Our new Indie Games subforum is now open for business in G&T. Go and check it out, you might land a code for a free game. If you're developing an indie game and want to post about it, follow these directions. If you don't, he'll break your legs! Hahaha! Seriously though.
Our rules have been updated and given their own forum. Go and look at them! They are nice, and there may be new ones that you didn't know about! Hooray for rules! Hooray for The System! Hooray for Conforming!
Recommend me some practice guitar amps
Jimmy King
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Alright guys, I'm jumping on the "I'm going to learn to play guitar and rock out!" bandwagon. I think I'll have the money to pick up a nice entry guitar in the next 1-2 weeks (probably a Dean VX or MLX) and am trying to get an amp lined up before I bring the guitar home so I've got something to plug into and annoy the hell out of my wife with.
I'm probably going to buy used unless there's an amazing deal on something new. Shooting for $50-$80 max, preferably in the $50 or less range as I'm not looking for anything special. Long term I intend to be playing hard rock/metal (mostly thrash oriented stuff) so would like an amp that will work for starting to get into that either alone or with a distortion pedal. I don't mind needing to pick up a distortion pedal immediately or close to it, especially if we're talking under $50 for the amp.
I've been watching craigslist for local stuff and am going to pick up a Trading Post on lunch break today or after work. I've got a local metal guitarist friend who's also going to do some looking for me and I'm running deals I find by him. I don't want to bother him every time I find an amp in my price range that doesn't clearly say "this is for playing country music and definitely not for hard rock and metal" on the ad and reviews, though.
So, any particular models I should look for? Any I should avoid? I'm not looking for the best of the best, I don't really even mind too much if in 6 months I'll want to pick up a different amp and sell the current one. I just don't want to feel the need to get rid of the current amp after a month or whatever.
I'm probably going to buy used unless there's an amazing deal on something new. Shooting for $50-$80 max, preferably in the $50 or less range as I'm not looking for anything special. Long term I intend to be playing hard rock/metal (mostly thrash oriented stuff) so would like an amp that will work for starting to get into that either alone or with a distortion pedal. I don't mind needing to pick up a distortion pedal immediately or close to it, especially if we're talking under $50 for the amp.
I've been watching craigslist for local stuff and am going to pick up a Trading Post on lunch break today or after work. I've got a local metal guitarist friend who's also going to do some looking for me and I'm running deals I find by him. I don't want to bother him every time I find an amp in my price range that doesn't clearly say "this is for playing country music and definitely not for hard rock and metal" on the ad and reviews, though.
So, any particular models I should look for? Any I should avoid? I'm not looking for the best of the best, I don't really even mind too much if in 6 months I'll want to pick up a different amp and sell the current one. I just don't want to feel the need to get rid of the current amp after a month or whatever.
Jimmy King on
import com.seriouscompany.business.java.fizzbuzz.packagenamingpackage.interfaces.stringreturners.StringStringReturner;
This discussion has been closed.
Posts
I would recommend getting one used though, since that can save a lot of money. A (used) Fender amp of, say, ~200$ should sound pretty good for home use and you won't need to get another one once you find out you are serious about playing guitar.
BTW, it's the same deal with a guitar. A lot of people starting out tend to buy a cheap guitar since 'it's good for learning', but cheap/poorly made guitars may only discourage you because they sound crap and at worst, actually make learning more difficult. My first acoustic, for instance, was terrible, had incredibly high action and just generally wasn't comfortable to play. I'd say an Epiphone or Squier, the budget brands of Gibson and Fender, respectively, are pretty good learning guitars. Cheaper than most, but not awful by any means.
The guitars I'm looking at seem to be pretty decent and Dean has come pretty highly recommended to me by a few people. I'm pretty much set on the guitars. Just need to get an amp on the cheap that won't sound too shitty. Honestly, $200 is way more than I'm looking to spend and is going to be far more amp than I need. All I need is a little 15w-20w deal, preferably (but not at all required) with good distortion.
