[demonrail666]

OK, so I've finally saved up enough to really go to town on a set up. £2k

I've looked at some of the usual guitar forums but they're about as helpful as a one legged life-guard. So, here's the deal: I want a solid, reliable set up that's gonna make me feel like a total bitch on stage, is loud enough to annoy and, well, that's about it really.

Think loud, think sexy, think!

[Danny Himself]

Ebayed Fender Jazzmaster > BOSS Phase Shifter > MXR Blue Box > Random Amp. Never fails.

There's a picture here:
http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/showthread.php?t=3414

That's just my set-up, however. There's other more fined-tuned equipment professionals on this board (CHOUT, Savage Clone, etc). I'd check out the various effects and guitar threads you can find in the old search function.

[demonrail666]

I've heard that Fender Twins pack on extreme amount of kick for a combo.

[soapbars]

Random Amp. Never fails.

I disagree with that,

if youve got 2 grand dont just randomly pick anything. Spend some time learning about stuff.

Harmony Central is a great site with loads of reviews, if youve tried a product and like it, a few extra opinions can really help give you the confidence you want when spending alot.

what type of sound do you want? go to loads of guitar shops and try out everything you like the look of.

what guitar and amp have you got at the moment?

what do you like about them?

what do you dislike about them?

Your only as strong as your weakest link so its best to make sure everything youve got sounds great is reliable and with your budget it easily should be.

Fender Amps are great and theres dealerships everywhere so youre covered if one breaks down if youre on the road. The best advice anyone can say is get what sounds best to you instead of me telling what id buy.

Saying that theres a reason why everyone who plays guitar has a big muff and a rat.

[demonrail666]

I'm pretty struck on the Fender thing. The amp, definitely, although I'm not sure about whehter to go with a Strat or a Tele. I've played both and like them equally, but for very different reasons.

[drrrtyboots]

As far a pedal set-ups, you'll probably want some kind of distortion or fuzz and maybe some delay or other things depending on what sound you're going for. I personally love the sound of a good ol' tubed amp so you should ask yourself the whole tube vs solid state question. In the end, consider the sound you're going for and try lots of stuff out before buying. Good luck, its quite a journey.

[Iain]

All you need is a black flying v guitar, a big ole amp, a sweet 'do and some tight leathers.

[SpectralJulianIsNotDead]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

I'm pretty struck on the Fender thing. The amp, definitely, although I'm not sure about whehter to go with a Strat or a Tele. I've played both and like them equally, but for very different reasons.

Telecaster > Stratocaster IMO.

As far as amps:

Fender Twin Reverb
Fender Bassman (vintage blackfaces are the best- with a 2x12, incredibly hot)
Fender Deluxe Reverb
Fender Vibrolux (twins and bassmen are louder, but Vibroluxes are awesome)

As for pedals: you can't go wrong with a good fuzz and delay. A little big muff pi and a deluxe memory man would do you well. You can always get a bunch of behringers, danelectros, and arions. They are all pretty cheap between 15 and 50 each (USD that is).

Some other guitars I'd recommend:
Epiphone Casinos- they are very awesome
Various Les Paul copies- try them out first. You can find some real gems.


Now Personally- if I had no gear worth gigging with and had 2k pounds which is almost roughly 4k USD- I'd spend 1200 on a 1960's Fender Blackface Bassman + cab, 1k on a Fender Jazzmaster, 60 on a little big muff, 200 on a moog ring mod, 300 on a moog freqbox, 200 on a polyphase, 40 on an expression pedal, 300 on a moog control processer, 100 on a CV sequencer, 120 on an EHX clone theory, 200 on an ehx deluxe memory man, 250 on an EHX POG, and the rest on cables and kits from www.buildyourownclone.com

Man, that would be a nice set up.

[soapbars]

Originally Posted by SpectralJulianIsNotDead

Telecaster > Stratocaster IMO.

