New guitar, or new amp?
kiwi
A little bit of history... I started playing acoustic 2 years ago... The
following year I got an electric guitar, a squier affinity strat with a
Fender Frontman 15G.
This past summer I got a nice new acoustic guitar, a Wechter Pathmaker,
with all the electronics and stuff to plug into an amp.
But I want a better sound out of my electric guitar... Which should I
upgrade first, my elec guitar, or my amp? This is still mainly for
basement practicing, heh, no gigs or anything...
Thanks.
--
Matt <"))>{
ve...@bc.edu
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Pt
Pt
Tony Meloche
kiwi wrote:
>
> What should I upgrade first?
>
> A little bit of history... I started playing acoustic 2 years ago... The
> following year I got an electric guitar, a squier affinity strat with a
> Fender Frontman 15G.
>
> This past summer I got a nice new acoustic guitar, a Wechter Pathmaker,
> with all the electronics and stuff to plug into an amp.
>
> But I want a better sound out of my electric guitar... Which should I
> upgrade first, my elec guitar, or my amp? This is still mainly for
> basement practicing, heh, no gigs or anything...
>
> Thanks.
>
> --
> Matt <"))>{
Well, you could go either way (Gee, that's a lot of help!) If you
forsee only basement playing for the near future, your amp is sufficient
for now, though
the Frontman 15G does not have reverb, a basic and inmportant effect.
The guitar (and by extension, it's pickups) does matter, no question,
but the amp is probably the biggest single factor in the final sound
that reaches your ears.
For right now, a better amp might be the biggest bang-for-the-buck.
Decide how much you can spend max, and shop everything you can find in
that range, *preferably playing your own guitar through it*. If you're
big into overdrive sound, you'll have to go tube, but if that doesn't
matter to you right now, your dollar buys more with solid state. Either
can work fine. Good luck with it.
The Old Guy
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AJ
have was lacking with it's pickups, rather lifeless.. but sounded 100%
better with even $40 Stew-Mac pickups... so if you can afford to get better
pickups in addition to the amp, might be worth trying.
AJ
"Tony Meloche" <amel...@remc11.k12.mi.us> wrote in message
news:40169854...@remc11.k12.mi.us...
kiwi
> Well, you could go either way (Gee, that's a lot of help!) If you
> forsee only basement playing for the near future, your amp is sufficient
> for now, though
> the Frontman 15G does not have reverb, a basic and inmportant effect.
I do have a Boss DD-3 which I use for reverb sometimes (although I don't
know if it's really doing the same thing...)
I have some pedals that help my sound somewhat...
> If you're
> big into overdrive sound, you'll have to go tube, but if that doesn't
> matter to you right now, your dollar buys more with solid state. Either
> can work fine. Good luck with it.
I don't really need overdrive sound THAT much. I don't play metal
stuff, mainly jamband stuff like Phish and the Grateful Dead.
I do have an Ibanez TS9DX Tubescreamer though (heh, I probably shoulda
just bought a new amp instead of all these pedals...) I use it mainly
for solo stuff though, not for chords.
I'm thinking a new amp would probably be best...
kiwi
> but sounded 100%
> better with even $40 Stew-Mac pickups... so if you can afford to get better
> pickups in addition to the amp, might be worth trying.
Did this take away from the buzz from the guitar when using just one
pickup as well? I find that's a big problem with the Affinity Strat, it
creates lots of buzz unless I position myself just right, heh...
(although it's probably due mainly to electrical interference around me,
since when I move it gets better/worse)
Any idea where I could find these pickups to buy online?
Pt
>I do have an Ibanez TS9DX Tubescreamer though
A tubescreamer is a great pedal when used with a tube amp.
Not so good with solid state amps.
Pt
AJ
I used their Golden Age pickups.
Well I routed it and put a humbucker in the bridge position, so yes, that
helped with the buzz. And I fully sheilded the cavities and rewired it for
one master vol and one master tone with a toggle for the bridge. The
grounding in these isn't all that great, I grounded the hell out of it, and
I also sheilded the pickups.. so all these added together helped with the
buzz. Check your cables too, also try a good line conditioning surge
suppressor on the AC outlet.