Also yeah, I guess Deans are decent starters, if you dig the form factor.
In my uni halls I've given up with amps totally and use headphones (plugged into a Line6 GuitarPort thing) because anything loud enough to smother the sounds of my strings was just far too loud for the room. Plus this place has walls like paper, and is full of 300 people who get angry with my bad playing.
I wish I had a proper sized room to play in.
From a solid state amp yes, but that is more than sufficient for a tube amp. I understand he's not in the market for a large tube amp, but you should clarify.
If you do want a good amp that will last you a while, the Epiphone Valve Junior is great:
This amp is only 5w, but will drown out most 35 watt solid state amps. It has a great tone, and I've seen many people gig with the head version of this amp. You can pick this up for $130-150 on the street. I know that is more than you want to spend, but why spend $80 on a crappy practice amp that you have to upgrade from when you can get a great amp that will last you a long time for only a little more?
If you do want a cheap amp for practice only, I highly recommend the Roland Cube.
It comes in a 15w version that is perfect for practicing quietly. It has a line in so you can hook up a CD player or iPod to play along to and I believe built in Overdrive and Reverb. It's got a headphone jack too. This should retail just under $100.
I'm primarily only going to be playing in a little 10x12 or so room for awhile. If I want to be ridiculously loud, I've got a friend with a full stack that I can plug into to shred some "twinkle, twinkle little star" or whatever
You also certainly don't need anything above 35W, tube or solid state, if you're practicing in your bedroom. All of that aside however, here's the best advice you'll read all day:
Buy a used solid state amplifier and don't spend too much money doing so.
It's like this: Solid state amps don't break halfway, they work or they pretty much don't. Maybe the pots will need cleaning but a can of compressed air will fix that crackle you get when you twist the volume knob. Tube amps, when used, will frequently require tube replacements. This costs money and takes time and you don't want to fuck around with tubes when you don't even know how to play the damned guitar in the first place. Yes they sound better but who fucking cares? You'll sound like shit anyhow. Sorry, but it's true, and will remain true for a few months at least, by which time you can start looking at what you want to play and where and with who and decide on what you really NEED in an amp that'll be used for things other than playing in your bedroom.
So buy a used solid state amp. It'll be cheap, it won't need repairs in a month, and if you give up you'll probably be able to sell it for more or less exactly what you paid for it making this a very attractive way to gamble. You don't stand much chance of losing money on the deal.
I'd also suggest considering a used or floor model guitar if at all possible but you need to be very picky about that and you might be better off getting something new. Make sure that when you buy it that the sales person agrees to have the tech set it up properly for you. You're spending enough money to deserve 5 minutes worth of work.
For the love of god though, don't spend $150 on a brand new tube amp. It's a waste of money at this stage.
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH
The 15W Roland Cube and Line 6 Spider 3 are looking tempting, even new if I don't find something used/get impatient/etc. Although more than I'm really wanting to pay new, won't break the bank.
Definitely considering the floor model route. I'm running by guitar center tomorrow to check out what they're selling since they've got some sale to get rid of floor models and older stuff. Got a friend who's been playing guitar for ~20 years who will check out any equipment I buy to make sure it's all kosher if he can't go with me when I go to look/buy, so I'm pretty safe there as long as I can return the stuff (and I won't be buying anything I can't return).
I oscillated between getting some $50 practice amp or a Fender Hot Rod tube amp for $600. Keep in mind that my guitar cost around $200 used so it's not shit but it's not a signature model or anything. Everyone says "Spend more on the amp." Well, a friend of mine recorded a short album for that record an album in a month thing, and we were talking about it and he said even though he's got access to a huge amp, he used a "crappy" behringer amp for all the recording because the volume was better and it was great at creating a nice basic guitar tone. And he was right, it wasn't "omg best solo evar" quality stuff, but it was excellent "here's a guitar in my track" tone.
