Which gear to get?

Hi!
My first post in guitar tricks :)


Anyway, I have a very cheap chinese electric guitar (Stagg G2 S300 for 70 quid new, terrible set up, aweful pickups, nasty tone...). I dont have a combo amp, and I either practice the guitar unpluged or with my VOX amplug AC30 and headphones. The amplug is OK but I want to start to experiment with some effects. I have only been playing for around half a year. I like Slash guitar solos and sound, Dj ashba's solos (mi amor is awesome), eric clapton (songs like Layla), Steave Lukathers music, and many others :) I am not limited to just rock, I like blues too.


I have only around 500 quid to spend on guitar gear and need to descide what to get.

Now I just can't descide what I should get. Should I just get a better guitar? Maybe keep my crapy guitar and get BOSS GT10 multi effects and play with headphones? Maybe get a little modeling amp like fender mustang 2 or vox vt20+? maybe get a clear amplifier and a few effects pedals? Maybe not get anything at all and save until I can buy a Gibson Les Paul? Maybe just jump from the bridge?

As you can see, I am completely lost in choices. I need some of you guys with more experience to help me to choose the right path of gear getting :)

Hi naitreid..

Welcome to Guitar Tricks..
You might want to take your guitar to a shop and see if it worth having a set-up done on it.. It might not help the tone, but could make it play better. I don't think investing to much money into a inexpensive guitar is wise. I have heard of El Cheepos being set up to be a fair starter guitar.
I would definately save for a better guitar and amp..

To save you money in buying all sorts of pedals etc.. you can hop on Ebay and find yourself a Line 6 POD XT for about a hundred bucks.. this will give you more tones and effects than you could possibly get out of a few pedals. Not to mention will make your VOX turn into about 150 other types of Amps to try out.
You will also be able to connect up to the internet, download different tones from Line 6 and get those sounds for songs that you couldn't dial in on your normal set up. Nice thing about this too, your guitar won't need to be upgraded any either since the POD will be giving you the tones needed. Just make sure that your guitar is tuned properly and you should be fine. The POD has made a cheap guitar like that First Act Wal-Mart guitar my grandson got sometime back sound fairly decent!
This way you can practice, get the songs learned and save for the bigger toys later down the line.
Another alternative is to find an amp similar to the Line 6 Spyder series... those amps especially if you can find the smaller versions, I believe Fender has one, Mustang I believe, that you can get all sorts of different tones without all of the pedals too...
Get on Youtube and look at the Amp Challenge.. Someone posted a link to that in the Gear Discussion earlier this year.. not too far back if I remember right... awesome demonstration between these little amps!

Solution:

Originally Posted by: naitreid
Anyway, I have a very cheap chinese electric guitar (Stagg G2 S300 for 70 quid new, terrible set up, aweful pickups, nasty tone...).
[/quote]

I agree, don't sink TOOO much money into a cheap guitar. Having said that.. I am huge fan of taking an inexpensive guitar and over time turining into a great playing guitar. IF you have the means to do so. I do, and so I really enjoy it.


If you don't have an amp, then yeah i would suggest you get an amp. Take your guitar into a shop, have them give it a good work over. If you have a guitar that at least is playable, then I think I'd suggest you get an amp. One of the amps that I personally would purchase if I were in your shoes would be one of the Roland Cubes. Great amps. Solid. This is just me personally, I don't care for the line 6 stuff. It just seems cheap to me. Your milage may very.

[QUOTE=naitreid]Maybe keep my crapy guitar and get BOSS GT10 multi effects and play with headphones?

I have a Boss GT10 and I LOVE this thing. I also have a Line 6 POD X3 that collects dust every since I got the GT10. I don't know why but I've never been very succesfull in getting an awesome tone out of the POD. Some people can, I've just never had much luck. I find the tones to be thicker, with the GT10. Having said that, it's also more expensive.


