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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Electric → amp question..
hi guys, im a new member. im just a beginner, i have a squier calif series in vintage white, coz thats just wat i can afford. wat amp would you suggest for a beginner and a poor boy like me?
depends
you can pick up a nice 15watt amp for around 50quid second hand
however if you want something with better sounds about less then 100quid
it just depends on what you want it too do
If you're just a beginner then I'd recommend you don't get an amp, get a pod - a virtual amp. First off this will allow you to practise for hours silently, great for maintaining relations with flat-mates, family etc. Second you get to try out a huge range of amps so when you do get to gigging you'll know whether you want a mannered Fender or a screaming Marshall. If you really want something to practise with friends look for a 10 watt cheapo amp. Mine was only £30 and only 8 watts but it can rock.
cynthia-- whats a pod? how big? wat does it look like? how much?
cynthia-- whats a pod? how big? wat does it look like? how much?
A POD is an amp moduler, it will allow you to get various amp manufactures sounds (ie. Laney, Fender, Mesa Boogie, you get the point). It will also get you multi-guitar effects all rolled in one. I would go with a small practice amp since you stated that you are a beginner. I understand the reasoning behind Cytania's reply that it is more bang for your buck but it may be also to much in your development stage for you right now.
You want something to start learning your guitar and the tone it is capabile of. With the moduler its like 100 flavors of ice cream and your first taste you want all 100 and you'll end up with a stomach ache. I don't know what 50 quit equivilates to in American dollars but you can get some good solid state practice amps for under $100.00 American. Go to Harmony Central and look up practice amps and read some of the reviews then go try some with your guitar not inhouse instruments that way you know what it will sound like.
Of course the sound will change in the settings you will be practicing but you will at least get an idea of the sound of your new prospective rig.
Good luck.
Bootlegger
Bootlegger guitars.
I have a Roland Micro Cube...it's small, lightweight and can operate off of batteries, A/C adapter, or auto adapter. It sounds amazing for a small amp. I paid $125 for mine at Guitar Center. It's plenty loud for using in the house and I've started using it in church and miking it into the house sound system. You can check it out a www.musiciansfriend.com or www.rolandusa.com . In comparison I also have several other amps from 100 watt down to 30 watt, but I love this little Roland for practice and portablility...
One thing I've learned the hard way, don''t by an amp without really trying it out. What I mean is..take YOUR guitar to the music store and plug it in to several different amps. This way you know what sound you will get. For example, most fenders do quite well though a peavey, but my les paul sounds weak through one, but punch her through a vintage marshall and well...you get the picture.
Dont worry about wether your locale music store will allow this...all good ones will.
well i think ill get an amp as what bootleger said it might hurt my stomach by buying a POD. lolz. hewilson, so where does squier sounds better? any idea? im from new zealand by the way guys.
Line 6 make the POD which is currently on the 2.0 and XT version. Behringer make the Vamp2 which is what I have. I understand what you are saying about ice-cream flavours. I'm sorta helped by the fact that most of the presets are for metal which isn't my thing. I tend to stick to a 3 or 4 basic workable presets but I can see there's a danger of getting tone-twiddling-itis.
hewilson, so where does squier sounds better? any idea?
I might be wrong here but, I've always thought a Squire was a "little Fender". Pump it through a Peavey amp , or if you can afford one a fender twin...It will sound tasty.
hewilson, so where does squier sounds better? any idea?
I might be wrong here but, I've always thought a Squire was a "little Fender". Pump it through a Peavey amp , or if you can afford one a fender twin...It will sound tasty.
Hewilson,
A couple of things you have to ask yourself in your search for an amp.
#1, As usual how much money do you have to spend?
#2, What type of sound (style of music) do you play or want to?
#3, A Squire is the bottom of the ladder Fender guitar, and a basic beginner guitar. If you pump in a load of cash into a quality amp as the above mentioned you still have a guitar that your playing with inferior electronics. The amp will sound good, but you won't get a great sound because of the guitar.
Just some things to consider.
Bootlegger.
hewilson wrote:hewilson, so where does squier sounds better? any idea?
I might be wrong here but, I've always thought a Squire was a "little Fender". Pump it through a Peavey amp , or if you can afford one a fender twin...It will sound tasty.
Hewilson,
A couple of things you have to ask yourself in your search for an amp.
#1, As usual how much money do you have to spend?
#2, What type of sound (style of music) do you play or want to?
#3, A Squire is the bottom of the ladder Fender guitar, and a basic beginner guitar. If you pump in a load of cash into a quality amp as the above mentioned you still have a guitar that your playing with inferior electronics. The amp will sound good, but you won't get a great sound because of the guitar.
Just some things to consider.
Bootlegger.
so what amp doyou recommend? i have about $200-300 new zealand dollar to spend for an amp. i play well not actually play yet, but i want to play alternative to heavy metal songs. im thinkin of buyin asap. thanks..
PODS are nice. I love mine, but you should get an amp before you start with effects. You'll spend more time fiddling with the POD then you will practicing.
Get a small 15 watt tube amp. They sound great, are louder than a comparable solid state amp, and when you get some effects, you can plug 'em right in. Most amps have a headphone jack out, so if you don't want to but the neighbors, you'll still be OK.
bootleger wrote:hewilson wrote:hewilson, so where does squier sounds better? any idea?
I might be wrong here but, I've always thought a Squire was a "little Fender". Pump it through a Peavey amp , or if you can afford one a fender twin...It will sound tasty.
Hewilson,
A couple of things you have to ask yourself in your search for an amp.
#1, As usual how much money do you have to spend?
#2, What type of sound (style of music) do you play or want to?
