I can't really claim the same.
I don't care much about ads, but when I hear a musician that I like, playing the same type of stuff I like to play, and I like their tones it makes sense for me to check out that gear.
I'm mainly a guitarplayer. I've been through many phases and when I sort of found someone who had a similar sort ideal when it comes to sound that I've ended up with through the years, after trying hard for the years to do things differently, I just decided to copy his rig and finally I was happy. That guitar player was Mike Landau. I don't play eactly like Mike, nor do I intend to, but in regards to how a rig respons to his playing, that's how I want my rig to work as well. I've been happy with my gear ever since.
After picking up the drums, I'm going through a similar thing with Vinnie. I like the tone and the way he sets up his drums makes a lot of sense to me. I might bring in some more toys and use a smaller kit sometimes because that's what makes sense on smaller gigs around here, but I've essentially copied Vinnie's kit. (It's not white, though.
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There's another thing, too. I don't have the money to test out everything that's out there and I don't play that many gigs that lend themselves to really trying out stuff in context, but from listening to Mike and Vinnie the rigs have proven themselves. I like a lot of players who all use differnt stuff, but for me these guys represent similar sound ideals to my own, so it's a good starting point and it saves me lots of time and money so that I can concentrate on what I really want, which is playing music.
