Guitar recommendations?

[yellowsnow]

it's a pretty small church. seats about 100 people.

right now, we have a fender stratocaster, bass guitarist, keyboard, and a piano.. sometimes a violinist joins us.

[finboy]

depends what you want to spend on an amp, and if you want solid state, modeler, or tube.

[yellowsnow]

what's the difference b/w solid state modeler and tube?

i probably want to spend less than $400 on an amp.

[msommers]

$400 on an amp isn't too bad for a smaller one. First thing that came to mind and would an excellent amp for you:

Line 6 Spider III 75 Modeling Combo Amplifier

http://line6.com/spideriii/75.html

Good sound, loud enough. I've played it before and it has lots of little effects to screw around with as well.

One thing I have noticed in the past, guys will give you a deal if you buy a guitar and amp together. Strongly suggest getting a hard case as well (usually ~80 bucks).

Bang for your buck, this is one hell of an amp.

Modeling vs. tube
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_amplifier

The difference that I know (which isn't technical by any means) tube amps sound better, fatter and louder. They are much heavier and usually a lot more expensive. The sound different between a tube vs. modeling is one that I can justify spending a lot of money on. Once you've had tube, you never go back :P

[finboy]

also check out the epiphone valve jr. combo, its a tube amp that is pretty cheap, and can be modded, good amp to learn on

[b_t]

I'm not a big fan of the Line 6 spider combos... I would sooner just save a bit if money and get a Fender solid state Princeton amp because they are passable at first and then when you think you can warrant the outlay of cash, pick up a Line 6 Pod XT Live.

The Spiders are pretty good on their own, but I would rather have the XT Live... those things are expensive but fuck do they ever sound good. When rage2 uses his he can get a very, very good imitation of almost any kind of setup... Marshalls, Mesa Boogie, VHT, Diezel, Bogner, whatever. And they are always updating the XT Live with new models so you can always get new tones, whereas the Spider just has what it came with.

That's a big benefit of modeling and solid state amps over tube amps. Tube amps can only really do one or maybe two things well, and even then, it can only do its own unique sound, while a modeler amp can do anything pretty well. The Spider isn't really a modeler, while the Pod XT Live is pretty much Line 6's flagship amp (the Vetta II) in stompbox form and it performs as such.

[Street_Soldier]

Originally posted by msommers
$400 on an amp isn't too bad for a smaller one. First thing that came to mind and would an excellent amp for you:

Line 6 Spider III 75 Modeling Combo Amplifier

http://line6.com/spideriii/75.html

Good sound, loud enough. I've played it before and it has lots of little effects to screw around with as well.

One thing I have noticed in the past, guys will give you a deal if you buy a guitar and amp together. Strongly suggest getting a hard case as well (usually ~80 bucks).

Bang for your buck, this is one hell of an amp.

Modeling vs. tube
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_amplifier

The difference that I know (which isn't technical by any means) tube amps sound better, fatter and louder. They are much heavier and usually a lot more expensive. The sound different between a tube vs. modeling is one that I can justify spending a lot of money on. Once you've had tube, you never go back :P

I picked up one of those Line6 amps a few weeks back. Sounds great superloud and has all these cool presets which I dont use but maybe you will.

[rage2]

Originally posted by yellowsnow
awesome guys, this is a lot of info to absorb i'll be going to guitarworks and try out some of these models.

any recommendations on amps? wattage? brand?

thanks again!

Buy an amp that's loud enough for whatever environment you're playing in. Don't worry about the sound at first, get good first. Volume first, tone second for beginners. Afterwards, upgrade... (see below).

Originally posted by b_t
The Spiders are pretty good on their own, but I would rather have the XT Live... those things are expensive but fuck do they ever sound good. When rage2 uses his he can get a very, very good imitation of almost any kind of setup... Marshalls, Mesa Boogie, VHT, Diezel, Bogner, whatever. And they are always updating the XT Live with new models so you can always get new tones, whereas the Spider just has what it came with.

I used to be a tube junkie (both my amps are tube amps) until I got the XT Live. Now I play both my amps in clean mode and model amp profiles with my XT Live. I can make the amps sound like anything... blues tone, metal tone, classic rock, new age shit... anything. With these modellers, you can use ANY amp in clean mode, so you'll end up choosing an amp purely based on volume and speaker type (ie more bassy amp for metal stuff).

Tube amps are cool and sound awesome, but like b_t says, you're really stuck with that one tone. You can change that with pedals, but that defeats the rich tone that tube amps offer. Most ppl can't tell the difference anyways between tube and modelling these days. I could only tell at the end of long sustained notes.

The Spider's are cool amps with a few defined tones, but you're stuck with those tones. I'd only buy it if you're really happy with 2 or 3 of the default tones.

