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Seeking Expert Advice! Please help!!


faisal.me.buet
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Joined: 07/19/19
Posts: 3
faisal.me.buet
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Joined: 07/19/19
Posts: 3
01/19/2025 3:54 am

Hello,


I’d highly appreciate your expert thoughts on a couple of points - 

Transitioning to Electric Guitar:
I’ve completed approximately 60–70% of the fundamental acoustic guitar lessons. Since my ultimate goal has always been to play the electric guitar, I’m considering making the transition now. 


Do you see any potential challenges with this jump before completing the acoustic lessons? Personally, I feel confident it won’t be an issue.

Gear Selection:
I’m in the process of selecting the right gear for my goals, which include playing songs from bands like Iron Maiden (trooper, Hallowed be thy name, Fear of the dark, etc. ) and Megadeth (too many to list). 

With relatively small hands, I found Ibanez guitars with a super wizard neck quite comfortable during my visit to Guitar Center. After some research on-line, I’ve narrowed down my choices to the following:

Guitar: Ibanez RG652AHM Prestige
Amp: Marshall JVM410H

 

Even though this is my first electric guitar, my philosophy is to invest in gear that meets my needs and will serve me well for years.

My question is:


  1. Do you think this guitar and amp are suitable for the type of music I aim to play?

  2. Is there anything better you’d recommend

  3. Are there other essential items I should add to my setup to complete my electric guitar journey?


I appreciate your time. Looking forward to your response.


Cheers!
Faisal





# 1
ChristopherSchlegel
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ChristopherSchlegel
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01/22/2025 12:19 pm

Good questions!


"Do you see any potential challenges with this jump before completing the acoustic lessons?"


Not at all.  Since you know what style of music you want to play switching to electric as soon as possible is a great idea.


"Guitar: Ibanez RG652AHM Prestige"


Those are very nice guitars & well suited to rock & metal styles.  As long as you've actually played one & you know it's comfortable in your hands, then it's a good choice.


"Amp: Marshall JVM410H"


This choice has a couple of potential downsides.  Marshall is of course a great, legendary brand.  I own a couple of them & they are wonderful machines.  But they typically only sound really good when they are turned up.  That's what they are designed to do.  And they are LOUD.


They are also big, heavy & cumbersome.  The model you listed is also just the amp (the "head"), you'll need a speaker cabinet to go with it.  The head is alone is 50 lbs.  And a 4x12 speaker cab is about 80lbs.


If you are set on that amp, that's a great choice for metal, but you be aware of what you are getting into.  It will serve you well for years if you keep playing & want to gig with it.



You might be better off with a smaller combo at first.  You'll get the same basic sound, but at a lower volume, package & price.  Marshall, Blackstar & Boss all make smaller combo amps that are great choices.  I use a Boss Katana combo every day to warm up & have even used it for smaller gigs.


Final question:


"Are there other essential items I should add to my setup to complete my electric guitar journey?"



A whole lot of practice.  And then some more.  Best of success!



edited

Christopher Schlegel
Guitar Tricks Instructor
Christopher Schlegel Lesson Directory

# 2
faisal.me.buet
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faisal.me.buet
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01/23/2025 1:59 am

Hi Christopher, thank you for response. I really appreciate your insights on this.


I will be playing at home, recording them, possibly post them my YouTube channel, etc. I don’t think I’ll ever play any gigs outside.


I looked up online but I kinda feel lost. Will you be kind enough to suggest me some combo’s so that it helps to narrow down my searches?


Thank you again!


Cheers,


Faisal


# 3
ChristopherSchlegel
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ChristopherSchlegel
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01/23/2025 11:51 am
#3 Originally Posted by: faisal.me.buet

Hi Christopher, thank you for response. I really appreciate your insights on this.


I will be playing at home, recording them, possibly post them my YouTube channel, etc. I don’t think I’ll ever play any gigs outside.


I looked up online but I kinda feel lost. Will you be kind enough to suggest me some combo’s so that it helps to narrow down my searches?


Thank you again!


Cheers,


Faisal

This page will give you some idea of what's available.


https://www.sweetwater.com/c625--Guitar_Combo_Amps


Since you mention Guitar Center, I encourage you to visit the local store & see what sounds good to you.


I love the Boss Katana.  Small, lightweight, great sounds, tons of effects on board, with scaleable power & volume.  And it's very adjustable & versatile.  I use it play a wide variety of styles: blues, jazz, rock, metal.  But any one of those modern combos are great.  It's just a matter of finding which one works best for you.


Hope that help!


Christopher Schlegel
Guitar Tricks Instructor
Christopher Schlegel Lesson Directory

# 4
davem_or
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davem_or
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01/24/2025 3:09 am

I'd like to add that their are so many combos out their because they're extremely popular. I have the Mustang LT25 and love it. Very easy to use interface and very popular so a lot of support exists. It also is it's own midi interface so you can record into whatever DAW you're using. It also has a desktop interface which I'm more comfortable with. The Boss Katana is great too just based on it's popularity but I don't know anything specific about it. 


I would recommend looking at the popular combos just because of the resources available. Marshall will always be there when you want to move up but you'll learn a lot more about what you're looking for later by starting with a combo now.


# 5
michael@rockon
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michael@rockon
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01/24/2025 12:08 pm

I have a Fender Mustang GTX50 which is loaded with different tones and easy to use. Perfect for practice and you could definitely gig with it if you were so inclined which you said you would not be doing. But the point is it’s capable of a range of volume. As Christopher says there a lot of great options out there now that provide a ton of flexibility and are not large set ups. 


Tell us what you decide to do…


 


Long Live Rock!

# 6
deepiper9
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Joined: 03/10/20
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deepiper9
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Posts: 69
02/11/2025 2:40 am
#1 Originally Posted by: faisal.me.buet

Hello,


I’d highly appreciate your expert thoughts on a couple of points - 

Transitioning to Electric Guitar:
I’ve completed approximately 60–70% of the fundamental acoustic guitar lessons. Since my ultimate goal has always been to play the electric guitar, I’m considering making the transition now. 


Do you see any potential challenges with this jump before completing the acoustic lessons? Personally, I feel confident it won’t be an issue.

Gear Selection:
I’m in the process of selecting the right gear for my goals, which include playing songs from bands like Iron Maiden (trooper, Hallowed be thy name, Fear of the dark, etc. ) and Megadeth (too many to list). 

With relatively small hands, I found Ibanez guitars with a super wizard neck quite comfortable during my visit to Guitar Center. After some research on-line, I’ve narrowed down my choices to the following:

Guitar: Ibanez RG652AHM Prestige
Amp: Marshall JVM410H

 

Even though this is my first electric guitar, my philosophy is to invest in gear that meets my needs and will serve me well for years.

My question is:


  1. Do you think this guitar and amp are suitable for the type of music I aim to play?

  2. Is there anything better you’d recommend

  3. Are there other essential items I should add to my setup to complete my electric guitar journey?


I appreciate your time. Looking forward to your response.


Cheers!
Faisal




I don't know if you have made your choice yet, but let me recommend one that you can find on the Sweetwater link Chris gave you. The Marshall MG15G combo amp. Yes, it is 15 watts...but if you try one out I think you will find that it scratches the Marshall itch you have. :) It is a loud little amp. I have a used one that I bought from GC that I was using as a bedroom amp for a while. It's 2 channels, there's a button on the front that glows red for the gain channel, and when you push it, it turns green for the clean channel. It's light and easy to carry around. You can get a couple pedals when you are ready to go down that road. I recommend a good reverb pedal and maybe a tuner pedal to start out. Have fun. 


# 7

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