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pablopepper
23-09-2014, 01:03 AM
Has anyone else been following the epic story of TMG guitars over on The Gear Page forum?

I've been reading this for months now and it keeps getting crazier and crazier. More twists and turns than your average soap opera. Tales of faulty products, unfulfilled orders, lies, deceit and marketing gone wild.

For those interested it starts here http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=1387224 But be warned, it is days worth of reading in 5 separate threads.

ponch
23-09-2014, 01:38 PM
Totally bonkers hey. I do hope the new CEO turns it around but $3k for a sportscaster? Nah. Side note, as a bit of a gear geek and someone who was a p&w leader at my old church I got to see a lot of the younger guys come through snappping up gear that the droff plugged on hillsong vids. Yeah some of the stuff sounded great but it's a dangerous thing someone representing an idea to impressionable kids who blindly spend a tonne of cash on stuff that they don't need, and worse of all, funds people using God as a marketing tool. I was under the planetshakers school, one guitar, in ears and a pod hd500.

pablopepper
23-09-2014, 09:33 PM
Personally I was unaware this scene even existed. Last time I was in a church (long time ago) it was all pipe organ, hymns and solemn introspection, now kids are rocking up with 5k+ guitar rigs? What exactly happened that I missed?

bargeloobs
23-09-2014, 09:50 PM
"someone representing an idea to impressionable kids who blindly spend a tonne of cash on stuff that they don't need"

What is marketing?

"people using God as a marketing tool"

What is religion?

pablopepper
23-09-2014, 10:08 PM
^zing.

ponch
23-09-2014, 11:37 PM
Just to clarify, we're talking about paid professional guitarists representing a flawed product from an unethical company to kids who volunteer at church.
Religion using God as a marketing tool is the whole point of religion. Companies using God as a marketing tool, especially in cases like these, cheap as all hell.

pablopepper
24-09-2014, 12:07 AM
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from andrew on September 23, 2014, 08:37
Companies using God as a marketing tool, especially in cases like these, cheap as all hell.

Even as a devout Atheist, I couldn't agree more.

ponch
24-09-2014, 12:17 AM
There is a reason I 'used to' play in church.

BenWA
24-09-2014, 03:13 AM
f***, i skimmed through the whole of the first thread and then found there was another maxed out one. what was the final resolution? did they get their s*** together or what?

ihasmario
24-09-2014, 03:13 AM
I can't chip in on the expensive rigs at church because I may get fired. Suffice it to say that comparatively the stuff in my classroom isn't in the same league.

But this is really similar to something that happened in the American audiophile circle a couple of years ago now. Unfortunately at the end of that, people were out thousands of dollars and the guy disappeared.

:/

pablopepper
24-09-2014, 03:50 AM
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from BenWA on September 23, 2014, 12:13
fuck, i skimmed through the whole of the first thread and then found there was another maxed out one. what was the final resolution? did they get their shit together or what?

New guy has bought the business and is setting about 'making things right', unfortunately his mother decided it would be a good idea to jump on and make up some cock and bull about being a customer who has waited for ages, but she's sure her guitar will show up because they're a great bunch of guys, blah, blah. His credibility is kinda shot now. Let's just say, MANY clients waiting for guitars/pedals are still being dicked about, plenty of talk, but no action.

There are 3 threads that hit the 1000 post limit, one more that got shut down because of Jonathan's mum and the final one that's still going on where the new owner (Jonathan) is trying some sort of damage control. It's a pretty amusing train wreck.

ponch
24-09-2014, 04:06 AM
Agreed. Jonathan hasn't replied for a bit though. If you want to check out the rig most church guitarists aspire to check this out

http://hillsong.com/blogs/collected/2014/august/droffs-guitar-gear-rundown

wokkaboy
24-09-2014, 04:12 AM
BenWA you better clean up your language or Ads may delete or edit your post. Read the guidelines to posting

pablopepper
24-09-2014, 04:25 AM
I have to ask Andrew, because before stumbling onto this topic I had never heard of this Nigel Hendroff fella, what the hell makes him so special? I mean he's pretty good, but he's no guitar god, is it just the insular nature of the Hillsong community?

ponch
24-09-2014, 04:42 AM
A giant portion of the music played in some modern churches is written by hillsong as well as a few others. For the small Baptist church that runs a backing track and an acoustic the gear hs uses doesn't mean Jack. In my case we had two electrics, an acoustic, bass, keys, drums and upwards of 6 singers on stage at any time. It was always drummed into us to learn the songs inside out. The drift uses a lot of delays to get his sound so you're always trying to replicate that. Naturally you delve into what gear he uses eventually. Think of him as the fat controller of hillsongs music. He is the musical director in any case.
Put simply, as much as we do what we do for the house, we are ultimately a covers band, he is the guy with the sounds we mimic, and most other church bands like bethel and ps go the same route. Semi hollow, delay everywhere, stacked overdrives, ac30.

ponch
24-09-2014, 04:45 AM
Also if we try to play the songs as close to the original, dotted 8ths, sparkle drive, single coils with a dry metalzone and emgs on an esp, you get chewed out. Ask me how I know.

pablopepper
24-09-2014, 04:48 AM
Haha. Gotcha.

ponch
24-09-2014, 04:55 AM
Also a big reason why church musos have expensive gear. A while back the church went to in ears exclusively. No amps on stage. Across the main services and the youth service we had 9 guitarists. When you say you want 9 pods to old mate at Billy Hyde they usually sort something out.

BenWA
24-09-2014, 05:06 AM
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from wokkaboy on September 23, 2014, 13:12
BenWA you better clean up your language or Ads may delete or edit your post. Read the guidelines to posting

sorry, edited the post. bad habits from using forums which dont care as much about bad language!