Guitar help/info

[bosshog]

Hello all,

I used to play (an ibanez) guitar when I was a teenager (now 40) for about 8 years or so. I'm seriously considering starting again. I've been doing a little googling and the guitars seem to be the same as before, but the amps , peddles, software is totally different.

Feel a bit lost in 'the land of guitars' and whats new etc. I presume effect boxes are all software controlled now? Amps - aside from the older classics there seems to be a lot of new ones out there.

Where can I start with all this?

thanks

[zygalski]

What style & where are you planning to play?

After about 5 or 6 years of not playing, I bought an Ibanez JS 100 which was about £600 new a couple of years ago.
It's a very easy guitar to play reasonably well & a great alternative to a strat. The sound seems a bit thicker/richer too, so to me it's more flexible.
I just use it at home with a Peavey Envoy 40w which is plenty powerful enough & sounds like a tube.
As for effects, the new multi's seem really good. This is an area that's come on leaps & bounds in the last 10 years.
I remember getting a Zoom 505 in the early 90's & thinking it was the dogs. Lol.
Some effects are best left old-school.
Get an original Boss CE-2 Chorus off the bay & thank me later.

[bosshog]

zygalski said:

What style & where are you planning to play?

Where: at home
Style: good question which I cannot answer. I used to be a metaller, but got into all the classic stuff as well (Page/hendrix/some classical/funk). So bit of a mixed bag and until I start playing again, I'm not sure which direction I'll end up going.

For the guitar I've always wanted a Les Paul standard and I'm in the position to buy one now. However I vaguely seem to remember they weren't the most comfortable/easy to play, so I think it will just come down to me trying a load out. I'm after a fairly warm and versatile guitar.

For the amps, effects etc I have no idea. I'm more interested in 'whats new' (if anything). I'm completely clueless on the Amp (used to have a Marshall), and would like an effect box/thing/software that gives me a good range of effects at a decent price.

zygalski said:

Get an original Boss CE-2 Chorus off the bay & thank me later.

I think I have one of those back in the Uk.

Edited by bosshog on Tuesday 8th May 07:27

[Gaspode]

For an amp combo, you could do worse than buying a Roland Micro Cube. I've got an RX model, and it comes with a range of effects and amp models, as well as a simple drum machine.

http://www.roland.co.uk/products/productdetails.as...

[zygalski]

I used an Epiphone Les Paul for about 10 years.
They're a cracking buy at about a quater the price of a Gibson.
http://www.richtonemusic.co.uk/products/epiphone_l...

[6th Gear]

PRS Custom 24.

Try one now. Thank me later.

[Gaspode]

Guitars are such a personal choice, aren't they? The look, the feel, the sound are all in the mix somewhere, and it's not easy to pin down what makes one guitar great and another just another axe - even when they are the ostensibly the same model.

I have very small hands, so Strats suit me fine. I would always recommend giving them a look as they have something at every price point.

But nothing beats sitting in your local guitar store having a go on a range of different guitars.

[chris5150]

You know what your guitar wishes will change/morph/move along as you play again. What you think you want now may well not be what you like in a year or so...thats the nature of the beast. I own quite a collection of PRS's and currently my fave guitars are the Nik Huber Orca..( this is what a les paul should be ), loving the black sparkle John Cruz masterbuilt tele relic, a tele with the humbucker/floyd & kill switch and the strat is not bad, but the tele is just so right. Dont know if its a phase but just struggling with 'new, shiny, play like butter, AAAAAAA topped' guitars.there is just such a great vibe in old/battered, differant stuff.
Dont know your price point but I think I would go strat with a bucker rather than LP, covers lots of styles.
Anyway we have now established you will continue to buy new guitars along the way, so the guitar is not the most important choice here...moving on to the amp
Axe Fx2 into a pair of PA speakers/monitors....( I use RCF NX10's )...home use only. the versatility of the axe is phenominal, you will find any sound you want, and now you can 'tone match' from recordings etc in v6.00....I used to have many valve amps, axe 2 really does do it all now, pointless getting an amp and a cab & a delay & a chorus & a flanger etc etc etc. Yep £2k but hey ho priceless piece of kit. I put my ipod through it with backing tracks, and literally the guitar tones are spot on to whichever song I am playing to, be it van halen to free to Gary moore or whatever...check out the fractal forum on it
Oh yep the blue guitar at the end is my real fave, just didnt want to admit it!

