Beginner Electric with Amp? What do you recommend?

[3notes]

Originally Posted by roylor4

Hard to stay under 5 bills, this is my suggested shopping list:

Yamaha Pacifica 112v - $300
Fender Champion 20 - $130
Clip-on tuner - $20
Decent Gig bag - $40
Cable - $15
Picks - $5
Strap - $10
Cheap stand - $15
3 pack strings - $15

Total - $550 + total

Good luck to your friend!!

Spot on roylor. Great guitar and a great amp. Sounds super at low volumes and has a headphone jack.

[C-ville Brent]

The quality of inexpensive guitars seems so much better than 40 years ago. I've had a couple Bullet Strats for about 3 years and really like them - $109 new in Seafoam Green. Both were nice out of the box. Slightly tweaked bridge heights and put a DiMarzio prewired pickguard on one. Jackson Dinky JS11 is my favorite inexpensive humbucker guitar. I have a Fender Amer. Std. Strat and a couple Gibson LPs so have some familiarity with nice guitars. I think there is probably more variation in quality with inexpensive imported guitars and am happy I got some good ones.

Some really good sounding starter amps these days also. All sound more musical than my original 30 watt Crate (wooden crate construction) that I started with in the early 80's.

Sometimes progress is a good thing.

[phcorrigan]

Originally Posted by Paleolith54

And check local Craigslist for used stuff: you can save plenty, and get much more bang for your buck. Especially at the lower end.

Agreed, if you have some idea of what your looking for and it's used value. My rule-of-thumb is that I never (or almost never) pay more than new selling price. Also, If it's something I can't fully check out before purchase, I get the seller to agree to hold my money for a few days in case there's a problem.

One advantage of buying on Craigslist is that if you decide you don't like/need something you bought you can usually sell it for the same price.

I've purchased two used amps on Craigslist, and I've kept one and sold the other for more than I paid!

[phcorrigan]

Originally Posted by roylor4

Everything Frank says is valid.

As to SS modelers vs tube or tube hybrid amps here are my thoughts.

A modeling amp will expose the player to a variety of sounds, but many players get extremely distracted and wrapped up in tinkering when they should spend that time learning guitar skills.

A good (especially 2 channel) tube amp will give a newbie more than enough to explore without being a distraction - hence my tube amp recommendations. My .02 FWIW

Agreed on the tube amp.

When I bought my Gretsch (my first electric) I bought a Fender Mustang LT25, and I hated it. I really couldn't get the sound I wanted. I took it back and bought a used Line 6 Spider IV 30, which was better to my ears, but still too finicky. I finally settled on a Bugera V22 Infinium tube amp and I couldn't be happier. Both modeling amps sounded sterile by comparison.

I also picked up a used Yamaha THR10C modeling amp that is small and light and can be plugged in to a PA, but the sound of my Bugera is so much better that I haul its 45 lbs. to open mics to play three songs rather than take the 6 lb. Yamaha.