some stuff

ferdi

hey, four things:

i'm gonna be getting a hohner telecaster replica (apparently Prince plays one:cool: ) for 120euro and i wanna get a wee amp for about the same price, as i wont get a valve amp for that money unless i'm very lucky with the buyandsell,(1) what small practice amp could i go for? power: unimportant - a nice tone: very important. its only for me in my gaff so...

(2) could i get i nicer guitar for that price? (i'll tell yee how it plays when i try it)

as i dont know all that much about guitar playablility, i'll have a friend come with who does.

also i guess to some extent this tele copy may have some of this famous(3) 'telecaster sound' - what is this??? is this a nice sound to listen to?

(4) why do so many play strats and so few teles? it cant be they have a sheit sound coz i know for a fact muddy waters and springsteen played tele, versitility is it?:dunno:

any help wud be good

chaz

ferdi

ferdi

found these little amps at http://www.musicstorekoeln.com :

Fender Frontman 15 G - 85euro

Fame Megatone ML-30 R 25 Watt Combo - 99euro

IBANEZ TB 15 R 15 WattTone Blaster Combo - 99euro

anyone any experience with any of these or any recommendations? (dont like marsell valvestate sound)

fitz

Try the Danelectro Nifty Fifty.
They're good and cheap, and nice tone too.
Also the Vox Pathfinder 15W is well worth a look.

As for Tele, just try it out, but for that price, I wouldn't expect miracles.

Zoton

Status Quo use teles, as did Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page recorded the solo for stairway to heaven using a tele.
Fran Healy can also be seen using them.

Paladin

In response to (3) & (4)...

The famous Tele sound is a high treble sound mainly due to the type of Tele pickups at the bridge. Its hard to describe sounds, but a tele is kinda biting and sharp. You can hardly hear bruce springsteen playing it most of the time btw For an idea of the sound listen to Status Quo, or more recently, Snow Patrol. There are loads of others, cant think right now.

I think the attraction of strats over teles is its a softer more rounded sound as well as being far more versatile.Tele sound is pretty awesome too imo. You can get a lot of sounds out of a strat though. The fact that its the most copied guitar probably furthers its appearance in terms of numbers but for good reasons.

Its prettier than a Tele too :-)

Also dont expect a tele sound out of a non-tele guitar that costs €120.
I know its been said before but a great cheap guitar is a Yamaha Pacifica. Hohner do decent guitars too but I got 2 crap ones from them so I avoid them

pyure

1. for amps try a 10 or 15watt marshall mg series
best tone around for the size, and damn loud
also, avoid value amps as you wont be able to get that sweet value sound with setting the volume really high.

2. yes, you probally can get a much better guitar for a little extra money.
the pacifica is awesome, i love it. and with h-s-s pickups you'll get alot more versitality.

3 no clue, havent had a chance to play a tele much

4 simply because strats are way more versatile, and not every likes the tele sound.

fitz

Originally posted by pyure
1. for amps try a 10 or 15watt marshall mg series
best tone around for the size, and damn loud
also, avoid value amps as you wont be able to get that sweet value sound with setting the volume really high.

Marshalls are overpriced and overrated.
The fact that you mentioned them in the same paragraph as "best tone around" is just wrong. Sick and wrong.

I presume you mean 'valve' and not 'value'
If so, you really have no clue what you're talking about, and shouldn't really be dishing out advice.

Paladin

I agree with Pyure. I love marshalls and I think the MG series are excellent beginner amps. As for overpriced...
They are comparable in price Vs Size/quality with Fenders and Vox. The likes of Behringer beat them on price hands down but they have crap overdrive and dull clean sounds.

Fenders and Vox have their own pro's and cons, but Marshall wouldnt exist if they were as bad as you say fitz. If you just dont like the sound of them fair enough. There are lots of people that will do and lots that dont. Slating them as much as you did is misleading to anyone looking for advice imo.

http://www.netzmarkt.de/thomann/thoiw6_artikel-153759.html

Here is a 15W Marshall MG series for €119

http://www.musicgearreview.com/review-display/2604.html

Here is a small review on MusicGearReview and they paid more that €119

Eoin Madsen

Some of the big Marshall Valve stuff sounds great, but I'm not gone on any of their solidstate amps. The distortion tone is all fuzz, even at moderate levels. Of the small amps listed I'd be inclined to go with the Vox Pathfinder. It won't distort heavily, but what it does it does well. As soon as I have a few spare quid I'm going to get one myself.