As far as amps:

Fender Twin Reverb
Fender Bassman (vintage blackfaces are the best- with a 2x12, incredibly hot)
Fender Deluxe Reverb
Fender Vibrolux (twins and bassmen are louder, but Vibroluxes are awesome)

As for pedals: you can't go wrong with a good fuzz and delay. A little big muff pi and a deluxe memory man would do you well. You can always get a bunch of behringers, danelectros, and arions. They are all pretty cheap between 15 and 50 each (USD that is).

Some other guitars I'd recommend:
Epiphone Casinos- they are very awesome
Various Les Paul copies- try them out first. You can find some real gems.


Now Personally- if I had no gear worth gigging with and had 2k pounds which is almost roughly 4k USD- I'd spend 1200 on a 1960's Fender Blackface Bassman + cab, 1k on a Fender Jazzmaster, 60 on a little big muff, 200 on a moog ring mod, 300 on a moog freqbox, 200 on a polyphase, 40 on an expression pedal, 300 on a moog control processer, 100 on a CV sequencer, 120 on an EHX clone theory, 200 on an ehx deluxe memory man, 250 on an EHX POG, and the rest on cables and kits from www.buildyourownclone.com

Man, that would be a nice set up.

I agree about Telecasters but of the bassmans my favourite is the '59 tweed? 4 x 10 combo, its sort of a dark vintage cream colour and the beefiest sounding amp ive ever plugged into.

Also if youve never bought or used an effects pedal before thats a lot to get at once, Id say youll beneffit more from getting one at a time and figuring out everything it can do, and then add another and so forth, that way youre not just getting loads of the sake of having loads and using 'wacky sounds' constantly instead of just playing. Saying that im not discouraging the use of them but saying youll get more out of it if you take it slowly.

Im about to buy an orange amp because they sound fucking awesome, if i was you id try plugging into one.

[Onani Nic]

get cheap shit, it's more punxxxx

[demonrail666]

Thanks for that advice. The amp thing seems the most difficult to settle on (wierdly).

Oh, and about £2k being the equiv. of $4k, its roughly 1-1 when it comes to guitars. a $1k guitar will cost me around £1k.

[CHOUT]

Got any stores around? It never hurts to check out used gear.

[Isoflurane]

Originally Posted by CHOUT

Got any stores around? It never hurts to check out used gear.

I second that.
From now on, I'll probably only buy used shit.
Pawn shops turn up some cool shit.
Don't be afraid of cheap shit, some good stuff can be had for cheap.

For guitars, I usually go for Gibsons (SGs), but if you're new to playing, I'd find someone who isn't and take them along so you could find a guitar that plays well.
The most vintage, beautifully finished telecaster can be rendered worthless if it plays like shit. You can fix playability to some extent, but some geetars are beyond repair.
You're not the curator for an art museum, you're a purveyor of rock.

[SpectralJulianIsNotDead]

Originally Posted by soapbars

I agree about Telecasters but of the bassmans my favourite is the '59 tweed? 4 x 10 combo, its sort of a dark vintage cream colour and the beefiest sounding amp ive ever plugged into.

Also if youve never bought or used an effects pedal before thats a lot to get at once, Id say youll beneffit more from getting one at a time and figuring out everything it can do, and then add another and so forth, that way youre not just getting loads of the sake of having loads and using 'wacky sounds' constantly instead of just playing. Saying that im not discouraging the use of them but saying youll get more out of it if you take it slowly.

Im about to buy an orange amp because they sound fucking awesome, if i was you id try plugging into one.

I'm not the thread starter. My friend had an Orange amp- meh. I have a silverface bassman myself.

I agree about the fx, just saying if I was in his situation what I'd do with my current knowledge. But starting out- 1 at a time.

[king_buzzo]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

OK, so I've finally saved up enough to really go to town on a set up. £2k

I've looked at some of the usual guitar forums but they're about as helpful as a one legged life-guard. So, here's the deal: I want a solid, reliable set up that's gonna make me feel like a total bitch on stage, is loud enough to annoy and, well, that's about it really.