So I picked one up, a Behringer GX108. It looks vintage and the tone improves if you take off the Behringer logo ;D And it suits my needs perfectly -- it amplifies my guitar and lets me focus on practicing, rather than sounding like well polished shit.
You'll always have a use for a decent practice amp, whether it's later at night, or out traveling, or recording some tracks. You don't need to spend a lot to get one, and you gotta get started somewhere -- might as well not break the bank on it, so you actually can appreciate the sounds you're going after when you DO know how to play.
I've learned to invest in quality gear. At least for me, every purchase of mediocre to decent gear has felt like a mistake. Perhaps everyone has to learn that on their own, or maybe not everyone will feel the same way.
Nontheless, my personal thoughts aside, I just wanted to point out that this: is misleading. You can change your tubes every few months if you play a lot and you seriously feel a change is required, but a set of tubes can also last two years or more.
Also, one of my favorite little amps: The Fender Hot Rod Blues Junior. This baby, like the entire Hot Rod series (I own a Deville 212 and Deluxe) sounds fantastic. Probably more than you're willing to spend, but I just wanted to express my lust for this amp.... someday I'll have to pick one up.
http://www.fender.com/products//search.php?partno=0213205000
Which is pretty much invariably true.
Also, buying gear that works and gets the job done within budget is a lot more sensible when you don't have someone else paying for it. Especially if you don't know if you're going to stick with it or not.
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH
I also didn't say he should go over budget or anything like that... just that saving up something extra to invest in higher quality gear can pay for itself in the long run. I tend to forget the "not being sure if you're going to stick with it" angle.
1) Say you start playing guitar and end up hating it a year later. You can resell a decent small tube amp or an amp like the Roland cube for a good chunk of change. Not so much for a cheap, crappy amp.
2) As I said before, a good practice amp will always be a good practice amp. If you spend that money now, you'll save the money you have to spend replacing it when you want something better to practice through.
Primarily I am a percussionist, and I've seen tons of kids buy a crappy Percussion Plus or CB drum kit with terrible cymbals to realize only a few months later when they start learning about drums, they hate their initial investment and wish they would have saved just a little more to get something good.
To each his own. I've talked to people with both mindsets, it's just what makes more sense to you.
I've also got a wife, a job that frequently requires me to work 60 hrs/week, my saxophones (which I haven't played in some time and so am getting back into), go to the gym, and other hobbies. I've got cars to pay for, own my own home, etc. Even if I knew 100% for certain I'd be playing on the same equipment in 10 years, I just don't have $500-$1000 to put into it and given the way things like owning houses tend to work (if you've got something you actively want to buy, something expensive will break and wipe out your reserves you were saving for that other item), there's a pretty good chance that I still won't in 6 months or a year or however long I might save up. Even the money I am putting into it now, I shouldn't be, but I want to make some music again.
I wish I could find time to practice my alto, get to a point where I sound sorta decent, pick up a decent horn and tell people that I play guitar AND saxophone... unfortunately, all my practice time goes straight into the guitar. I haven't touched my sax in months.
But if I had a Selmer, that might just change, hahaha
I get paid in 3 days at which point I'll see if I get my full employee of the month bonus or have to split it. They gave 4 of us employee of the month, so I'm not sure how they're going to work it. I've been told I'm getting the full bonus, which covers the guitar I want, but I'm going to wait until I've got the money in my pocket before I go spend it. I think I'm going to have a trans-brazillia burst Dean MLX ordered in for me. I'm real tempted to get the VX because those seem to be easily available without a special order, but enough far more experience players have suggested I may not want a V for my only guitar which I will mostly play sitting (The VX I tried out sitting seemed ok to me, but you could only say I was playing it in the loosest definition of "playing" an instrument in that I was causing sound to come out).
