Guitar Rig 4: Will a very BASIC guitar do?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tom Overthere
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Tom Overthere

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I need an electric guitar to use with Native Instruments GuitarRig 4 (DAW-based demo work in rock/pop styles, no power chords or shred). I'd like to purchase the least expensive model that will do the job. Don't want to pay for an extremely versatile guitar if the GR4's capabiliities can make a basic model (set up properly and produces decent tone) sound like a variety of higher quality guitars.

I'm experimenting with my acoustic guitar. It has a passive piezo pickup under the bridge (25 years). It works, but the signal is unrefined (for a preamp I'm using a rack compressor/limiter with its own healthy gain stage).

My search for a truly versatile guitar led me to the Cort M600T (link). A good value, but at $380 (best online price) it's nearly twice the cost of basic guitars having 2 humbuckers. Do I need this much versatility, or will a more basic model do?

Thanks
 
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The better the guitar the better the playability and sound. Less stress and more enjoyment. So if you buy a cheap guitar, and it doesn't feel, sound, tune or play right, you'll know why....
 
TelePaul == Excellent suggestion. Wow. A "Fat Strat" with a bridge humbucker and two single coils. And the price is right. I'll try to find one locally to play. I appreciate the assist very much.

ido1957 == I hear you. Been there, done that. Restricted budget has me walking a very fine line between cost and quality.

While scrounging the net I found the CORT Z-42 (see link) for about $200 online (I prefer the Wine Red color scheme). I think Cort is a British based firm with manufacturing in Korea and Indonesia. By all accounts, the entire Cort product line is good quality representing excellent value. I can't find a Cort dealer in my area, so I'd have to purchase online with fingers crossed.

- Mahogany body,
- maple neck,
- strung through-body for improved sustain and tone (tremolo bridges are just too problematic and I might play in some odd tunings so this suits me),
- stable tuners,
- dual humbuckers, decent according to online sources,
- 2 volume pots, 1 tone pot with a coil split / coil tap

The coil tap (or coil split) disables the neck HB's rear coil and bridge HB's front coil, effectively providing 2 single coil pickups. I wish I could coil split each pu independently, but this method appears to provide a wide tonal range, as demonstrated in various Z-42 YouTube vids.

Do you guys see any obvious pitfalls?

Thanks
 
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Epiphone les Paul Special II


Good little guitar for the price.
 
Cort make a solid budget guitar, great choice for versatility.
 
I agree, Scotti. I ordered a Z42 in Wine Red and am waiting for delivery. Everything I read about Cort is positive, and their specs + materials look outstanding, especially at such reasonable prices. A YouTube search on "Z42" turns up some very encouraging video "testimony". If my Z42 PLAYS well but sounds "just okay" I might eventually swap out the pickups, etc. I think it might provide a foundation for eventually modifying into "MY do-all guitar".
 
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I'm just amazed by the cart and horse situation. I've not come across someone buying a guitar to run a piece of software before.
Hey if you REALLY like it you might just play it as it is.
 
rayc said:
...the cart and horse...someone buying a guitar to run a piece of software...
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I know it seems upside down, but GuitarRig4 came as part of NI Komplete6--almost a freebie--and I'm shocked at the sounds I can get from it using just my acoustic guitar with ancient under-bridge piezo. I might be...hooked. Oh, and check your calender. It's 2011.

rayc said:
Hey if you REALLY like it you might just play it as it is.
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Good idea. :D Blame the internet for my shift in focus from seeking an inexpensive basic guitar that can provide "signal" for GuitarRig to "I want a SUPER GUITAR". :eek:

I'd love to get down to just ONE guitar, and scrounging around the net seems to suggest that I can modify ONE relatively inexpensive guitar to do everything I want from a guitar. It just wouldn't be as INexpensive by then...:D
 
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I'd say that if it plays great, then it's your guitar for software/modelling purposes. Different pickup configurations do provide a nice spectrum but really if you're doing the guitar rig thing, a nice playing guitar is pretty essential in determining the end product.

I've played with Amplitube and some other modelling software but with all of them my frustrations aren't with my guitar or its pickups. it's with the sofware's inability to react like an actual amp.
 
I hear you, Tadpui. I don't have access to any real amplifiers, so I guess I don't recognize most limitations/shortcomings of this amp simulator software. Ignorance is bliss.:D

I'm not focused on recreating specific amp/hardware sounds; I'm really looking for ways to produce my own ideas, so the amp sim software puts a TREMENDOUS variety of soundshaping "hardware" at my disposal.

Careful notching out of trouble frequencies via parametric EQ seems to help correct some amp sim deficiencies. SEE THIS LINK
 
Yamaha pacifica 112 $400 AUD
Fender Squire Stratocaster - $200 AUD

I've gigged with squires and use them to record all the time, i own 2 squires, and a squire bass too. They're great for the price.
 
Yes, the Squires are highly recommended and Yamaha Pacifica is my first choice for a "fat strat" (bridge humbucker and two single coil pickups). For now, I expect to receive my Cort Z42 in a couple of days. It has a coil-split feature that's supposed to provide a single-coil-like sound from it's two humbuckers. That'll have to be my "Strat" sound for a while.

If it plays really well but sounds just okay, I'll likely stick with the Z42 and replace the pickups with Seymour Duncan P-rails which can be switched to provide three distinct pickup sounds.
 
that's probably a good bet. With a software based setup, the pickups will probably be important enough to replace if they don't suit you. Heck i guess that goes for all guitar rigs anyways.

I won't knock modelling software, especially since its come so far since I've really given it a test drive. I'm just one of the lucky ones that gets to play as loud as he wants whenever so its hard to beat a respectable tube amp :)
 
Tadpui said:
I'm just one of the lucky ones that gets to play as loud as he wants whenever so its hard to beat a respectable tube amp :)
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Excellent. That's the BEST situation of all. You're right, SOUND as it relates to neighbors or family members is an important issue.

Beyond that, consider the SPACE issue. GuitarRig4 provides dozens of guitar and bass amps and cabinets, and a huge number of effects/outboard gear simulations. I'd have to build an addition onto the house just to store that much equipment, much less use it. And then I'd have to dust it all off every couple of weeks :D. With GR4, I shut down my computer and POOF!, it all disappears.

As for COST, I bought Native Instruments Komplete 6 for $500. It consists of 7 (I think) applications, some more useful to me than others. A little "loose math" suggests GR4 cost me about $100. Compare that to the banner ad running on this page right now for Sweetwater's $4800 "Dream Guitar Rig" constest, which consists of just a fat strat copy, an amp and an effects pedal system.

I'm just gonna have to learn to work with GR4 :D
 

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