Guitar

[Foxy]

Basically I have £200 and I need a guitar and amp, spent a few weeks playing acoustic 4 years ago, haven't touched since. Complete beginner but still want a good guitar and amp. UK please, I'll even swing ebay. But if possible please swing by www.bandland.co.uk as they are easy for me to buy from.

Thanks!

 

[bradleyd]

This Behringer practice amp is a good price with good features. It would provide many more sound options than any comparable practice amp through it's amp and speaker modelling and 3 gain options. Most practice amps only offer a clean channel and a distortion channel with a 3 band eq.

http://www.bandland.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=74_75&products_id=1891

As for a guitar, I think your best bet would be one of the Fender Squier Affinity Stratocasters:

http://www.bandland.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=31_50&products_id=924

or the Yamaha Pacifica:

http://www.bandland.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=31_50&products_id=485

129 or 149 for the guitar and 39 for the amp, that puts you at 168 or 188 before taxes.

Myself, I would pick the Yamaha since it has a humbucker and the Squier doesn't (the humbucker can provide deeper tones than the single coils), but that's personal choice.

Unfortunately, for your price range you're most likely not going to get a very powerful amp, and 15 watts won't cut it if you plan to play with a drummer, but it is decent for practicing and learning. You also want to buy a practical, well known brand guitar (hence why I picked out the Fender and Yamaha over the other similar designed guitars). Even though they are cheap, the build quality and playability will be much better than similar designs by lesser known and less expensive brands.

 

[Foxy]

I'm all for that practise amp, I only need something with decent sound quality for me to play with.

I was looking at the Affinity earlier and it looked pretty good, I know a friend of mine has a Pacifica. I'll keep an eye out for those and phone them up for a stock check. Just curious if you have personal experience with either of those guitars (or the similar models)?

Thanks.

Edit: As I said earlier, the amp is fine for me to use as it is just for me. And if I'm ever in a situation with a drummer then I have a friend who has an absolute monster of an amp and chances are I'll be with him if I jam with a band.

 

[bradleyd]

Actually, I don't have personal experience with either of those guitars. That being said, the Squier is one of the most popular starter guitars there is. The Pacifica is basically the same thing, but it has a humbucker.

I actually play bass mostly. I've been playing for about 20 years, and have been in and out of numerous bands over the years. I also play guitar, but don't own an electric. I own a 6 string acoustic and a 12 string acoustic (a Kay and a Norman respectively). I also play drums too. I've been around endless brands and designs of guitars, and generally speaking the Strat design is pretty well universally accepted as a rock solid guitar by most guitar players I've met (most of them usually own one or have owned one). Fender, Gibson, Yamaha, Ibanez, ESP are all well respected, although you will find some people who love one brand and despise another brand entirely for whatever reason. It's the same as Peavey, Marshall, Fender on the amp side. Behringer isn't as popular as these, but they are also very nice quality amps.

Edit: Just thought I'd mention, the best thing to do is either bring someone along to the store with you, or get one of the in-house guitar guys to demo the guitars through the amps you're interested in, trying out different settings and what not, and go with what you feel sounds nicest and closest to what you're looking for.

 

[Foxy]

Thanks so much for the help, tomorrow I'll give a full reply on my progress tonight and tomorrow morning.

 

[heymoe99]

do you have a Radio Shack there?

i have an amp from there. it was like $45 US. it was good for beginning.

 

[ROB64]

This Behringer practice amp is a good price with good features. It would provide many more sound options than any comparable practice amp through it's amp and speaker modelling and 3 gain options. Most practice amps only offer a clean channel and a distortion channel with a 3 band eq.

http://www.bandland.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=74_75&products_id=1891

Freakin highly recommended. It has great sound quality, and you can switch to many different sounds via the modulation switches.
It can handle high volume well too.
I've been using it as my main amp for 4 years, and it still works great.


As for the guitar, my advice would be to go to a music store and try everything until you find one that's right for you.

 

[Brawny]

Freakin highly recommended. It has great sound quality, and you can switch to many different sounds via the modulation switches.
It can handle high volume well too.
I've been using it as my main amp for 4 years, and it still works great.


As for the guitar, my advice would be to go to a music store and try everything until you find one that's right for you.

Line 6 Spider III. ALthough it's a bit more expensive than £34.

I have an affinity strat. (But I got a humbucker on it. )

As for the music store thing, yeah. Guitars are unique, and I'd never ever ever ever buy one online. You need to hear it.

Go for an Epi Les Paul anyway.

 

[ROB64]

^Line 6 don't really make any bad products, so yeah, one of those would do you good.

If you want to go cheap and get a Squier or other strat-shaped guitar, you can always order replacement pickups/pick guard from Grizzly Industrial.
http://www.grizzlyindustrial.com/catalog_requests.aspx
I don't think they have it online, but you can get it from their catalog.

I paid $35 for the pickups that are in my guitar (they came with a pick guard, but I didn't use it, as my guitar had a different shape). It was 2 single coils and a humbucker.

 

[Foxy]

http://www.bandland.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=31_110&products_id=4416

Thoughts?

 

[Brawny]

Boooo

The amp is everything, and they always put the crappest ones in the starter packs. Also, you need a humbucker.

 

[ROB64]

If you're going with a Squier, why don't you just get a guitar, case, and that Behringer amp in the first post?

@Brawny:
Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, and Jimi Hendrix didn't need a humbucker. xD

 

[Brawny]

If you're going with a Squier, why don't you just get a guitar, case, and that Behringer amp in the first post?

@Brawny:
Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, and Jimi Hendrix didn't need a humbucker. xD

Yes they do, they just don't use Strats for it.