Line6 has a few really cool modelling amps... The Flextone is basically a PodXT/XT Live + Amp + Speaker + Enclosure. The VettaII is even cooler, you can have it model 2 separate amps as a single output. It allows you to do cool effects with a single amp like so:

http://www.line6.com/vetta_ii/US/whatcanitdo.htm

Keith Richards has one of the most powerful “dirty rhythm” sounds known to man. The fact that his sound is clean and punchy, as well as being slightly distorted, gives songs like “Brown Sugar” and “Start Me Up” their classic tone. The secret to Richards’ sound isn’t a pedal or a studio effect. It’s as simple as taking two amps and running one of them clean, and the other one just a little dirty. Stevie Ray Vaughan also used this same type of setup to cut songs like “Pride and Joy.”

Definately opens up a whole new world of tone with the VettaII. Now, if you're bling, I'd get a nice Marshall cab, JCM2000 head, with a XT Live. That way you can turn off amp modelling with the XT Live and get true tube tone, lots of volume and have your variety of pedal models with the XT Live. Then for other tones, switch the amp to clean and model different amps with XT Live.

[msommers]

Let us know what you end up with!

[Hoey]

would completely depend on what kind of music you play but
IBANEZ RG FTW!

[kerry]

Line 6 and Ibanez FTW.........

[b_t]

Originally posted by Hoey
would completely depend on what kind of music you play but
IBANEZ RG FTW!

Ibanez wizard necks are so thin and flat I can only play them for like two minutes at a time, they are mad uncomfortable... B16EM1s was pretty good but I've played a couple other RG and a Prestige and fuck those things are barely there. Crazy fast playing though.

[kerry]

My guitar's not even a prestige =)

I got it before they introduced that stupid shit.

I will always vouch for Ibanez.... always. =)

EDIT:

I never really noted this, but the Wizard II necks are only okay if you've never
played really anything else except for Ibanez. I couldn't play Les Pauls before
either because the necks were too thick. I really really recommend Ibanez
for a first guitar, mainly because of affordability for quality.

I even bought my best friend an Ibanez RG321 for an Xmas present one year.
Great guitar and it wasn't very expensive.

[Inzane]

Since I see there are some Ibanez fans in this thread, I just wanted to ask again, what are the thoughts on the GAX 30 as a starter guitar? Or a GRG170DX? (AFAIK GAX = budget AX, GRG = budget RG series).

PS - anyone ever have a chance to play around with one of Satriani or Vai's signature guitars (Ibanez JS and JEM series respectively)?

[rage2]

B16EM1 has a JEM and he loves it. He's an Ibanez whore.

[msommers]

Hey Yellowsnow, if you havn't already, PM me when you're go for your purchases. I'm considering picking up a Mesa and when buying three things we might get a sweet deal if bought all at once.

[kerry]

As rage said above, I'm infact an Ibanez whore. =)

My JEM is the shit... I love that guitar.

JEM7DBK if you want to know btw. It's now been disco'd

[dave101]

i would reccomend both of my guitars....just because i'm biased


acoustic Ovation. model: Celebrity

just a damn good acoustic for a decent price

and my electric: Schecter C1-Classic.

good for pretty much anything. from heavy metal to blues to soft shit, it gets the job done. very well rounded guitar

[b_t]

Originally posted by msommers
Hey Yellowsnow, if you havn't already, PM me when you're go for your purchases. I'm considering picking up a Mesa and when buying three things we might get a sweet deal if bought all at once.

Mesa prices are completely not negotiable so you aren't going to save anymore. its kind of nice though, because a brand new Mesa costs the exactly the same no matter where you order it from.
although I was choked when I had to pay sticker for my dual rectifier and cabinet. It sounds like you've wasted money when you pay full retail for something ahaha

[mo_money2supe]

Originally posted by dave101
i would reccomend both of my guitars....just because i'm biased

acoustic Ovation. model: Celebrity

just a damn good acoustic for a decent price

I've personally never really enjoyed the sounds on Ovations as a soul acoustic-only guitar that much. It sounds great plugged in, but unplugged, it just doesn't have the full sound I think a good acoustic should have.

As for the OG, yellowsnow, have you ever considered any of the acoustics Godin offers? For the price, you can get their middle of the line Simon & Patrick guitars with a fairly nice pickup. As aforementioned, I personally like a fuller sound more (vs. the tangy strat-like sounds, but coming from an acoustic), and Godin's guitars made with Canadian woods definitely give off my ideal sound.

Btw yellowsnow, I'm assuming you're Chinese judging by your username. Do you go a Chinese Church as well? If so, which one? I might actually know you. I go to SCCEFC in Calgary.