[davepoth]

bosshog said:

Where: at home
Style: good question which I cannot answer. I used to be a metaller, but got into all the classic stuff as well (Page/hendrix/some classical/funk). So bit of a mixed bag and until I start playing again, I'm not sure which direction I'll end up going.

IMO, they puts you into modelling amp territory. I love valve amps, but for at home use when you are trying to keep things to a reasonable volume, they're a bit pants.

bosshog said:

For the guitar I've always wanted a Les Paul standard and I'm in the position to buy one now. However I vaguely seem to remember they weren't the most comfortable/easy to play, so I think it will just come down to me trying a load out. I'm after a fairly warm and versatile guitar.

If you want one, buy one. They hold their value pretty well so even if you don't like it, it'll be easy to offload.

bosshog said:

For the amps, effects etc I have no idea. I'm more interested in 'whats new' (if anything). I'm completely clueless on the Amp (used to have a Marshall), and would like an effect box/thing/software that gives me a good range of effects at a decent price.

As above, I reckon a modelling amp is your best bet - you can get a massive range of amp styles out of one box, and use it at a sensible volume. For effects at home, I think an iPad looks like a good deal

http://www.digitech.com/en/products/ipb-10-program...

[Dr Z]

chris5150 said:

You know what your guitar wishes will change/morph/move along as you play again. What you think you want now may well not be what you like in a year or so...thats the nature of the beast. I own quite a collection of PRS's and currently my fave guitars are the Nik Huber Orca..( this is what a les paul should be ), loving the black sparkle John Cruz masterbuilt tele relic, a tele with the humbucker/floyd & kill switch and the strat is not bad, but the tele is just so right. Dont know if its a phase but just struggling with 'new, shiny, play like butter, AAAAAAA topped' guitars.there is just such a great vibe in old/battered, differant stuff.
Dont know your price point but I think I would go strat with a bucker rather than LP, covers lots of styles.
Anyway we have now established you will continue to buy new guitars along the way, so the guitar is not the most important choice here...moving on to the amp
Axe Fx2 into a pair of PA speakers/monitors....( I use RCF NX10's )...home use only. the versatility of the axe is phenominal, you will find any sound you want, and now you can 'tone match' from recordings etc in v6.00....I used to have many valve amps, axe 2 really does do it all now, pointless getting an amp and a cab & a delay & a chorus & a flanger etc etc etc. Yep £2k but hey ho priceless piece of kit. I put my ipod through it with backing tracks, and literally the guitar tones are spot on to whichever song I am playing to, be it van halen to free to Gary moore or whatever...check out the fractal forum on it
Oh yep the blue guitar at the end is my real fave, just didnt want to admit it!

Apart from actual vintage guitars, I would argue, paying somebody an extortionate amount of money to beat up your favourite type of guitar is hardly "old and battered", and may be testing the limits of some peoples' taste! I mean stuff like VOS Gibsons are cool, but this? Recommending 2Ks worth of modeling gear is hardly responsible for somebody who wants to get back in to guitars after a bit of a break. Unless of course, the OP doesn't mind spending that kind of money?

Valve amps still exist and modeling stuff has come on still quite a bit even from a few years back, OP. If you're a home noodler and want quiet practice, there are competent amps such as the Fender Super-Champ XD, Vox VT etc. But there are also good software modelers out there that are perfectly good for practice without having to spend £2K on stuff like Axe-Fx, but offer a similar type of thing. Okay, you wouldn't need a degree on the software to get the most of it, but you can tweak stuff to your hearts content. I'm thinking of stuff like Guitar Rig, Peavey Revalver etc.

