Help me with some equipment questions


fjr11
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Joined: 10/01/01
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fjr11
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Joined: 10/01/01
Posts: 3
11/15/2001 5:17 am
Ok,

I started playing an electric about 6 months ago. I've gotten pretty decent. My equipment is very basic, however. I have a sledgehammer electric and an amp I got for about 100 bucks. The only feature my amp has is gain.

To give you an idea of what I'm trying to do: I like to play Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, AcDC, and some others. Some of my favorite songs are Stairway to Heaven, The Turning Away, thunderstruck, and Metalica's unforgiven, Claptons original Layla.

What kind of gear should I have to do this kind of stuff. A more sophisticated amp? Some kind of pedal, (a better guitar?!).

Thanks,

fjr11


# 1
stratman42
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stratman42
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11/15/2001 8:49 pm
Thats the kinda stuff i like to play. At present i dont have a pedal, but i use a Fender Mexico Strat and a Marshall
VS30 amp. This is incredibly good at a reasonable price for that kinda stuff. I don't think they do the 30W Valvestates anymore tho, i think 25W is how they come these days. So get one of them definitely. As for the guitar, its up to you, but i can certainly tell the huge quality advantage on mine over my friends'...
Work hard...Play hard...Break a string...:mad:

Actions speak louder than words...
And my actions speak louder than yours :D
# 2
stratman42
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stratman42
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11/19/2001 9:59 pm
I myself am planning on getting a Kramer Striker soon.
Work hard...Play hard...Break a string...:mad:

Actions speak louder than words...
And my actions speak louder than yours :D
# 3
educatedfilm
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educatedfilm
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11/20/2001 3:58 pm
Hey Pony, I'm pretty much in the same boat your in at the minute... I'm Lefty and really just on a shoe string budget, but I want something semi-acoustic and with a warm tone (so most likley something with humbuckers), but I dont have too much at all... I mean I'm putting £250 ($362.5) into building my own guitar and upgrading parts on my old one, and then about £100 ($145) on an effects box, and then what I got left on an electric (about £150 ($217)).... I was actaully thinking of a 12-string maybe, but that would just be a bonus... This is over the next year by the way, before you get the impression that I've actaully got much money...
Any Ideas?
# 4
educatedfilm
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educatedfilm
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11/20/2001 11:14 pm
Thank you SOOOOO much... that's seriously helpful... I'm gonna keep asking you stuff (You've only got your self to blame...hehehehe)
Thank you again...:)
# 5
Flinty
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Flinty
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11/22/2001 4:16 pm
One thing you might want to keep in mind while shopping for a new guitar is versatilitly. For this reason I'd recommend something with humbuckers (with 4 conductor wiring) or humbucker/single coil combination. I have an SG that I've added a pull volume pot to switch between serial and parrallel coil configurations which lends itself well to anything from the Doobies to Van Halen.

I would definately recommend look at some Godin guitars. I just recently added their Solidac model to my collection. Lots of bang for the buck. As for amps, I've had Fenders, Peavey's, a Crate and Acoustic. None of them could hold a candle to the Marshall vs-65 I'm using now.
# 6
Szabolcs
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Joined: 11/23/01
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Szabolcs
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11/23/2001 2:05 am
Hi,

I read what you posted and I know the situation you are in. Well, If you want to be in a band you will have to get new gear such as... every thing. I'm sorry if I am being rude but please consider it honesty.
Anyway, If you don't plan on being in a band your gear should be sufficient. All of your influences that you mentioned have unique tones. Your gear needs to be "dialed in" as they say. Somehow I can't believe your amp does not have an E.Q. section on the control panel. You know, Bass, Midrange, and Treble. Well, If your amp doesn't have that... get one that does.
Once you dialed in your amp's E.Q., The next thing is knowing the pick up selector on your guitar. A guitar w/ one pick up doesn't have a selector. Two pick up in your guitar means your selector switch is a three way switch. If you have three pick ups in your guitar, then you have a five way switch. Play with the switch to find out which way turns on which pick up.
As a rule of thumb, the P.U. by the neck (the neck pick up)
is more bassy than the P.U. by the bridge(the bridge pick up). The bridge pick up is used for solos and twang in your tone. The neck pick up is more of a rhythm tone. If you have a third P.U. in between these two that I mentioned , don't worry about it. The middle pick up is kind of pointless in my eyes. But, to each his own.
Industry standards for Rock are (but not limited to)two guitars. The Fender Stratocaster which has three P.U.s and the Gibson Les Paul which has two P.U.s . I know that David Gilmour uses a Fender "Strat".He uses the neck pick up a lot for his clean tone and then switches to the bridge P.U. for leads. Strats are known to have a more brilliant sound. The Jimmy Page sound is definitely a Gibson Les Paul model guitar. It has two pick ups. The Les Paul is a very good guitar. And, you will pay alot to get one. It's characterized by a meaty, fat sound.
You know I seem to be rambling on now so if you want to know more about what gear a certain artist has go to www.guitargeek.com . I like radiohead a lot and couldn't figure out how he got this sound so I went to this site typed in Johnny Greenwood and found out he was using a "Whammy" pedal. I could probably help you further so if your interested just reply to me.
- guitarist for Twin Dynamo,
Szabolcs Szafko
P.S.: Check out www.twindynamo.com



# 7
stratman42
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stratman42
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11/23/2001 7:27 pm
I turn the tone down on my mid p/u, and that way it comes in handy for intros and rhythm parts.
Work hard...Play hard...Break a string...:mad:

Actions speak louder than words...
And my actions speak louder than yours :D
# 8

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