Even small Valve amps are great, and you don't have to crank them up at all to get valve sound...? That said, the smallest and cheapest (all valve) that I can think of will still set you back 6 or 7 hundred euros.

My brother has a Yamaha Pacifica that he bought years ago. It was IR£230, so I dunno if any of them fall into the €120 range these days. It looks pretty and it is quite nice to play, but the pickups are very very dull sounding. Then again, most guitars in that price range won't have the best electronics. It's still a hundred times better than a Fender Squier. I'd have to agree with Paladin - you won't find anything that sounds like a Tele for that kinda money, so I wouldn't worry about the tele vs strat thing.

fitz

Originally posted by Paladin
I agree with Pyure. I love marshalls and I think the MG series are excellent beginner amps. As for overpriced...
They are comparable in price Vs Size/quality with Fenders and Vox. The likes of Behringer beat them on price hands down but they have crap overdrive and dull clean sounds.

Fenders and Vox have their own pro's and cons, but Marshall wouldnt exist if they were as bad as you say fitz. If you just dont like the sound of them fair enough. There are lots of people that will do and lots that dont. Slating them as much as you did is misleading to anyone looking for advice imo.

They are nowhere near the quality of the Pathfinder or the Dano.
Marshall enjoy the position of being one of the most recognisable brands when it comes to amplification, cause their high end head/cab setups have been used by high profile acts for years. And for good reason.

As a result of this, their products, when placed side by side with other brands of the same spec, just don't offer the same quality/value for money.

They make terrible sounding beginner amps in my opinion.
They exist because of their high end products, and well maintained reputation for high quality amps, as well as excellent placement and marketting.
This allows them to pedal crap entry level products to impressionable beginners who trust the name.
"dull clean sounds" and "crap overdrive" is exactly what you'll get with a Marshall Valvestate/MG series amp.
It's not a matter of me not liking the sound of them, it's a matter of the sound of them being technically poor.
You'll get more bang for your buck with other brands.

If you think that I'm being misleading, well, your wrong.:p

Paladin

Thats a little fairer fitz

Its very true that their high end stuff is class and their low end is overpriced in some areas (I havent played every marshall), but I think the more modern amps are ok.
I seriously think that the MG i linked to is well able to stand up to any other beginner amp for that price. That said I havent used the pathfinder or the Dano, but Ive messed about with some small fenders and some godawful Hohner amps that dont compare.

Got a 15W valvestate myself. Its ok but I think the new MG kicks its ass.

Picked up a 150W(2x75W) AVT275 for €550 myself and Im delighted with it, but as you say, thats a higher end amp (not very much higher though).

As for a sound being technically poor...
Being an Audio amp designer myself (spare time, used Class D amps(switching) and some class A/B) I rekon whats required from muso's like us actually IS a technically poor sound.

If an amp PERFECTLY recreated the sound from an electric as can be done with modern chips they sound crap. Whats really wanted is the IMPERFECT distortion that valves give (which is more a mechanical effect according to some modern designers).

Anyway, yes, we all love loud amps

Giblet

Originally posted by Zoton
Status Quo use teles, as did Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page recorded the solo for stairway to heaven using a tele.
Fran Healy can also be seen using them.

Class guitars, most versitile I think

pyure

sorry fitz, my little piece on 'value' (rofl) amps came out totally wrong.

i meant to say that valve amps sound better at high volumes, and if you want one then something as low as 1-3watts is suitable for bedroom use.
i dont own a valve amp so thats part what im told and part from my own very limited experience with em. apologies if i got it wrong.

as for the marshall amps, i love my lil mg - its loud, versatile and it was cheap.
shrug, maybe ill change my mind if i ever bother to go get something bigger.

fitz

Nah, by the time you realise the limitations of the marshall, you'll have also realised that bigger doesn't mean better.

Some of the best amps in the world are 15w.

Try amps out, even if you don't intend on replacing yours.
Learn as much as you can about different gear, it'll help you get the sounds you want, and make future purchases more tailored to your playing style.