The MLX would take 1-2 weeks to come in, I'm told. That gives me a couple more weeks to sort out the amp situation. Birthday is coming up in that timeframe, so I'll see what kind of money I can get out of that to put towards the amp. I'm really leaning towards the 15 watt Cube or Spider 3 if a good used deal doesn't come up in my timeframe. I can find several of them when I look, but being good deals, they also sell rather quickly.
Anything else I need to consider here? Obviously I'll need picks. Anything I need to know there? There seems to be a lot more variety than I was expecting... cork grips, different materials, different thicknesses, etc.
I'm assuming the same rules that apply to audio/video cables for home theater apply to the cable to run from my guitar to my amp... expensive cables are very rarely noticeably better and even more rarely enough noticeably better to be worth the cost, especially given the guitar and amp being used are nothing extraordinary.
As for picks, get various different kinds. The basic plastic Fender picks are a common starting point. Try out some heavies, mediums, and lights. I prefer heavier picks myself (the picks I use are 100% unbendable) because I feel they give me a tighter control of the strings. The key is to have a variety of picks to choose from, and try them out to see what feels and sounds best. A lot of people will also look up what kind of picks their favorite guitar player uses and just emulate that.
OR you could learn to play using just your fingers. Definitely a great thing to be able to master, but there are some sounds you won't be able to replicate without a pick.
Some accessories to consider (but not go overboard on, because this can really drive up the cost of the whole thing):
- METRONOME. If you haven't already got one, which I'm assuming you do.
- Does the guitar come with a strap? You'll need one if you want to play standing (and not a bad idea if you're sitting either).
- Is the guitar worth investing $12 in strap locks? Strap locks -will- save your guitar. Without them it's not a matter of if your strap will fail, but rather when. There are do-it-yourself strap lock alternatives that can cost as little as $0.50 and be just as effective.
- Spare strings. Even if you never change them (please change them every once in a while. Hint: if your guitar never stays in tune, you strings may be too old. IF THE STRINGS HAVE FUCKING RUST ON THEM, your strings may be too old), you're going to break a string sooner or later.
- Tuner. Do you have a piano or other pitch reference? If not, you'll probably need a tuner to help tune your axe. A tuner/metronome combination isn't a bad idea.
- Does your guitar come with a gig bag? Even if you never plan to take the thing out of your house, make sure you have a gigbag with at least a tiny bit of padding.
- Allen keys. Should come with your guitar, and if they don't you should be able to get your music store to include them. They're useful when you need your guitar set up.
And that's all I can think of right now.
This is based purely on my own experience, but I really wouldn't recommend the Dean. From what I've seen of Dean, if it isn't one of their pricier guitars, it is utterly unplayable. The MLX is going for $199.99 on Musician's Friend, so it's not one of them. You said you tried one though, so whatever floats your boat.
Also, buy strap locks. My PRS is never going to forgive me for not having them. For strings, I recommend D'addario, DR, and Ernie Ball. For picks, most people I've taught started with Dunlop nylon standards. You mentioned thrash metal, so I'd go at least .72 mm.
The lesson I learned with amps is that Tube may sound better, but you'll be replacing it sooner than later or getting it fixed sooner than later. I started playing guitar when I was 15/16 and I played a lot. I still play today, much much moreso than I ever did before and I'm 25. My tube amp is incredibly unreliable and needs some finegling to get working right, but my Line 6 Spider 3 is in beautiful shape. Works like a dream as it did on day 1.
Now, my big thing is that once I got a better amp I found myself wanting to play more because I felt like I sounded better. My skill was definitely getting better and it still is, but on the day I got my Line 6 I was way more into it than I was just the day before. My old Tube didn't have much in terms of options or distortion channels so it was kinda bland in some respects. I didn't have many choices if I wanted to start making my own songs.
And Marshall's are great amplifiers. Are they as good as their price indicates? no. But they are still great amplifiers.
my big thing with my solid state amp (spider 3) is the effects. I'm not that huge of an effect user, but the one I do love is Delay. You can get some amazing sounds from it with palm mutes and pinch harmonics.
