need a new axe =)

  • Thread starter Thread starter PeterKang
  • Start date Start date
I second the peavey classic line. I must admit that I was never a big fan of peavey gear, however looking in the similar line of the fender deville's, the peavey classic comes in a 4x10 that will give the fenders a run for their money for half the price. The clean sounds are pristine, and the lead channel crushes the fender's because of the el84 tubes, as opposed to the 6L6's the fender uses. Definitely consider it if you're looking for a great clean tone with a decent channel. It comes in a head to if you're looking for a half stack.

good luck,
Brandon
 
ARRRGH. So many opinions saturating a 15 year old.

Here's some rules (generalizations):

- Mesa/Boogies produce full distortion sounds and pristine clean sounds.

I say generalizations because I have not played all models. However, I own a TriAxis and a Quad and have played a Triple Rec stack and a Single Rec combo. All of these amps produce great distortions and great cleans. The TriAxis and Quad are only preamps. A used TriAxis can run around $900 and a Quad can go as low as around $400. Both will give you shimmering cleans and thick and versatile distortions.

- Marshalls give at least one incredible distortion.

We're talking DLS and TSL's. NOT Valvestates (generally: *yuk*). I don't own a Marshall. I have played Marshalls that have had great distortions but did not have good clean tones. I've never heard anyone comment on Marshall generally having incredible clean tones until this thread.

- Fenders give great clean tones.

Some Fender owners think they give good distortions. However, the one Fender I own gives good cleans and crap dirt unless I use a good pedal or preamp in front of it.


Those are some of the most accepted axioms of the top three amp makers. If you have any further questions about the two Boogie preamps, feel free to ask.
 
Also, I've owned quite a few Peaveys including a Backstage, a Studio Pro, a Rockmaster, and a 5150. I still own a Bravo. Some were great, some were shit. However, the Peavey Classics are generally pretty good.
 
Definitely upgrade your amp. If you're thinking Marshall, avoid the Valvestat line. I got better Marshall tones out of my Roland JC120 and a Sansamp than my buddy did with his Valvestat!

Ironically, I get some great clean tones out of my Marshall Artist 3203 fronted with a Mesa Boogie V-Twin. But it also doesn't hurt that I have a Musicman Sillouette Special guitar.... a guitar definitely worth looking into.
 
That reminds me, you can get some great sounds from the Tech 21 amps. I have the GT2 and PSA-1 emulators. The Trademark 10 and 60 are modeled after these emulators and get very good tones.
 
aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhi dunno what to get!!!! this is killing me. the money that i will soon start saving up will be hard earned and i dont ant to waste it. I feel that i am too early in my music to spend the money on a mesa boogie, but will deffinatley consider it later down the line maybea few years from now

for a while i was set on a randall or a marshall specifically the avt150 although taht is a tad expensive as well.
please give me ur opinions

i also need to get a good distortion and need some setting recommendations. my knobs on the pedal are low , high, and distortion(gain, or drive)
my music is predominantly power pop with my band and can go into genres such as blues or classic rock when practicing by myself.


as for the guitar, i really feel that i need a double humbucking guitar. i was thin,ing about changing the p-ups on my american fender, however i decidded that i would regret that later, because i want the hearty clean tones as well

i was thinking on a samick, an epi ,schecter, or esp
i think that epi and gibsons are wayyyyyyyyyyy too overrated tho. especially the lp series, just my opinion, they are good guitars, just blown out of proportion.

if any of these brands ring a good tone, can anyone suggest any models and any good places to buy them? thanks

my music store only has 2 samicks, the blues series, wiht the humbucking and the single coil( i think its called the icicle color series or something)

thanks so much all! =)
 
Keep this in mind: You want both a decent amp and a good guitar on a limited budget. By spreading your $$ between each, you are going to get half as good of each. Your current guitar is decent. Focus on a good amp.

Regarding your humbucker dilemma: Even though you mentioned not changing the pickups on your Strat, you may want to consider a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails in the bridge position. The Hot Rails is a humbucker that fits in a single coil slot. It will help beef up your tone and clean up the noise on your Strat so you can get a decent amp. It won't make the Strat sound like a Les Paul, but it will give you a hotter pickup for your dirty tones while retaining some of the good Strat tonality.

I have a Hot Rails in the bridge position on my Strat and love the tone. Especially because I generally prefer humbuckers. Like I mentioned, the Hot Rails keeps some of the Strat tone while reducing noise and giving a hotter output that works well with the remaining single coils.

If you are set on another guitar, you might want to consider a Yamaha Pacifica which gives a decent quality guitar for a good price. Talk to Gidge about this one.

Regarding the amps:
You have some tips, now go audition some amps! We can give suggestions regarding general amp characteristics and our preferences, but the ultimate decision is up to your own preferences.

Note: When trying the amps out, play the tunes you play in your band, especially the easy stuff. Don't worry about impressing thet salesman or other customers. They've heard it all before. By playing easy stuff, you aren't concentrating so much on your playing that you can't pay attention to the amp's tone.
 
i'll secons lopp... get an amp... a decent second hand TUBE marshall will make your strat become bad-ass... however, in the future you could still buy a sg with a nice 500t humbucker and be blown away (ok ok i admit... it's my gear ;) )

anyway, point being; marshall or mesa give great distortions... the guitar doesn't matter THAT much... not in the stage your in now...

