How would you choose your gear if you didn’t have the internet?

Just imaging for a moment that there were no interviews, no magazines, no hundreds and thousands of user reviews, no online reviews (you know the kind that I do a lot of!). Are you imagining that?? I hope so, please go with me on this one!Firstly,  please understand that I'm NOT shooting down the reviewers or the reviews, they serve a purpose and they are doing a great job. It is just that I'm trying to throw out an idea of what would you do if none of this information existed? How would you choose something?

Well, I think it would go a little something like this....

You walk into a guitar shop, you have no idea what any of the pedals are, brands, types, components, you have no idea! So, how would you go about choosing something?Well, perhaps you go and look something that you are visually attracted to, nothing wrong with that. what would you then do?Well, you probably plug it in, turn the knobs, see (hear!) what happened, and I’m pretty sure you would be drawn to something if you liked how it sounds. I am going out on a limb here, but you probably wouldn't care about anything else.We get so side-tracked by other people's opinions, XYZ does this, it sounds better than this, etc, but if you didn't know any of this information, if you haven't heard the voices of the internet or magazines telling you all this, you would probably pick a product primarily on how it sounds, and how it looks, and that is something we forget about quite a lot.I am a big advocate now of just plugging into something and seeing how it sounds. Asking.....does that sound appeal to me? Can I change all the knobs? what does it do? Really getting under the surface of the piece of equipment and finding out what the hell it can do, and how it sounds, and if I like that sound. does that sound work for me? does that sound make me want to play guitar?The little nugget of advice I'm giving here is, that sometimes when you're looking for something, go into a guitar shop, forget the internet for the time being, as awesome as it is, but go in to that guitar shop, go in blind. Get the shop assistant to plug in a whole bunch of pedals that you can't see, and see which one sounds good for you. does it do what you want it to do? Does it make the sound in your head come to life? Does it achieve the sound that you are looking for?We are brainwashed at the moment into thinking XYZ says this, XYZ says that, some guy I've never met before (including me) says this is a great pedal, and it sounds better than this pedal because whatever, and it costs more therefore it must be better, does it really?Of course there are a whole bunch of other factors to factor in, there are some useful things about reviews, if you have a great pedal but it's in a case made of flimsy plastic and you step on it and it breaks, that's not a good thing, and it's probably worth noting that, but in terms of sound and what sound is and how personal it is to someone, if you like the sound of a metal zone pedal then buy one and make it work for you.If you hate the sound of a metal zone pedal, don't buy one, buy a soul food or Andy Timmons Angry Charlie, or something like that, but whatever it is you buy, make sure it works for you and not for some other guy on the internet who says it's a great thing and it works for them.PeaceNeil