Electric Guitar

th3 s1aught3r

Looking to buy my first electric soon. Been playing acoutsic up to this point but I am looking to get a decent quality electric guitar, budget is about 500 quid
So, looking for advice about the best one to go for, and also a good amp to practise with ?

Cheers

damonjewel

th3 s1aught3r wrote: »

Looking to buy my first electric soon. Been playing acoutsic up to this point but I am looking to get a decent quality electric guitar, budget is about 500 quid
So, looking for advice about the best one to go for, and also a good amp to practise with ?

Cheers

Have you looked at the second hand\used gear, its a buyers market at the moment and your 500quid will get you some really decent gear.

What kind of music will do you think you'll be playing? metal, rock, indie? some guitars suit certain styles over the rest.

Personally i think you could pick up a real nice second hand Fender strat for that money, with enough spare change for a practice amp.

th3 s1aught3r

damonjewel wrote: »

Have you looked at the second hand\used gear, its a buyers market at the moment and your 500quid will get you some really decent gear.

What kind of music will do you think you'll be playing? metal, rock, indie? some guitars suit certain styles over the rest.

Personally i think you could pick up a real nice second hand Fender strat for that money, with enough spare change for a practice amp.

I would be playing rock music mainly. Type of stuff would be pumpkins, gnr, nirvana.
I had not considered second hand but it might be worth looking into alright
That was one question I had about the electric guitars, how do they differ in regards to styles of music ?

damonjewel

th3 s1aught3r wrote: »

I would be playing rock music mainly. Type of stuff would be pumpkins, gnr, nirvana.
I had not considered second hand but it might be worth looking into alright
That was one question I had about the electric guitars, how do they differ in regards to styles of music ?

Well first of all these are no absolutes as I have seen different guitars used in different scenarios, e.g. a Telecaster has a good twang to its pickup which sees it favoured by many country musicians. But is also popular for rock/blues/and even jazz.

Different guitars have different tones from jangly and trebley to warm and bassy. Some guitars are fitted with divebombing whammy bars, or high output pickups for heavy Rock/Metal styles.

When I started off, my two favourite guitarists were Hendrix & Gallagher and both mainly used strats and so i bought a strat to emulate their sound but have since moved on to other guitars. Maybe as a guideline check out the gutarists you like and what they use and get some ideas from that.

Squidgy Black

The best way when you're starting out is to look at what kinda guitars you're favourite guitarists are using, or the guitarists in the genre you like.

For instance, Ibanez, ESP and Schecters are big in metal with EMG pickups.

Telecasters, strats for indie kind of stuff.

Strats, les pauls, tele's and SG's for classic rock

Ravelleman

The Yamaha Pacifica / Roland Microcube combination is the established classic as the beginner's electric setup here. Glad I got in there first.

I think you'll eventually find that boards.ie is all just an elaborate front for the Yamaha corporation.

Saila

there are basically 2 'main' types of guitar, those with single coil type pickups and those with humbuckers. There are others but for the beginner you wont notice, these types are the two polar opposites which you choose from really everything else are a variation of them

single coils are the styles used by john fruschiante and hendrix
and humbuckers slash, jimmy paige, they have a more basey meaty sound, wheras the single coils are harsher but with the right tones like that of fruschiante can sound warm.

Id go for a SH to be honest, if it looks well its been kept well, but you might want a more beaten looking one for the retro look

th3 s1aught3r

Ravelleman wrote: »

The Yamaha Pacifica / Roland Microcube combination is the established classic as the beginner's electric setup here. Glad I got in there first.

I think you'll eventually find that boards.ie is all just an elaborate front for the Yamaha corporation.

Are the Yamaha guitars good ?

geetar

your into heavier stuff, so i would reccomend a guitar with at least one humbucker, they are pickups which will give you the sound your after.

i really do agree that you should buy second hand. you can get a much much better guitar for a great price. checkout adverts.ie , there's always a load of guitars there. id recommend a mexican fender, or maybe an ibanez or an epiphone les paul. thats should leave you with a nice amount to get a decent amp. dont cheap out on the amp either, it might be tempting, but the best guitar in the world will still sound awful through a crappy amp!

th3 s1aught3r

geetar wrote: »

your into heavier stuff, so i would reccomend a guitar with at least one humbucker, they are pickups which will give you the sound your after.

i really do agree that you should buy second hand. you can get a much much better guitar for a great price. checkout adverts.ie , there's always a load of guitars there. id recommend a mexican fender, or maybe an ibanez or an epiphone les paul. thats should leave you with a nice amount to get a decent amp. dont cheap out on the amp either, it might be tempting, but the best guitar in the world will still sound awful through a crappy amp!