Guhlenn happy amp hunt!:)

Marshall AVT's are not tube... people will ell ya they're fine but in the end you'll end up buying a nice DSL or Recto or mark or whatever... I'm trying to be somewhat impartial here...
 
i am not very far with myband right now..
but do u guys think that it would be worth it to buy ahead and cab?

i need some recommendations as i do not know much on waht is good and waht isnt when it comes with tube heads, same with cabs
thanks
 
Is a JB Jr out of the question for the bridge of your existing strat??
And use the money you save towards a new amp?
 
i dont really know what a jb jr p up is

as for my favorite bands and gutiarists, it is really stuff that could be hard to show u guys cuz most of the stuff is really undergroud.. but i would like to have a good p-chord sound, a thick and full sound, also i would like someting good to play lead tunes.
something with high output proabbly


i was considering getti ng a squier double fat strat, and putting in 2 invader pickups

althought i dotn know how well that would work
 
new axe

Hey Peter, don't give up quite so fast on Epiphone. Now I had a nice SG with humbuckers, but wanted some single coil sound also. I couln't swing another destroyer class axe, so I started playing bully bolt on Epiphone SG specials and went through Oh, 10 or 12 before I found one with no buzzes, a straight neck, and near perfect intonation. (You can be sure the nice salesman at GC remembers me!) Once having achived this I said, gee I sure would like some P-90's on this. Problem is, they don't fit in the same pit as the (cheap knockoff) humbuckers.
So we installed a Duncan j3 neck and cst5 bridge pickup- (about) $140.00 the pair, and a push-pull pot, and I get to switch back and forth for a total of about $340! You see, I could've gone with any number of fender clones, but my fingers just want a Gibson neck, although I can play a tele in a pinch.
This arrangement works so well that I finally said "screw it", and put the Duncans in the SG supreme, and dropped the humbuckers from the SG into the Epiphone. One more push-pull pot, and you can use the hybrid strat pickup combos as well. There are 2 morals to this story. The first is that if you give a monkey a typewriter, he'll spell a word sooner or later, and if you go through enough cheap solid bodies of almost any make, you'll find one sooner or later that some Indonesian, Korean, or whatever dude actually made right by pure coincedence. I'll admit, I have not yet found the Chinese Squier tele yet, but I'll find it about the time I win the lottery!
Once you find a board with a tuneable bridge and a good neck, you can drop its heart into it in any flavor you want. The money I saved auditioning a shitload of cheap guitars saved me enough money to build a better guitar than I could have bought premade. The second moral is that you make the guitar fit you, rather than fitting yourself to the guitar you can afford. Really, try playing about 15 Epiphone Les Paul studios sometime, it's worth it just to see the look on the salesman's face when you plug in #9! Best of luck- Richie
 
i don't think the kid has enough experience to go and pick out a good epi... anyway what i really can give you (for advise that is) is to go to a decent store and try out AT LEAST a marshall jcm 2000 (DSL or TSL) and if you like it A LOT .... you know you like marshall. MArshall is sort of the standard to start... everything else is

OR way more expensive (like mesa boogie)

OR a marshall knock-off...

second hand marshall's are really affordable and they retain there value...


Guhlenn
 
No doubt, Guhlenn.

Hopefully you don't fall into the pitfall I did when I was a young teenager and ignorant (not that you're ignorant). I wanted a half stack regardless of the tone. I ended up getting a solid state Fender M80 half stack. Not terrible, but not stellar. Form over substance. Ended up ditching it for a 5150 and eventually a Boogie.

Go audition the jcm 2000's and/or Mesa/Boogies to hear what a good amp sounds like. The whole point of buying from a local store is because you can try before you buy. Hopefully you have a few stores to try different brands or one store that stocks a ton of brands.

Don't let a salesman bully you into buying a certain amp. All they care about is making a sale that day on an amp with a good profit margin.

Once you have some ideas of what you like and what's available, bring 'em back here before you buy. Especially because it's generally not a good idea to buy anything the day you try it because you can get swoped up in the excitement of getting a new amp and you won't be as objective about the actual quality.


Matt
 
Don't count out the Line6 stuff. Say you get a Spyder... then spend the money saved on a JB jr humbucker for your strat... I'll testify that the JB jr will give you a fat sound. I played a cheap.. and I mean cheap Fernandez strat that had one through a Hughes and Kettner at the store... chills... I'm getting one for my Musicman Silloutte Special and I'll probably coil tap it. Anybody know how to coil tap?
 
$1000 for a Gibson is not overblown by any means. Around $800 seems to be the magic price point for quality guitars. Anything cheaper than that and you might as well just spend $200.

That has been my experience.
 
thanks all!

im kinda blown away by all of this stuff.
but i might consider taking out the bridge sigle coil for my strat
and putting in a hot rails strat replacement pickup


as for the half stack...

i would like to get a decnet marshall all tube , however i dont know if it is wihtin my range.
 
save up and search my friend. in the end you'll hear the difference... and you'll be glad you've saved and got a decent amp...

that's why i don't like line 6 stuff. sure it's fine but in a year you will hear the difference between line 6 and tube and you'll want tube...

and most definately do not buy the amp the same day... anything will sound good when you have a lot of cash to blow ;) so make your choice , post it here, go back the next week and if you still like it as much as the first time you made yourself a deal ...

oh, you could also test at the store and buy from ebay or something... costs usually go down by half that way... storeowner wont like it... but who cares? you can buy stuff there when you're rich.

Guhlenn
 
guhlenn said:
and most definately do not buy the amp the same day... anything will sound good when you have a lot of cash to blow ;) so make your choice , post it here, go back the next week and if you still like it as much as the first time you made yourself a deal ...
Click to expand...

Damn, I like the way you think. ;)

Regarding the Marshall, FYI, a new JCM2000 DSL50 Head will run you around a grand (maybe a bit cheaper if you hunt around). You can get a used Mesa/Boogie for a similar price. Make sure you try one before your buy it!

A cheap cab can run around $300, double that for a kick ass cab (recommended).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top