Money to burn. Ideas?

Just came into some money. Decided to finally get a "decent" guitar and amp. Was hoping for some thoughts and advice before i spend my money. It may be a very long time before i'm in this position again.

The grand total i have to spend is around £1500 ($2700 US Dollars). I was thinking about a grand on the guitar and 500 on the amp. I play mostly (classic influenced) rock so i was thinking maybe a Les Paul Classic, though something that is fairly adaptable would be nice. Amp i'm not sure yet. Needs to be loud enough to play small (pub/small club) gigs. Not too bothered about effects as long as it's a quality sound.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Originally Posted by: AndyPJust came into some money. Decided to finally get a "decent" guitar and amp. Was hoping for some thoughts and advice before i spend my money. It may be a very long time before i'm in this position again.

The grand total i have to spend is around £1500 ($2700 US Dollars). I was thinking about a grand on the guitar and 500 on the amp. I play mostly (classic influenced) rock so i was thinking maybe a Les Paul Classic, though something that is fairly adaptable would be nice. Amp i'm not sure yet. Needs to be loud enough to play small (pub/small club) gigs. Not too bothered about effects as long as it's a quality sound.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

parker or prs guitars...and get a good tube amp.

Cheers guys. I've heard a lot about the variable standards of Les Pauls. Last time i was in a guitar shop i tried three LPs and i thought only one of them was up to scratch. I've heard good things about the Yamaha SG2000. Any thoughts?

Originally Posted by: AndyPCheers guys. I've heard a lot about the variable standards of Les Pauls. Last time i was in a guitar shop i tried three LPs and i thought only one of them was up to scratch. I've heard good things about the Yamaha SG2000. Any thoughts?

[font=trebuchet ms]>Epiphone/Gibson quality issues< have long been a sore point. You should [u]not[/u] have to sort through a bunch of guitars to find a 'good one'. At Gibson prices, they should all be great, right off the rack.

I'm the happy owner of two black 1984 Yamaha SBG1000 guitars. The only guitars that I think would be better are the 2000 and 3000. The SG designation was changed to SBG for a few years due to lawsuit activity by a Gibson Musical Instruments Company that could not compete with the quality/price offered by Yamaha.

This thread, >Les Paul worth it?< contains the comparison that led me to buy my first SBG1000 instead of an LP Custom back in '84. My Harmony Central review of it is the 11th one listed >here<. I saw another one just like it on eBay a couple of years ago, and I bought it. I have since had different pickups installed, and customized the switching system, but that was a matter of personal preference, not something that had to be done to make it playable. It was evry bit as good as the one I bought new in 1984. These guitars were very consistent for quality.

All of the late-70's to mid-80's SG and SBG series have mahogany necks and double-cutaway mahogany bodies with carved maple tops. All hardware is gold-plated, which tends to wear off with use. The bridges are tunomatic/stop-piece types. A 'violin-style' hard-shell case was standard issue. The differences, as far as I know, are:

SBG1000: set neck, cream binding, no brass block under the bridge. Price: about US$700 - 1000

SBG2000: neck-through-body, fancier binding, brass block under the bridge for improved sustain. Price: about US$1000 - 1500

SBG3000: neck-through-body, real abalone binding, brass block under the bridge, better pickups. Price: about US$2000 - 3000

Word has gotten out (mea culpa) about these guitars, so prices have gone up about 20% in the last two years. They still represent fantastic value for the money. Sadly, the latest production models have been cost-reduced to make them affordable, so they don't have the expensive details of the old ones.[/font]

Originally Posted by: PonyOneFender also makes a mahogany, set-neck dual humbucker version of the Strat and Tele now that will give a fairly similar tone to an LP, especially with some nicer pickups installed.

I am totally and shamelessly in love with Fender's set-neck Teles. I've never played one of their dual humbucker version and NOT ended up giggling like a mad man because of how versital and expressive the instrument was.

The set-neck Strat I played sucked, though. Not that it played or sounded bad, but it didn't have the "spark" or the "attitude" of the Tele.

As to the SGBs; I have never once (and I say this without exaggeration) heard anybody say a single unkind word about them.


PS: I think "Territorial Pissings" was recorded Guitar --> Distortion --> Mixing Board -- no amp involved.

Originally Posted by: RaskolnikovPS: I think "Territorial Pissings" was recorded Guitar --> Distortion --> Mixing Board -- no amp involved.

every book and article i've read has said the same. it's similar to how the beatles got that thick distortion on revolution....they went straight into the mixing board.




as far as guitars....i've been on a parker hitch lately so i'll say that parkers are amazing....which, they are quality guitars. the headstock throws some people off (they like the bigger headstocks that they can feel with their left hands while playing) but overally, the parkers i've played on have all been flawless guitars and really worth any money you spend on it.

