A Conversation for Buying your First Guitar

amps

Post 1

Twenty-First Century Schizoid Man

ive already decided on a bcrich warlock, but dont know what kind of amp to get. I know that i want good bass and distortion. Would I need ahead fro that?


amps

Post 2

Hotblack Desiato

If you're talking about a head and cab sort of amplifier, then not necessarily. There are some great combos out there, many of which are simply combo versions of cab amps: no difference, just the speaker is in the same unit as the pre-amp circuitry.

Depending on your budget, if you want the best distortion and tone you'll probably want a valve amp. These are a lot more pricy, yes; but the classic 'valve distortion' can't be matched. Seeing as, I'm guessing, this is your first guitar you're talking about you might not want to invest in the upper-market equipment until you know you're going to carry on with it, 'cos otherwise you could find yourself wasting a hell of a lot of money. But if you're sure, and you've got the cash, go for a valve amp. Otherwise... a transistor amp will serve you well - I've been playing transistor amps for four years without complaining. They tend to be more robust, anyway: more gig-ready and built for a life on the road.

The real cost with your amp is going to depend on the sort of power you want. If its just for practice, then a 10-15 watter is just the job (and will stop the neighbours calling the police). For real gigging, the most you'll want is an 80-100 watter, 150 absolute max. Remember that for most gigs you won't even need that: most of the time you get the real noise by lining through a PA. Many live rock bands only use thirty watts through high-volume PA equipment.

Good luck with that.

H.D


amps

Post 3

Twenty-First Century Schizoid Man

ive changed my mind about the warlock. i want a gibson gothic and perhaps a marshall amp


amps

Post 4

Hotblack Desiato

Each to his own. Hope that worked out for you.


amps

Post 5

Twenty-First Century Schizoid Man

ok i ended up with a fender strat and a bullet 13 amp. It has five dif built in effects: flanger, tremolo, delay, reverb, chorus. Its cool.


amps

Post 6

Hotblack Desiato

(sorry about the late reply, been a bit busy...)

Good choice with the Strat. Not my cup'o cha, but it's defititely popular for a reason.

As for the Amp - yeah, fair enough. I'm a bit of a traditionalist myself: as far as I'm concerned, and amp is an amp and should stay that way. I don't like the idea of cramming them with effects - too many controls, and too many things that can go wrong! Still, it saves money: I had to fork out another hundred for a cheap multi-effects unit.


amps

Post 7

Twenty-First Century Schizoid Man

Yeah, I would have perferred to get a tube amp, but I had a prety limited budget.


Key: Complain about this post

Write an Entry

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."

Write an entry
Read more