I have been looking at the Epiphone Les Pauls, they seem relatively cheap compared to other giutars

RC88

look for a brand called vintage, they make some really good guitars for good prices, there reproduce popular guitar model and i seen pros use these, i own a vs6(SG) and vr100(LP JR) and both sound great and cost me less than 300 each, if you shop around in pawn shops and cash converters and test before you buy, ya might find something

as for amps, i say go for a roland cube


here are the les paul and sg copies
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/reviews/electric_guitars/vintage/v100/index.html

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/reviews/electric_guitars/vintage/vs6/index.html

and strat and tele
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/reviews/electric_guitars/vintage/v6_icon/index.html

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/reviews/electric_guitars/vintage/tc200b/index.html

damonjewel

If you want humbuckers then maybe consider a SG. Saw this ad in adverts looks a bargain

http://www.adverts.ie/guitar-bass/gibson-sg-special/488997

As it comes from Jimi's its probably set up nicely etc

A gibson SG would be a lovely start that would do you for a long long time, and I'd imagine they hold their value for resale pretty well. Get a second hand Cube and your off with a very decent set up.

Doc_Savage

gotta say that the only amp you'll ever need for practicing is the micro-cube, i've had one for ages and it's all i need! i have expensive guitars and a smattering of effects, then i think... wouldn't that look nice leaning against a stack? then i just go meh and keep playing on the microcube! it's beyond genius!

the pacifica's that have been recommended are great guitars. but seeing as you want to be

playing rock music mainly. Type of stuff would be pumpkins, gnr, nirvana.

then i'd say get one of them with a pair of humbuckers!

th3 s1aught3r

Doc_Savage wrote: »

then i'd say get one of them with a pair of humbuckers!

Do only certain guitars have the humbuckers?
I would like to be able to play 'lighter' stuff such as Stone Roses as well as the heavier stuff so I hope any guitar would be versatile in that regard

Doc_Savage

humbuckers, to the layman, look like 'double pickups', and humbuckers don't mean that plugging in makes only a heavy metal sound. some people call them warmer, it's all symantics! there is a distinct sound to a single coil and a distinct sound to a humbucker but it is impossible to totally pigeonhole a guitar. Jimmy page was an expert at making a telecaster seem a mile wide! i can't think of a very stereotypical singlecoil soundbite at the minute and as i am in china i don't have access to youtube to find one! likewise with humbuckers!

anyway, stone roses stuff was frequently done on archtops, (a gretch and a hofner) which are a totally different kettle of fish and i'm sure i saw him with an sg in a video? i think squire used les pauls with the seahorses mostly?


Right i've wandered off here on a total tangent and have probably only confused you more! The two single coils and one humbucker in the pacificas is a workmans layout and will give you a wide range of sounds! i'd probably recommend that as the best of both worlds!

i'll leave you with this;
The electric guitar is only the starting point, tone is the pink dragon of the guitar world, if you're not careful you could end up chasing it the rest of your life!

De Dannan

Doc_Savage wrote: »

i'll leave you with this;
The electric guitar is only the starting point, tone is the pink dragon of the guitar world, if you're not careful you could end up chasing it the rest of your life!

Can I ask what you mean by Tone in this regard. Is that individual to a guitar or something that can be acheieved with particular set ups ?

th3 s1aught3r

Saila wrote: »

Id go for a SH to be honest, if it looks well its been kept well, but you might want a more beaten looking one for the retro look

I am heading in to town tommorow to look around, I assume the shops in town sell SH guitars? I might see something I like and check it out online
Also, would online be ok to buy a SH guitar (without mentioning specific sites) ?

ciaranmac

I think SH = second hand?

th3 s1aught3r

ciaranmac wrote: »

I think SH = second hand?