PRS make lovely axes. I have a CE24 and it is certainly worth a look. The Gibson studio LPs are also worth a look, especially second hand ones, massive bang for your buck ! Or how about a line 6 variax !!

Don't forget to put a pod on your shopping list. A second hand v2 pod comes in at about 50 quid / 100 bucks and they are just massively useful either plugged into an amp or a desk / computer !

Originally Posted by: Dr_simonPRS make lovely axes. I have a CE24 and it is certainly worth a look. The Gibson studio LPs are also worth a look, especially second hand ones, massive bang for your buck ! Or how about a line 6 variax !!

Don't forget to put a pod on your shopping list. A second hand v2 pod comes in at about 50 quid / 100 bucks and they are just massively useful either plugged into an amp or a desk / computer !

can't agree with you on the gibson suggestion...finding a quality built gibson right now is harder than finding a quality built mexifender...going used might be better for that...but i still think parker and prs are the top of the line guitars right now. i've heard a lot of good things about the variax...but when i want a hollowbody, i like to play a hollowbody...feels weird/fake to get the sound without the gut feel from it.

as far as pods go...they are really nice but getting a quality amp should be higher on his list than an amp/effects emulator...i mean if you're running quality effects into a crap amp...it'll still sound like crap. they're extremely useful for recording but not useful for much outside of that unless you get that amp that uses the pod basically as a head (excuse me for forgetting what brand and make it is).

Originally Posted by: tehplatypus
as far as pods go... they're extremely useful for recording but not useful for much outside of that.

I dissagree with you on this. I use a POD 2.0 for live use, and couldn't be happier. I have two rigs I use it with, both using the amp as a power amp (bypassing the amps preamp). One is a Peavey Classic 50, and the other is a Peavey Triple X head into a Marshall 1960a 4x12 cab loaded with Eminence Governor and Wizard speakers. Both of those amps sound good on their own, but using the POD with them gets me closer to, and more of the tones I like. However, I'm not too crazy about the PODxt for live use. It has the potential to sound great, but just takes too much time to get a good tone from it. On the other hand, it is excellant for recording!

As for guitar, I play a PRS Custom 22, and a Schecter C1 Blackjack. Effects, Ernie Ball volume pedal, Cry Baby wah, MXR ZW-44 overdrive, Boss CH-1 Chorus, and Boss DD-3 Delay.

I do agree that one should shoot for getting a good quality amp that makes you say "wow!", and not just "ok, this will do." but as cheap as they are, and as good as they sound, I think everyone should have at least 1 POD 2.0 in thier gear arsinal.

Originally Posted by: tehplatypuscan't agree with you on the gibson suggestion...finding a quality built gibson right now is harder than finding a quality built mexifender...going used might be better for that...but i still think parker and prs are the top of the line guitars right now. i've heard a lot of good things about the variax...but when i want a hollowbody, i like to play a hollowbody...feels weird/fake to get the sound without the gut feel from it.

as far as pods go...they are really nice but getting a quality amp should be higher on his list than an amp/effects emulator...i mean if you're running quality effects into a crap amp...it'll still sound like crap. they're extremely useful for recording but not useful for much outside of that unless you get that amp that uses the pod basically as a head (excuse me for forgetting what brand and make it is).

I got a **** hot mexi California strat for 500 usd and it rocks !! It is my first "go to" strat leaving the US made in the tonal dust. I got a second hand LP studio for 600 bucks.....(yes that is 300 pounds) and it sounds and plays just as well as my 1700 dollar 1960 reissue LP. All of these axes sit next to a PRS CE24 and a Jackson DKMG and have 20+ years of my playing experience to live up to. And they all do.

Pods, well I have an XT and and a podpro and they are some of the nicest bits of kit I have, be they in front of an amp or going into a MOTU 828 mk II or even into a USB port.

As far as recording goes, I can stick a really nice LDC (like a AKG C414 or a Shure KSM44 running into an Avalon pre into an MOTU 828 sampling at 24/96) in front of my TSL100 / 4x12 or I can use a POD. Both sound great. The TSL is not even a little bit portable and certainly doesn't have a headphone jack. So, to write off a pod where portability / headphones / neighbors may be in issue is not necessarily useful.

The POD FX are also very nice though a little inaccessible if you don't have a floor board. Another brilliant thing about PODs is re-amping and I know a bunch of people that use theirs live feeding it either into an amp or strait into the PA.

As for the variax, be it a hollow-body variax or a solid body 3-700, they all rock !!

found it.... http://www.atomicamps.com

check that out. it looks like it'd be great for fans of the pods and other modeler units.

Originally Posted by: tehplatypus they're extremely useful for recording but not useful for much outside of that unless you get that amp that uses the pod basically as a head (excuse me for forgetting what brand and make it is).

