The perfect set up?

Jigsaw

Hi folks,

I know I've been on here loads asking questions but I am hoping to make use of the knowledge of people on here who are more experienced than me before I go spending serious cash.

Basically, I have been looking for a new guitar recently. I have ruled out the Musicman Axis Sport and have decided that I am gonna go for an Ibanez JS1200. As for amp, I want something that is gonna be loud enough to gig with first and foremost with some headroom left to spare. Given the style of music I enjoy I thought the Peavey ValveKing 212 combo would be a good choice. As for pedals, I am undecided between getting a Line 6 Pod X3 live or just separate stomp boxes. I want a large variety of sounds but don't want to be farting about between different banks of sounds during songs - I want something that would be gig friendly.

As for overall sound, I am into the Satriani sound and general classic hard rock in the broadest sense of the word. However, I am also in a covers band that gigs round my local area so whatever set up I get it would be best that I could achieve everything from that jangly delayed "The Edge" sound through to a country twang as well as a good ballsy distortion.

Any advice on the above choices would be gratefully received.

Karl Hungus

Jigsaw wrote: »

Basically, I have been looking for a new guitar recently. I have ruled out the Musicman Axis Sport and have decided that I am gonna go for an Ibanez JS1200.

Both great guitars.

Jigsaw wrote: »

As for amp, I want something that is gonna be loud enough to gig with first and foremost with some headroom left to spare. Given the style of music I enjoy I thought the Peavey ValveKing 212 combo would be a good choice. As for pedals, I am undecided between getting a Line 6 Pod X3 live or just separate stomp boxes. I want a large variety of sounds but don't want to be farting about between different banks of sounds during songs - I want something that would be gig friendly.

The Peavey Valvekings are cheap and cheerful, but they're not all too versatile, and you're not going to get a variety of sounds as you've only got 2 channels. If you're going for this, a good route would be using the Pod X3 Live for all your sounds, rather than the Valveking's overdrive. That way you'll have a lot of variety in your sounds, and not having to bother changing the VK's channels as well as the effects on your Pod.

I'd say the Pod X3 Live is definitely something to invest in, and it is pretty gig friendly, as each bank has 4 different presets which you can switch between without scrolling through banks, so you can set it up for the sounds and effects you need to switch between on the same bank, thus minumum toe tappage.

Jigsaw wrote: »

As for overall sound, I am into the Satriani sound and general classic hard rock in the broadest sense of the word. However, I am also in a covers band that gigs round my local area so whatever set up I get it would be best that I could achieve everything from that jangly delayed "The Edge" sound through to a country twang as well as a good ballsy distortion.

Any advice on the above choices would be gratefully received.

With the above, I do believe you're best off with the Pod, because you have every sound you could possibly need at your control.

Hope that helps.

Jigsaw

Thanks for your advice there Karl.

However, looking at the Valveking amp, providing I use, say, a Line 6 X3 Live for my sounds as you suggest, do you reckon that in terms of pure power would the Valveking 212 have what it takes to cut it in a live situation overcoming the drum kit and in a busy medium sized pub. I've had several amps in the past that I have bought on the understanding that they would be giggable and they were nearly always stretched, feeding back constantly in a bad way. I would be looking for something that virtually has no need to go above 75%. Loud enough that I am driving the amp nicely but not so loud that I have to forever keep my hands on the strings due to uncontrollable feedback.

Karl Hungus

Hmm, well it's 100 watts all tube, I don't think it should be an issue. What amps have you had before? Please let me know, I can give you a much better assurance then.

sei046

dude seriously, for a guy who is looking for a versatile sound i cant believe your picking the js over an axis?! And also there will be much..much much more farting around with stomp boxes for sounds than with an x3 live. I personally think, x3 live into a cheap and cheerful poweramp into a 1x12 or 2x12 cab with your axis. That sounds like it can do anythin.

OR!