Also, I've heard good things about Vox amps too. I'm not sure myself because I've never used em, but I have a friend who swears by them.
So the spider 3, a roland cube or a decently priced marshall solid state I think would do you well. And as said before you would do well to make sure you don't spend a ton of money on wattage. If you have plans to play with friends later on then maybe look into a stronger wattage roland cube. Like perhaps the Cube 60, but if you're playing all by yourself and practicing within a few feet of your amp without a lot of noise around you otherwise, a Roland Cube 15 or Spider 3 low wattage amp will be great.
Hell yes. Vox is wonderful.
I'm not sure about how they're priced, but you may look into an Orange Micro Crush as well. They're generally pretty expensive, but as far as tone goes, Orange is sex. Also, their sites not working right now, but I'm pretty sure they're tube, or valve if you're in the UK, amps. Some others have been dead set against them, but I disagree.
I'm hoping to drag my friend who's been playing for years along to try a couple in my price range and let me know what he thinks, too.
It could be just the particular ones I played, but the pickups also seemed weak as all hell. Even if you know nothing about guitars, you can probably guess that "weak" anything won't go well with hard rock/metal, right?
I hate to be a downer like this, but if you took everything I said about "low-end Deans," and replaced it with "low-end B.C. Riches," then it would just ring doubly true. You might look into LTD/ESP or Jackson. If it's just for learning on it, you might could even find a decent Epiphone to meet your needs - if you're into the Les Paul shape, an Epi Les Paul Studio could satisfy you.
Why the VX, if you don't mind me asking? If it's the "V" body style, there are some Jacksons have the Rhoads V design. Same goes for ESP/LTD.
The action should be adjustable, though, right? That's been my understanding is that the height of the action can be adjusted.
As to the pickups, I have to imagine most of these $200 and under guitars are going to have similar quality pickups. I could be wrong, though. My intention is to play this one for 1-2 years, basically until I can play worth a damn, then go get something that costs a bit more. Probably not the $1000 range, but the $500-$700 range after I've learned to play, played on one guitar for awhile and know what I like and don't like about it, have played on friends guitars to know what I like and don't like about them, etc.
I wasn't especially impressed with the Warlock I tried out. It did seem like it might be a bit more cheaply made. I figured I'd try it because it was in the right price range, gave me another point of reference, and the body looks pretty cool.
I'm actually not looking for a V. The MLX is what I'm really considering here. I tried the VX out because it was in stock and has the same hardware, neck, etc. as the MLX that I would actually buy. I wouldn't mind a V, in fact I'd love one, but I've had enough people who've played for a long time and owned several flying Vs tell me that it's really not the best choice that I'm going to take their word for it. The ML body is equally awesome and can be played sitting in a more standard position.
I'm pretty much looking for these 2 things:
1) Higher quality than one of those Squier Starcasters you get in the pack at Walmart
2) Not Les Paul or Strat shaped or too closely based on them. Preferably pointy.
In the entry level guitar price range #2 there is unfortunately pretty limiting as to what's available. Jackson does have a flying V and Warrior in the $300 range, but I've set my limit at $200 and am sticking to it unless more money magically appears.
I know a few guys who agree.
My next amp is an AC30
I give it a solid recomendation
It's a wood finish Ibanez and it sounds great. I mean it's no SG Gibson or American Strat, but hell it's great when he wails away on it and he's been playing for 20 + years.
garroad_ran: Do you know what kind of Paul is the Edge playing in that picture? The finish looks gorgeous.
Sorry dude, no idea.
Even if you can't afford a pure tube vox, I owned a valvetronix for a while and it had awesome tone for a solid state amp. Vox tone is so versatile... Yummy.
Just out of your price range, but something like this will probably do nicely (though I haven't played that actual amp).