Squier Strat Affinity/Epiphone Les Paul Special 2

humbucker

Which one of these packs would be the better one to buy considering they are roughly around the same price. I am thinking of buying my son
one of these sets as he is only a beginner and I would love to know of peoples experiences good or bad with these Squier and Epiphone packages.

68 lost souls

Generally I would recoment the afifnity strat set, the amp is better then the LP2 set and the guitar itself I find to be better quality. There are some key differences.

The strat has a vintage tremolo bridge which can be fun for the most part but if its used to much the guitar can go out of tune quicker where as the lp2 has a fixed bridge so you cant do any sort of tremolo effects with it but that means it should hold its tune better.

The strat is probably a more popular starter kit and has 3 single coil pickups as opposed to 2 humbucking pickups so it is a different sound. I find generally with squier you get mor efor your money then with epiphone.

Varkov

Hey, I've been learning for the last two months on a Squier Strat (Not an affinaty)
The guitar sounds good enough to my untrained ear, and my teacher noodled around on it for a bit and said its a grand guitar. (Doesnt hold its tune too well though, even without using the tromello arm)
The amp's a bit of a letdown though, quite crackly.

After playing the single coil, im getting to the stage where I wish I had bought a cheap Epiphone Les Paul or Ibanez clone to start with, the stuff Im trying to play at the moment really warrents a guitar with humbuckers.

I'd take him with me to the store to buy it, let him talk to the assistant, discuss what bands he likes / music he wants to play. They'll be able to give him a good idea of what he'd get the most enjoyment from (Very important this )

You could always order the stuff then from Thomman.de if its cheaper.


Rawk on!

68 lost souls

Im guessing you got the sp10 squier pack Varkov? The amp on them can be pretty crackely alright but the Frontman amp that comes with the affinity pack is much better. COmpletely different amp, yes it is still not as good as some of the more expensive starter amps on the market but it is a makor improvement.

fish-head

I started out with a Squire Affinity Strat kit and now I'm a million selling rock-god!

Patricide

Seriously, dont get either. Although its true that squiers have gotten better over the years there still not great.

Ive said this in countless posts before and im sure a lot of people would agree with me when i say Invest in a Yamaha Pacifica (http://www.thomann.de/ie/yamaha_pacifica_112v_bl.htm) and a Roland Microcube (http://www.thomann.de/ie/roland_micro_cube.htm).

I know its 100 notes more than the squire affinity package but the guitar will last(I still play my pacifica 6 years later even though i have much more expensive guitars), and its configuration of humbucker, single coil, singlecoil makes it far more versatile than the strat.

And there should be no doubts about the microcube, its pretty much the standard bedroom amp for musicians everywhere, professionals included(they cant rock out those massive stacks all the time). Its also pretty flexible and sounds great!

Edit - O yeah forgot to mention my hatred for the cheap epiphone beginner packages. Those guitars are like toys, right up there with the argos cruiser guitars. More expensive epi's are great after a pickup change but from the epiphone special series down there absolute MUCK.

thegom145

Patricide wrote: »

Seriously, dont get either. Although its true that squiers have gotten better over the years there still not great.

Ive said this in countless posts before and im sure a lot of people would agree with me when i say Invest in a Yamaha Pacifica (http://www.thomann.de/ie/yamaha_pacifica_112v_bl.htm) and a Roland Microcube (http://www.thomann.de/ie/roland_micro_cube.htm).

I know its 100 notes more than the squire affinity package but the guitar will last(I still play my pacifica 6 years later even though i have much more expensive guitars), and its configuration of humbucker, single coil, singlecoil makes it far more versatile than the strat.

And there should be no doubts about the microcube, its pretty much the standard bedroom amp for musicians everywhere, professionals included(they cant rock out those massive stacks all the time). Its also pretty flexible and sounds great!

Edit - O yeah forgot to mention my hatred for the cheap epiphone beginner packages. Those guitars are like toys, right up there with the argos cruiser guitars. More expensive epi's are great after a pickup change but from the epiphone special series down there absolute MUCK.

Couldn't agree more, my friend has had a pacifica for years and still plays it, absolutely lovely guitars, well made and great to play. I've also personally never liked any squiers I've ever tried (thats just my opinion though).

new fang

look into buying a used mexican strat. it was my first electric guitar, and it was pretty sturdy and great-sounding.

at any rate i wouldn't trust squier