I personally would go for a good tube amp that is going to do a lot in the first place. I have to say I have seen more bands than i care to talk about using Marshall TSLs and i hav never heard a bad one. Nearly every cover band i have ever seen uses a TSL, A Triaxis, Or a Mark4. The latter im sure are not options so the TSL is a great bet. Its a real workhorse of an amp that is suited to nothing in particular.

Jigsaw

Karl Hungus wrote: »

Hmm, well it's 100 watts all tube, I don't think it should be an issue. What amps have you had before? Please let me know, I can give you a much better assurance then.

Most of my amps were Marshall Valvestates. Probably perfectly decent amps in their own right but sold to me either privately or in stores where I stressed that it must be able to hold its own in a live situation.

The only really good amp I've had was a Line 6 Flextone 3 XL and as far as I can recall it seemed to have enough power although unfortunately I had to sell it due to chronic skintness! In fact I think at times although it may not have fed back I seem to recall that at high volumes the sound tended to get very muddy - there was no clarity or bite when striking a note. In terms of power how would you say the Peavey Valveking 212 would compare with the Line 6? To give you an idea of the size of play we would play, it would not be any bigger than the downstairs part of Whelans.

Sorry for all the noob questions. I am a fairly accomplished guitarist but I am crap when it come to technical things and like most people, am of a limited income so if I am gonna make serious investment in equipment I need to be certain that it is up to the job that I want it to do.

(I am actually getting the JS1200 new from a guy locally for £730 sterling in a couple of weeks. Still has the Team J-Craft tags on it! What a steal imo!!)

Jigsaw

sei046 wrote: »

dude seriously, for a guy who is looking for a versatile sound i cant believe your picking the js over an axis?! And also there will be much..much much more farting around with stomp boxes for sounds than with an x3 live. I personally think, x3 live into a cheap and cheerful poweramp into a 1x12 or 2x12 cab with your axis. That sounds like it can do anythin.

OR!

I personally would go for a good tube amp that is going to do a lot in the first place. I have to say I have seen more bands than i care to talk about using Marshall TSLs and i hav never heard a bad one. Nearly every cover band i have ever seen uses a TSL, A Triaxis, Or a Mark4. The latter im sure are not options so the TSL is a great bet. Its a real workhorse of an amp that is suited to nothing in particular.

You see, there are two reasons that I am favouring the JS1200 over the axis. Firstly there is a financial reason. I know of a guy who got one knew but didn't realise there was a bit of effort required to set up the trem and now can't be bothered with it. I have seen the guitar and played and whilst it is definitely not set up it is also clearly brand new, still has all the tags on and can hardly have spent much time out of the box - he is looking £730 for it. On the other hand if I wanted to get a new Axis, I reckon I'd be talking £1200 minimum.

Secondly, I want a guitar with a Floyd Rose tremolo or something similar. The Axis Sport has this but does not have a tone pot so therefore, theoretically there can only be three possible tones from the guitar, neck pup, bridge pup or both??? I therefore thought that the Axis as a guitar would be a one trick pony but probably very good at that trick. Now the Axis Super Sport does have a tone pot but it only comes as hard tail or vintage tremolo.

My assumptions I have made about the tone on the Axis could be way off the mark so if I am wrong please do tell me as I want to be making an informed decision. I think the EVH Axis guitars look awesome.

Karl Hungus

Jigsaw wrote: »

Most of my amps were Marshall Valvestates. Probably perfectly decent amps in their own right but sold to me either privately or in stores where I stressed that it must be able to hold its own in a live situation.

No, Valvestates are pretty poor amps tbh, and they've got a solid state power section, which won't give you as much power as an all tube power section. 100 Watts Tube would be roughly 3 times louder than 100 Watts solid state.

The Peavey Valveking should be way more powerful than the Valvestate, so you should be fine with it.

Jigsaw wrote: »

The only really good amp I've had was a Line 6 Flextone 3 XL and as far as I can recall it seemed to have enough power although unfortunately I had to sell it due to chronic skintness! In fact I think at times although it may not have fed back I seem to recall that at high volumes the sound tended to get very muddy - there was no clarity or bite when striking a note. In terms of power how would you say the Peavey Valveking 212 would compare with the Line 6? To give you an idea of the size of play we would play, it would not be any bigger than the downstairs part of Whelans.