Think loud, think sexy, think!

dude, i recon, dont spend too much money on the guitar, and buy a really decent amp.

guitars: either a fender strat, tele, somehting simple, because youre just starting out. are you? or do you still have some shit?

amps:
fender tweed reverb
fender blues deluxe (cheap but awesome)

peds:

listen to yr favourite bands, and then see what kinda sound you like.

but ofcourse i say big muff and rat. dont buy a lot of pedals, first buy the guitar and amp and then buy pedals after if you really need them. (so if you have a crappy amp, you'll need pedals and if you dont if you have something like the twin reverb it will sound great)

but yeah, but the simplest things that are easy to set up and sound well. like someone else said tele>strat and yes its true.

keep away from squiers and other copies. and chinese fenders. china<mim<cij<usa

[scott v]

You must seriously do some research on this, and it can be done on the internet, there are ALOT of forums and boards to get info...

This is what i have found over the years i have only been playing for maybe 8 years (and been in bands for about 5) and i've done alot of research and learned alot from friends who have been musicians alot longer than me, developed my own sound and only maybe within the last 3 years had a firm handle and obtained what i want soundwise with the right equipment.

As far as amps go, if you go with a Tube amps they generally sound better and give better tone and you can inflect more of you playing style into them, however they are abit of work to maintain in the long run and probably need professional care unless you get familiar with these things yourself (like tube matching, biasing etc etc...) they are also generally alot LOUDER and pack alot of punch depending on what wattage you get. You have to be honest with what you are doing, if you seriously only a "closet player" and play in your house and not much else do not go out and buy a Marshall Stack or a Fender Twin or it will shake your house down and piss the neighbors off, because these amps are ment to be played at a decent volume level. however if you are serious about gigging and playing live you want a half way decent amp as far as power goes. if you are playing small gigs then anything from 20W tube to 60W tube should be sufficient, and if you are playing a with a drummer (which is another variable i left out) have that amp miced so you can be heard over a drummer. generally anything from 75W 100W Tube is good when playing anything up to midsize venues with a band (w/ bass and drums and another guitarist) but in this day in age with PA systems you can boost your sound in that way...

Peavey Bandits are generally loud especially the older ones from the 80's or earlier (similar to the one Kegmama is showing) the advantage is that they are loud and solid state circuitry, they don't need Tube maintenance which can be a royal headache. are these 60W? i forgot i haven't played one in a longtime but with most amps 60W solid state is not very loud, but with these Peaveys its different... Thurston plays these and is one of his fav. noise/improv amps to use, he has played these with a drummer too (chris corsano).

Fender Twins are nice because they are loud and clean sounding, that is if you want to have a clean sound (and then manipulate it from there with effects and distortion) you can't really go wrong. they range in price in the US from $600 to over $2000 depending on if it is new/used, model, year, blackface vs. silverface, pre-CBS, etc etc... I have an early 70's silverfaced twin that was modded, where the vibrato preamp was bypassed to give an overall preamp boost, making the amp from a 75W tube to sounding like a 100W tube sound... i have never cranked it much past 4 or 5 because it just shakes they hell out of everything surrounding it, but still sounds good with and with the right pre-volume i can get a nice tube breakup distortion. i have easily been able to compete with any stack (thats one 4x12" cab.) soundwise... got lucky and got mine from a friend at a bargain price and have had much pleasure with it for the 2 years i've had it thus far... i've had changed all the tubes though i know at some point it will need to seriously be biased and eventually re-capped (capacitors replaced) which is a maintanence issue that can cost $200 to $300 or more US dollars...

[SpectralJulianIsNotDead]

Peaveys can sound wonderfully awful in some interesting ways.

[king_buzzo]

yeah. i dont really like peaveys. still i think everyone will say if youre just starting out to buy something modest.

its stupid if like, someone sees your awesome rig and asks you to play something and you dont know shit.
its kind of like 13 yr old rich kids strugling to play teen spirit on a gibson.

get an acoustic first... or not.

post what sound youre into