Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa
If you're diligent in your practice routine you're going to outgrow this combination very quickly. While a modeling amp can be a handy little toy for home recording/noodling - when you want to sound like Slash or Carlos Santana just by pushing a button (very impressive to the middle-school crowd) - IME the QC on the more-recent Chinese/Indonesian low- to mid-line Epiphones lags behind its direct market competitors, doesn't begin to approach their Korean-made instruments from the '90s/early-2K's, and requires a fairly-substantial investment in a good professional setup job to bring things into the realm of usability (money which, ironically, could have been channeled into a better instrument from the get-go). Speaking as a former teacher with 40+ years' experience I've seen too many students handicap their own progress with a poor-quality guitar bought in haste, sometimes to the point of giving up altogether; if you have return privileges I'd personally recommend you get your money back, be patient, save up a few more bucks, do a bunch of research, and buy right the first time - you'll never regret investing the extra bucks in a better-quality setup... 
Best of luck...  |
That’s a bunch of BS. Sorry, I do respect your experience as a musician/teacher, but trashing his decision to be a bit frugal in his first guitar and amp is just cork sniffing at its finest. It’s not like he bought a Starcaster starter pack from Best Buy for $150.
Modern budget guitars are nothing like those extremely cheap GLTs (guitar looking things) from back in the day. A $200 Epiphone won’t have the greatest pickups or tuning keys, but they do have extremely playable necks. And with the help of a great modeling amp like a Fender Mustang, it can make his early guitar journey an enjoyable one. And the best thing about it is that if things don’t work out, he can sell that gear at minimal loss.