[bosshog]

Thanks everyone.

I think the guitar will be the easy choice on the whole once I get trying some. I'm leaning towards a LP/Ephp/PRS at the moment, but that might totally change when I pick them up.

The amp is going to be the hardest. These 'modelling' units are totally new to me - I suspect the hardware versions are going to be way too expensive for me? (maybe I'm wrong here), so the software version could be good. I'll still need some form of amp as I don't always want to play through headphones, so anymore suggestions are very welcome re: amps/modelling

I don't really have a budget but don't want to be spending too much on the amp, as they are harder to shift (I seem to remember) than guitars if I don't get on with it.

Edited by bosshog on Wednesday 9th May 00:36

[suthol]

For an amp you could do a lot worse than have a long hard look at the Fender Mustang range, I picked up a Mustang 1 about 6 months ago and it has all the tricks I want for playing at home.

The H||H 100W amp I have is just too loud to play in a small room ( had this one since about 1974 )

[bosshog]

suthol said:

For an amp you could do a lot worse than have a long hard look at the Fender Mustang range, I picked up a Mustang 1 about 6 months ago and it has all the tricks I want for playing at home.

thanks for that - looks interesting

[Turn7]

If you like the idea of the Mustang, aslo look at the Vox VT range - pretty similar.

[davepoth]

bosshog said:

Thanks everyone.
The amp is going to be the hardest. These 'modelling' units are totally new to me - I suspect the hardware versions are going to be way too expensive for me? (maybe I'm wrong here), so the software version could be good. I'll still need some form of amp as I don't always want to play through headphones, so anymore suggestions are very welcome re: amps/modelling

Edited by bosshog on Wednesday 9th May 00:36

If you're budgeting for a Gibson/PRS, a modelling amp won't be an issue. They're solid state, like the cheap and nasty amplifiers used to be; they just aren't so nasty any more.

As is always the way with guitar stuff, the best thing to do is to go and play them - the best thing is almost certainly not the most expensive thing.

[Justin Cyder]

bosshog said:

For the guitar I've always wanted a Les Paul standard and I'm in the position to buy one now. However I vaguely seem to remember they weren't the most comfortable/easy to play, so I think it will just come down to me trying a load out. I'm after a fairly warm and versatile guitar.

Psst, cool Les Paul faded for sale over here!

[chris5150]

If axe FX is too much check out the Kemper modeller, guitarist rated it extremely highly last issue, comes in at £1,200.

[kiteless]

Turn7 said:

If you like the idea of the Mustang, aslo look at the Vox VT range - pretty similar.

I'll second this.

All I've got at the mo is a VT-15 with amp modelling. The circuitry is very trick, but it's easy to find a good o/d setting just using the built in valve that's also sympathetic to the volume controls on your guitar.

WRT your choice of guitar, try lots. If you've been away from guitars for the time you have, OP, things have moved on to include features you may not like. Flat, wide fretboards for example. I've owned everything from a Telecaster to an Ibanez JS to my current PRS, and the reason I bought them was because they "felt" right. By the same token, I cannot get on with a Gibson SG or a Strat.

[bosshog]

thanks everyone - much appreciated.

I think the fender mustang II amp looks good for me (I like the idea of the usb as well),though I will try the Vox as well, as I've never had a tube (or semi in this case).

For the guitars - I'm just going to try and load and see what fits.

[suthol]

bosshog said:

thanks everyone - much appreciated.

I think the fender mustang II amp looks good for me (I like the idea of the usb as well),though I will try the Vox as well, as I've never had a tube (or semi in this case).

For the guitars - I'm just going to try and load and see what fits.

The Fender Fuse software to control the modelling is a treat to use but does require IE8