Regarding the amp, I have a Behringer Vintager AC112, $250, a step up from a
practice amp, tube pre-amp w/ solid state power section, built in effects,
99 editable presets. 60W 1X12 combo. Distortion channel has taken some doing
to get a tone I'm happy with, but a good clean channel. An all around
decent, affordable starter amp.
AJ
"kiwi" <ve...@bc.edu> wrote in message
news:40169d95$0$27900$61fe...@news.rcn.com...
Steve
> But I want a better sound out of my electric guitar... Which should I
> upgrade first, my elec guitar, or my amp? This is still mainly for
> basement practicing, heh, no gigs or anything...
Check out the Roland Cube 30, its a superb little amp. Its got several
built-in effects and amp models, so you get a good variety of sounds to
choose from. They're only around £160 here.
I have one, and a friend liked it so much he bought one for gigging with.
Mmm_moo_cows
> upgrade first, my elec guitar, or my amp? This is still mainly for
> basement practicing, heh, no gigs or anything...
I would say definitly the amp (as long as you dont hate your guitar).
You can plug a cheaper guitar into a great amp and it will sound good.
Plug a great guitar into a cheap amp and it will sound not so good.
If you can save up for a goodish amp you should hear a big difference.
From my experience, the amps from guitar-amp packs are always
lacking. You would get so much more tone/sound out of a better amp.
Then what AJ said, upgrade the pickups on the guitar, and then it you
would get a good sound from your guitar being amplified by a good
sounding amp. Pickup upgrades are pretty cheap (especially compared
to a new guitar), you can get some great pickups and it will make a
big difference as AJ said.
Good idea would be to take your guitar into a music shop and play it
through an amp and see what it sounds like. Even better, they'll
probably have your amp there, get them to plug both in and compare
them.
Aye, Jon.
Allen
I agree, upgrade the amp first, but if you're playing in your
basement, you really don't need 35 watts and high power (el34) tubes !
Something with 10-15 watts is plenty for playing in your basement and
is going to sound a lot better because you can 'drive' the tubes and
reach the 'sweet spot' without shaking the walls. My favorite
practice amp is a Fender Musicmaster Bass amp. Epiphone has a new
'Galaxie' that has 10 watts - all tube and should have a good sound -
I've got their "Tube 30" and with decent tubes and a speaker upgrade
... this $200 amp sounds really good !
Chess Player
> I agree, upgrade the amp first, but if you're playing in your
> basement, you really don't need 35 watts and high power (el34) tubes !
> Something with 10-15 watts is plenty for playing in your basement and
> is going to sound a lot better because you can 'drive' the tubes and
> reach the 'sweet spot' without shaking the walls. My favorite
> practice amp is a Fender Musicmaster Bass amp. Epiphone has a new
> 'Galaxie' that has 10 watts - all tube and should have a good sound -
> I've got their "Tube 30" and with decent tubes and a speaker upgrade
> ... this $200 amp sounds really good !
This is an excellent and often overlooked point. Just because you can
afford a bigger amp doesn't necessarily mean you will want it. That "sweet
spot" is what it's all about. Great post Allen.
Pt
wrote:
>This is an excellent and often overlooked point. Just because you can
>afford a bigger amp doesn't necessarily mean you will want it. That "sweet
>spot" is what it's all about. Great post Allen.
>
This all depends on what you plan on doing with the amp.
A 100 watt tube amp is a monster that I would consider unusable unless
you use an attenuator with it.
Some amps have pentode/triode switching.
This is a switch that cuts the wattage in half buy using only half of
the power tubes.
I have a 50 watt amp that can be switched to 25 watts.
If you intend to play with other people you should have at least 30
tube watts or 60 solid state watts.
I love the little Class A tube amps but forget about playing them
clean at any reasonable volume.
Some bands mic their amps through the PA.
I don't usually do that unless we have to be very loud at outdoor
concerts.
If you can only afford one amp it should be something that you can use
if you decide to play with other people and most of us don't spend our
entire lives playing in the bedroom or basement.
Buying a good amp is a big investment.
Buy what you need and plan on the future.
Pt