Thats what I mean by it anyway

strobe

th3 s1aught3r wrote: »

Also, would online be ok to buy a SH guitar (without mentioning specific sites) ?

It's the same as buying anything secondhand online Slaughter. You run your risks and hope for the best. On somewhere like eBay you have the rating system to give you a little piece of mind. Somewhere like adverts.ie would be safe as houses as a lot of the time you can actually try the thing out to make sure it's not fukked and have a close up inspection before you buy it (boards paid me to say that).

http://www.adverts.ie/for-sale/q_electric+guitar/sortby_best_match-desc/

To give you an idea about the sound of the guitars on there etc you should be able find reviews on youtube for most of them.

So say you see this advert http://www.adverts.ie/guitar-bass/ibanez-sas32ex-black-electric-guitar/507640 and like the look of the guitar, it's in your price range and all that. Just copy the make of the guitar - ibanez-sas32ex and search for it on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Ibanez+SAS32EX&aq=f

and click on a few of the reviews and vids.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxxgrNf63gE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEW1_HsYyEI

th3 s1aught3r

Doc_Savage wrote: »

then i'd say get one of them with a pair of humbuckers!

I actually got to try out a pacifica 112v that belongs to a friend, through a marshall amp. I found this to be a really nice guitar and the cost seems very reasonable. One question, can I get them with a pair of humbuckers or would I have to get it modified after purchase ?

Doc_Savage

i was sure that the pacifica came with a hsh option but on further investigation i can only see hss ones....

the bridge is where the grunt of a humbucker is best employed in my opinion anyway!

hss will serve you well!

th3 s1aught3r

Doc_Savage wrote: »

i was sure that the pacifica came with a hsh option but on further investigation i can only see hss ones....

the bridge is where the grunt of a humbucker is best employed in my opinion anyway!

hss will serve you well!

Am I right in saying that a normal Strat has 3 single coils , and the pacifica has 2 singles and a humbucker, which would make it a bit more versatile and meatier if required ?

IrishGrimReaper

th3 s1aught3r wrote: »

Are the Yamaha guitars good ?

I bought that combo, just it's the fullsize cube. It's great for the price, very glad I bought them.

Doc_Savage

th3 s1aught3r wrote: »

Am I right in saying that a normal Strat has 3 single coils , and the pacifica has 2 singles and a humbucker, which would make it a bit more versatile and meatier if required ?

yes that's what i'm saying alright!

you'll get plenty of nice sounds from it and a microcube!

th3 s1aught3r

Doc_Savage wrote: »

yes that's what i'm saying alright!

you'll get plenty of nice sounds from it and a microcube!

Thats great. I think I will go for that combo at Thomann
Is there anything else I will need to get started besides the guitar and amp. Do I need pedals or tuners etc ?

Doc_Savage

Plectrums, cable, extra sets of strings, perhaps a capo, and if you can't tune up, a tuner.

and i always recommend a case of some kind, whether its a gig bag or a flight case, just something to afford it some measure of protection when you're transporting or storing it!

ciaranmac

And a decent quality strap, i.e. one that won't slip off the guitar when you're rockin'

Doc_Savage

ciaranmac wrote: »

And a decent quality strap, i.e. one that won't slip off the guitar when you're rockin'

boom... surprised i forgot about that!

th3 s1aught3r

Purchased Yamaha Pacifica 112v , Roland Cube 15x
:cool:

Seckz Panther

€500 will get you some very good stuff!

Definitely go second hand, go to www.adverts.ie and see what's around, there's usually some good bargains on amps and guitars.

Everything else has been said in regard to different types of guitars and what not

hillviewfarm

First electric guitar recommendations. 14 year old fancies himself as a guitar player.
Not sure if it is a fad or a life long ambition. Any ideas on what to buy and not too expensive as we could be selling it again. Thanks

topcatcbr

hillviewfarm wrote: »

First electric guitar recommendations. 14 year old fancies himself as a guitar player.
Not sure if it is a fad or a life long ambition. Any ideas on what to buy and not too expensive as we could be selling it again. Thanks

As above

Yamaha Pacifica