I'm new to guitar myself, only been playing for about a year. I originally played acoustic for the first 3 months or so then I went to a Squire Strat, but I got rid of it and went with this brand called Metal Driver/MD, it may just be a Japanese brand exlusive, not too sure. I think it actually sounds better than strats, but I'm no expert on that. I used to have a Fender Frontman 15 as a practice amp for my first year. Then I upgraded to the new Marshall Valvestate 2000 series. Its a hybrid amp, that uses a tube for the pre-amp. I highly recommend it.

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