So, in order if you wanted my personal opinion and yes, it will very from what other suggest.

1 ) Take existing guitar to a shop, have it looked at and set up properly
2 ) Get an amp, something like the Roland Cube Series.
3 ) Later when you have some extra money to burn, get a Boss GT10.

Thanks guys!

as far as effects go, is it better to get individual pedals instead of a multi effects unit like BOSS GT-8 or GT-10?

I know a few guys who swear that pedals sound much better and are the way to go, and that even though they are more expensive then multi effects units (to get a decent distortion, delay, reverb, chorus, eq, noise suspensor, compressor, and a wah you would need at least 500 quid, while you could get all these and a hundread more effects in one multi effects unit like boss gt-8 for 150 quid used on ebay). I have noticed that the value of multi effects units drops drasticaly when new models come out, while the price of pedals, whether new or old, remains quite constant.

So, what are your thoughts on this matter? I am asking for your personal thoughts and opinions, from your personal experience.

If you are thinking about buying the stuff in order to later sell it off, everything loses value. Especially when new units come out. My Boss distortion pedal I bought for $108 wound up being sold 2 months later at Guitar Center for $30.
Back to the pedal situation. You can buy all sorts of pedals, which as you have said, some people think they sound better. I've heard that as well. But, in reality, I just don't have the money to go and buy every type of pedal out there to sound like the bands that I want to sound like. Nor do I have the money to get every amp that they use to sound like them either. A sound device like the Boss 8 or 10 or the PODs will do you better until you get good and rich enough to get into a band where you will want to have all the toys.
In essence, with having the cheap guitar, get yourself the sound bank, have fun with the sounds and imitating the bands' tones you are learning. Once you've figured out whether you are in it for the long haul and are going to do more with the music, then upgrade your equipment.

Thanks everyone and especially hrandersoniii!

I see more clearly now :)

I will go with multieffects for now.

Thanks for help.

Again... YMMV (Your Milage May Very)

Do individual pedals sound better? They might and probably do in some cases. I have about 8 pedals as well as my boss gt 10. I did a comparrison between my Ibanez tube screamer pedal and the boss gt10 model of it. They sounded soooooooo very close that I would never have had an issue playing with the one on the Boss GT10.

Also, if you like to tinker, you can mod your pedals. I love to tinker so, i have modded several of my pedals.

Having said that... Having my GT10 is like having the ultimate toy. So many amp models, so many FX options. The tonal options out of this unit and other units like it are going to be limitless.

I have an old 1969 Kustom K100C amp. It's all old school analog circuitry. Nothing digital, and no tubes. Just resisters, capacitors, transistors ect.. A beautiful clean sound. I was never happy with the tones I was getting with my pedals in front of it. Put my Boss GT10 in front and it get amazing tones and FX. Probably because of all the different preamp models that the GT10 has.

Anyway, this is what works for me.

Hi there, Mr. Naitreid...
Hmmm....in response to your dilemna. My advice, as a 50 yr old seasoned player is find a guitar that inspires you to want to play. Sounds like what you have now is not respected, thus, you're, of course discontent. If I was in your shoes, I would purchase a nice Epiphone Les Paul. You can find those on ebay for next to nothing...realistically $200 -$300. As for your desire to explore electronics and sounds and/or perhaps that monster amp...I would invest in a Korg Pandora PX4 or the newer units for around a 100 bucks. With a nice set of earbuds,...you can have limitless access to all of the monster rock tones and effects and it actually fits in your shirt pocket so you can go anywhere, anytime, and become inspired. Until you inspire yourself and put a few more miles into practice and really knowing what you're looking for, I wouldn't put any money out for expensive equipment. Just myo, of course, but I KNOW, you'd be thrilled with one of those KORG units. The sound is phenomenal for the money and many a professional use those for practice and warmups before big shows.
The newer ones even have USB connect so you can use them with recording software and your computer. Best of luck and rock on...