They're the Vetta II heads and they're pretty nice. I would suggest the 2x12 combo though. It's all that anyone should need, unless you're planning on playing some really big venues. I would just get a PODxt Live or a Boss GT-8 and get a used JCM 800 combo.

no, he was right with the atomic amp. It's basically a tube power amp with no preamp and a flat responce, high powered speaker so there's as little coloration to the sound as possible. Most people will agree that the POD's and such sound best in conjunction with a tube amp. So, this gives you the best of both worlds.

Oh I see... I thought he meant "amps with built in PODS", hence why I thought he meant the Vetta II haha. Thanks for the clarification though. I haven't heard much about the Atomic amps... I'll check them out.

Originally Posted by: aschlemanOh I see... I thought he meant "amps with built in PODS", hence why I thought he meant the Vetta II haha. Thanks for the clarification though. I haven't heard much about the Atomic amps... I'll check them out.

it's cool...i actually checked the line 6 page to make sure it wasn't something they manufacture...but yeah atomic amps.


anyone here actually play on any of them to say if they're good or not? all i know is that the ideas behind the amp are really nice and would work well for fans of pods.

Thanks for all the advice guys. When it came down to it I went with what felt right, which wasn't what i thought I was going to get. I tried just about every guitar in my price range including les pauls, SGs, Teles, Jags, PRSs, a variax, Yamahas etc.. I tried hard to convince myself that i liked the les pauls cause they had a good deal on but it just didn't grab me. Some of the finishing was more sloppy than i'd accept from a guitar half the price. Made me wonder whether the poor workmanship was cosmetic or if it went right through.

But anyway, I got a (drum roll please) deluxe stat (with the new S1 switching system) and a fender DeVille amp. I had not intended on getting a strat but the deluxe version got round so many of my reservations about strats and it just felt and sounded great, esp through a fender amp. Just one hicup though. The fuse blew on the amp once i got it home (before i got to so much as play a chord) so my weekend of reckless riffing has gone out the window. You'd have thought that for the price of the thing they could stretch to throwing in a couple of spare fuses incase this happens. I tried in vain to find somewhere that stocked a 1.6A fuse before closing time yesterday but i didnt and its going to have to wait till monday now. oh well.

Originally Posted by: AndyPThanks for all the advice guys. When it came down to it I went with what felt right, which wasn't what i thought I was going to get. I tried just about every guitar in my price range including les pauls, SGs, Teles, Jags, PRSs, a variax, Yamahas etc.. I tried hard to convince myself that i liked the les pauls cause they had a good deal on but it just didn't grab me. Some of the finishing was more sloppy than i'd accept from a guitar half the price. Made me wonder whether the poor workmanship was cosmetic or if it went right through.

But anyway, I got a (drum roll please) deluxe stat (with the new S1 switching system) and a fender DeVille amp. I had not intended on getting a strat but the deluxe version got round so many of my reservations about strats and it just felt and sounded great, esp through a fender amp. ...

[font=trebuchet ms]Good on yer! I'm glad to see that you did your hands-on research and arrived at the best combination for [u]you[/u]. And that Gibson experience sounds very familiar. Twenty years later, they're still inconsistent.

I'm concerned about that fuse, though. Did you try out that particular amp in the shop?[/font]

Originally Posted by: AndyPThanks for all the advice guys. When it came down to it I went with what felt right, which wasn't what i thought I was going to get. I tried just about every guitar in my price range including les pauls, SGs, Teles, Jags, PRSs, a variax, Yamahas etc.. I tried hard to convince myself that i liked the les pauls cause they had a good deal on but it just didn't grab me. Some of the finishing was more sloppy than i'd accept from a guitar half the price. Made me wonder whether the poor workmanship was cosmetic or if it went right through.

But anyway, I got a (drum roll please) deluxe stat (with the new S1 switching system) and a fender DeVille amp. I had not intended on getting a strat but the deluxe version got round so many of my reservations about strats and it just felt and sounded great, esp through a fender amp. Just one hicup though. The fuse blew on the amp once i got it home (before i got to so much as play a chord) so my weekend of reckless riffing has gone out the window. You'd have thought that for the price of the thing they could stretch to throwing in a couple of spare fuses incase this happens. I tried in vain to find somewhere that stocked a 1.6A fuse before closing time yesterday but i didnt and its going to have to wait till monday now. oh well.

the fuse broke that quickly? i'd recommend taking it back and making them replace it...i realize a fuse isn't exactly a huge thing(probably a few pennies to buy)..but it's the principle of the thing!

by the way, great job shopping around...the strat you picked up is really awesome and i honestly would love to have one too...just wasn't sure which way you wanted to go when you asked for suggestions.

S-1 switching rocks.