven CPUs. Pure analog.
2048 pickup coil combinations.
Almost a dozen 6 band parametric eqs with 60 db range.
Bit depth so granular and so intense, it is analog. In fact, even better.
Processing happens literally at the speed of light.

I'm not knocking everything about the guitar, but what a horrible presentation.
 
Another favorite moment was when the battery died.

How can Henry possibly think that thing is a revolution? Even if he isn't the best speaker, if it really were a revolution, you'd think his enthusiasm would have shown through and made the presentation better.

I don't mind the actual guitar shape and so forth. But the knobs are hideous and most of the "revolutionary" stuff I couldn't care less about. And the fact that it is retailing at $5K or whatever is just nuts.
 
I kinda like the look of that funky guitar. Would I play it in a Megadeth Tribute band? Probably not, but I would in many other bands. If it was just a guitar and didn't have all that 'revolutionary' crap in it. Its nice to see companies trying to look to the future and push boundaries. Its just they are lacking execution.

I think he is trying to be Steve Jobs and he failed, miserably. That presentation was painful to watch.
 
Oh man! :oops: Toy guitars 'R'us or wot ? even the chinese would draw the line at building
anything this gross. Thank goodness Les Paul is not around to see what they are doing now
the shame is that trees have to die to make this garbage. :?
 
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