#3, A Squire is the bottom of the ladder Fender guitar, and a basic beginner guitar. If you pump in a load of cash into a quality amp as the above mentioned you still have a guitar that your playing with inferior electronics. The amp will sound good, but you won't get a great sound because of the guitar.
Just some things to consider.
Bootlegger.
so what amp doyou recommend? i have about $200-300 new zealand dollar to spend for an amp. i play well not actually play yet, but i want to play alternative to heavy metal songs. im thinkin of buyin asap. thanks..
NZelectric:
Since you don't play yet it doesn't matter if you have an amp or not. It will just sit in the corner collecting dust. If you want an alternative or metal type of sound than go with the Fender or Marshall tube amp. You can get the desired sound you want through some effect pedals. Once you are more seasoned (experienced) you can look at the POD's and multi effects. As Jerome.oneil replied go with a small 15 watt tube amp. Fender makes a Champ amp (retro style) that goes for about $199.00 American (I' don't know the equivalancy rate USA to NZ).
But as I mentioned sound is personnel preference you'll have to find your's.
Bootlegger.
thanks bootleger. ill check out the price tag of that fender champ. well actually ive tried about only 2 amps a ibanez 15 watt and a fender 15g, correct me if im right. their both $nz200. maybe the fender champ is quite higher price. coz im looking for an amp that will last so if the time come that i bought a new electric guitar i can still use the amp.
i read all about the reviews about amps on ultimate guitar, the fender that "i can afford" fender 15g, 15r, 25r have pretty much bad rating, and the marshall amps MG15CDR and MG15DFX have such high rating and also the line 6 spider III 15, should i follow this reviews? these are the amps that i can afford. hehe
I've certainly found the amp reviews at Harmony Central are of the 'connoiseurs with unlimited budget' variety. My own little amp got rubbish review there. Yet because I annoyed the shop thoroughly by trying out every amp that was vaguely portable with my guitar I know that it sounds as good if not better than amps costing 4 times as much, at least to my humble ears.
It all depends on what you want from an amp. Fender tend to be mild-mannered giving clean sounds that are right for blues and country, you _can_ get them to growl just a bit but not much. Marshall on the other hand tend to be built with high-gain (distortion) in mind, making them for decades the choice of rock and metal bands. I'd hazard a guess that the reviewer at Ultimate Guitar want to shred and thrash.
Keep on trying amps out you'll learn far more than reviews can tell.
I agree on one point cytania made , "Keep trying amps out". A Fender can bark with the right effects chain. Alot of people are now using more Laney's, Rivera's and Mesa Boogie's their hotter and Marshall is still a good amp.
Bootlegger.
"hotter" what do you mean by that? coz i know laney's are cheaper than fender and marshall i had look at one. laney's also had a high rating on that review. i think mesa boogie are way to expensive for me, i havnt seen a cheap one yet.
I suspect by 'hotter' we mean dynamic controlled distortion, the edge the amp puts on a clean signal and how it responds to the intensity of playing. For some people they may just want a little snarl but for other's they want a full-blown screaming wall of noise; and everything inbetween. Mokes for folks.
cytania and bootleger: if you were to buy which one of these would you preffer?
laney, marshall,line6 or fender? in which all product are the $nz200-300.
thanks guys
nzelectric:
Because of the music style I prefer to play (classic rock, blues & heavy metal 70's to 80's style) I would choose the Fender (I have two) because it has that warmer tube sound and I can get really nasty with my J-station (amp moduler) or Boss ME-50 (multi-effects stomp box). That's not to say that the Marshall (great amps but I don't need a or can swing a $2000.00 to $3000.00 full stack tube rig) is a second choice, I have no experience with Laneys.
I would tend to stay away from a Line 6 only because it has a built in amp moduler and if something goes wrong them your amp is down. With a tube amp if you have a bad pedal (effect) dead battery, blown fuse or bad tube you replace it and are back up and playing. Not to say the same that Line 6 is a bad product just less things that go wrong. My perspective because you asked 
.
Bootlegger.
nzelectric:
Because of the music style I prefer to play (classic rock, blues & heavy metal 70's to 80's style) I would choose the Fender (I have two) because it has that warmer tube sound and I can get really nasty with my J-station (amp moduler) or Boss ME-50 (multi-effects stomp box). That's not to say that the Marshall (great amps but I don't need a or can swing a $2000.00 to $3000.00 full stack tube rig) is a second choice, I have no experience with Laneys.
I would tend to stay away from a Line 6 only because it has a built in amp moduler and if something goes wrong them your amp is down. With a tube amp if you have a bad pedal (effect) dead battery, blown fuse or bad tube you replace it and are back up and playing. Not to say the same that Line 6 is a bad product just less things that go wrong. My perspective because you asked
Bootlegger.
what model of fender do you got?
nzlectric:
My main rig is a Fender DeVille 60 watt with 410's (4, 10 inch jensen speakers). It's plenty loud for what I do, if I want or need to be louder I can patch into a house syetem (club or venue board).
My second Fender is a silver faced Champ amp little practice amp.
I have also owned a Fender Bandmaster 40 watt tube head with a Fender cab that had Fender 212's in it.
I also currently have a Randall RG80, 80 watt with a celestion 12 in it, A Roland blues cube 30 watt with a 10" vintage, and a Behringer AC1200 60 watt acoustic amp and a Rockman headphone amp.
Bootlegger.
bootleger:
what the hell do you do with all those amp? i think you also have a lot of guitars! those are expensive amps though. im looking between fender and marshall brands now. ill visit the local shop to check it out tommorrow, hopefully if im not busy at work.
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Electric → amp question..