Yeah, modelling amps tend to lose it at high volume, but when you're pushing it through an all tube amp, you won't face that problem at all. As how the Valveking would compare to the Flextone, you'll get a hell of a lot more juice.

Jigsaw

Ah cheers for the advice Karl. I am suitably reassured.

Just need to get down to the music shop and road test the Line 6 X3 live now!

feylya

I'm gonna go against the grain here and suggest the Boss GT-8 (or the newer GT-10). Now, the reason I'm suggesting this is because while the Line 6 focuses on amp modelling, the GT's are the daddy of effects emulation. You get yourself a nice sounding clean amp and layer a GT* on top of it and you'll be laughing. I use a GT-8 myself in a covers band and I have no shortage of appropriate tones

That said, you're still going to have a great effects unit no matter what you pick.

Voodu Child

sei046 wrote: »

dude seriously, for a guy who is looking for a versatile sound i cant believe your picking the js over an axis?!

I don't see why there'd be an issue there tbh. The JS1200 is plenty versatile, stock pickups are great, you can get some great sounds out of it (coil tap etc). It's a more confortable body shape than the axis, and the Edge Pro's are as good as any locking trem out there (the best imo). They've a great compound neck on them too - so even if it wasn't a sig guitar, it could stand on it's own because it's got some good features and great build. Im more of an oul RG man myself, but the JS's are very good guitars.

The ValveKing is a grand amp for the money...one of the best 'budget tube' amps out there. I wouldn't have a problem recommending it if that's the kind of budget you're on. Though theres a lot of budget tube amps these days so shop around before narrowing down the choice.

I'd agree with Fey there on the GT8 front. If all you want is some delays, chorus, wah's and all that, its one of the best choices for pure multi-fx. Havent read up on the new GT10 but im sure it's more of the same.

The Doktor

As an owner of a JS1000, I can tell you its a purchase you wont regret. The only difference I can see between the 1000 and 1200 are slightly different pickups.
One thing I will say is that the tones you can get out of the 1000 are very versitile, so if the 1200 is anything like it you wont go far wrong.
I have mine for 6 years, and its the only electric I have and have never felt the need to have a second electric (until recently whe i saw a particular PRS, but that was based on looks alone:D)
I bought mine cos i liked it as a guitar, not cos Im a Joe Satriani fan, so it does stand up well as just a good guitar.(though I bought in the days before i discovered buying guitars of the internet.. wow was I ripped off). I play metal, rock, blues and it works well for all of those.

darrenw5094

I own a JS1200 and think it's the best Ibanez i've played.
Sound wise it's a corker....pickups are blazin'. I also own a Vai Jem in white made in Japan. I prefer the JS1200. The body is very thin and looks amazing in red.

One thing that suprised me about it was that the neck was very chunky.
Very C shaped more like a Strat than an Ibanez.....that's Satriani's choice.
But attempting legato seems much harder......the Jem has a much thinner neck profile. You might want to try one somewhere before you buy.
If you can't try it in a store, find someone who has and cop a feel. That neck takes a while to get used to. But apart from that it's lovely to play.
When you bend strings up, the tension is perfect. Not like any other guitar i've played and i also own Gibson Les Paul and USA strat plus guitars.

The Valveking amp you have suggested is not the best. At €400 or so, you could do better. Maybe an Engl at about €900.

From other forums, there is know a Satch overdrive pedal available made by Vox. I am interested in this to. It's €99 on Thomann.de

I also have a Pod XT Live which has a lot of different pedals and amp etc.
For playing live it's probably the best around. Someone suggested the Boss GT-8, but i have heard nothing but complaints.

Having said that, i don't use any pedals in my live setup. Just the Boss tuner.

A good place to check out these items and others in on Youtube. Just key in the brand and model number in the search engine.:cool: