Modeling amp/pedal for the confused newbie
 

Hi all,

I've been playing for a couple of years now, almost exclusively acoustic. I have a low end Epiphone SG, but when I pick it up, I really don't know what to do with it. I have an iRig and occasionally fiddle around with sounds and effects but usually end up with a headache and a bunch of tangled headphone wires. :D

I would like to explore available sounds & effects a little more without spending a pile of money. At a glance, the Fender Mustang I v.2 seems like a good place to start. Then maybe add something like the Line 6 M5 modeler? Basically, I don't yet know what I want out of an electric guitar. Hopefully that gives an idea of what I'm looking to achieve. I'd appreciate any suggestions about how to get there.

Thanks!

The Mustang alone can cover a lot of ground, especially with the included Fuse software. Amp, cabs, effects, etc can all be tweaked. Feature overload can be a big issue, though.

Do you know what kind of tone you are going after, or particular style of music? I used to run a wide range of pedals and amp models, and have slowly pared it down to one good clean, one good distorted, and one nice lead tone. It's easy to let obsessing over sound get in the way of simply playing and enjoying it.

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I think you are right in saying a Fender Mustang is a good place to start. Especially since you said, "I would like to explore available sounds & effects a little more without spending a pile of money." You have to not mind dealing with presets and editing and all that but it will have a wide variety of tones to play with. Great bang for the buck.

The other option, and my preferred one, is to get a nice solid foundation to start with and get a nice simple tube amp and then decide where you want to go from there.

But that is my personal preference. I don't like having a gazillion tones in a box to choose from but rather a solid box that I can add simple devices to.

You may also want to consider who it is you like. Who are your favorite electric guitar players, what do you like about their tone, and so on.

I've gone the Modeling Amp route and Amp with pedals route.

As for modeling amps most of the basic pedals are already inside so you can really pick anything and make it sound good. Where as the non-modeling amp you'll need pedals to dial in your tone.

Modeling amps in the long run are cheaper than a regular tube / SS amp because each pedal can be costly.

Start out with the Mustang Amp or Vox VT20X modeling amp, later you can sell them these easily. As for Solid State / Tube amp the Orange brand, VOX, everyone make awesome ones. You would need to play through them first then make a decision.

Adding pedals to a modeling Amp is pretty much a waste of money really. You can also go another route, buy a USB audio interface which connects to a computer then download Guitar Rig 5, TH3, Bias FX trials. I should have gone this route first, in fact I may sell my amp pedals, etc and buy an AxeFX rack. The digital tones or limitless and the sound itself is amazing. This is how I play now especially since I don't gig.

So there's a couple of ideas.

I've been in the same boat but I wasn't interested in modelled sounds which inadequately impersonate the real thing so I started winding pickups and building my own amps and pedals.

I have the mini Mustang and have fun with it. There's a few modeling software out there that are pretty good, though as an electric "newbie" you may be disoriented at first dealing with latencies.

The AxeFX does have some of the best sounds... but costs a ton of money. I've been using a GR55 now for a few years, and get some pretty useful sounds for recording.

Thanks for the quick feedback!

The answer to the "what sound are you looking for" question is "I don't know." I enjoy a little bit of everything. I might play Glenn Campbell and Metallica in the same sitting. I don't have a good ear for tone (which coupled with my complete lack of rhythm makes me question why I bother with guitar). I really just want to fiddle around and see what (if anything) rises to the top in terms of interest.

Feature overload or too many choices is primarily what has kept me from doing anything to this point. I can see going in circles only to end up with a pretty simple setup that I like. I'm hopeful that I can narrow it down some and develop some particular interest before jumping in with both feet.

Good idea :up: - the one thing you don't need as a relative beginner is a cornucopia of (largely irrelevant IMO) choices when you're first looking to develop your own voice. Back when I started in the early-60's, all we really had was "simple setup": amp-guitar-cable, trem/reverb if they happened to be built into the amp - and some of the most iconic and influential electric guitar music of all time was (and still is in certain genres) made on rigs like this. $200 will get you a Bugera V5 tube amp that'd be perfect for what you're after - simple controls, built-in 'verb, power attenuation/headphone out (the latter rare in an all-tube amp); IME half the fun is doing what we did back in the day - playing with the dials until you get the sounds you're hearing in your head - and since the building-block tones in all those modeling rigs are overwhelmingly based on tube amps of one kind or another anyway, why not go right to the source...?

Have a look at the Yamaha THR 10 demonstrations on YouTube.

I had a Vox vt20+ which was a nice little modeling amp. It had a lot of different amp models from clean to really heavy distortion and a whole bunch of effects on board. It was overwhelming to use. The trouble with most modeling amps is the limitations of features and effects you can run simultaneously. If I were more of a rock guy I may have loved the amp but my playing is mostly clean or just a bit of grit with some compression and a little delay or reverb. Nothing overly complex. I play mostly acoustic so I wound up getting a little Yamaha THR 5a, which is an acoustic amp version of the THR 10 mentioned in a previous post. It has a clean electric setting which does a reasonable job of modeling a tube amp type response. It has a nice breakup and just enough grit when you turn up the gain and max your guitar's volume pots. You can easily find the right combination of gain and volume to be able to range from clean electric to a cool bluesy grit by rolling off your guitar's volume pots. It is just a small bedroom amp but it has very nice tone without much volume. Comes with a license for a version of Cubase recording software that I have yet to attempt to use. The electric versions offer vastly more electric amp modeling. I chose the acoustic so I could have a nice little acoustic amp for home use and still be able to get the electric tones that I find appealing for me. With the hundred dollar savings over the more purely electric versions, I could purchase a couple of Behringer effects pedals to add more tone shaping possibilities for my limited electric playing. Anyway, a strong second to the recommendation of the THR amps from Yamaha.

Mustang is a good way to go. Then which one is next question. If you have a notebook close by you hook it up,, there ya go. Cannot access most effects without a computer.

If you want to tweak the controls on the fly hassle free, get the Mustang III. That lets you dial in the many effects manually. I would go III if I were going that route. More money and way too big, but best bang for modeling buck.

I just purchased this Bugera. I've only had it a week, but am having a blast with it already. I LOVE the built in attenuator which allows you to vary your watt output but still keep the volume up. I keep it at 1 watt which is more than loud enough for home use, but still have access to all the power.

OP - I am in the same position. I am new to electric guitars and after literally hours of pedal searches and YouTube clips, I gave up. I am picking up a looper pedal this weekend and have promised myself to not even LOOK at a pedal until after 3 months of playing around. Like you, I can go from country to rock to blues from song to song. Best of luck on your quest.

Agreed! I have a few of those all in one 'tone' devices and they are daunting. I end up never using them. The worst ones, and I have one, are the ones with presets with names like 'White Room' and Purple Haze' and so on. Don't players want their own signature tone?

One thing I do like them for is traveling and sitting in a hotel plugged into one with headphones on though. But when you come down to it, it's the pickups and amp that are the main driving factors in your tone. Then you can color that with pedal devices which IMHO have the easiest interface to deal with, a knob or two. You can also make changes on the fly real quick like even during a solo using pedals.

But anyway in the end they are all toys and are fun to play with. The Mustangs are cool little versatile amps.

I second the Yamaha THR 10 series. I still use pedals as well because I build experimental instruments and like to play with sound. However the quality of sound and simple to use features of the Yamaha make it a solid choice.

I purchased the Mustang I this morning. After reading the great responses I started looking into several other options. I didn't want to get caught up in hours/days/weeks of searching so I just went for it. I'm sure that the Mustang will be adequate for my current needs and I look forward to discovering my own preferences. Thanks again.