Simple answer, almost all are sponsored in one way or another?
Was recently looking for a decent review of the Hotone Xstomp to share here, but I couldn't find one that was unbiased or a fluff piece. Perhaps it's just me, or that it's a pre-release product that a 'normal' person hasn't yet gotten their hands on yet - but everyone is singing it's praises, with zero negativity (that I could find).
Can it be that good? It's possible, though every review I saw was a product demo, hotone sent them a pedal and asked for them to review it.
In that scenario would you risk being honest and be excluded from future free products? It's like all the SA car magazines, no real reviews as they'd be excluded from the next product launch (and free lunch >
).
Bah, we really need a old-skool Clarkson in the guitar world. I think Anderton's are more transparent about the inherent bias, but still it's a product demo, not a real world, "player like you" review.
Are there any brutally honest gear reviewers out there?
Was recently looking for a decent review of the Hotone Xstomp to share here, but I couldn't find one that was unbiased or a fluff piece. Perhaps it's just me, or that it's a pre-release product that a 'normal' person hasn't yet gotten their hands on yet - but everyone is singing it's praises, with zero negativity (that I could find).
Can it be that good? It's possible, though every review I saw was a product demo, hotone sent them a pedal and asked for them to review it.
In that scenario would you risk being honest and be excluded from future free products? It's like all the SA car magazines, no real reviews as they'd be excluded from the next product launch (and free lunch >

Bah, we really need a old-skool Clarkson in the guitar world. I think Anderton's are more transparent about the inherent bias, but still it's a product demo, not a real world, "player like you" review.
Are there any brutally honest gear reviewers out there?