Guitar Question

I got a sawbuk bettin' Brad's beggin for Jay's login just to chime in on this thread...

Here's to ya lil' buddy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz87jhgbwuA

 

U-k-u-l-e-l-e. I learned how to spell that watching Clint Eastwood in "Line of Fire." I hope Clint was right.

Now that's all I know about g-i-t-a-r-s.

I do want to learn to play though. Any advice for a beginner or hope to be beginner? No electric, just the other kind. Acoustic ???

Not to hijack the thread or anything.

 

knowing how to spell it is 6 times gayer than owning one.

 

Etemplet, for a beginner...... get a teacher and learn some classical stuff. Everything else will be that much easier. Classical will teach you a myriad of different styles so far as single note lines, and chord progressions go. When you're able to learn classical on your own, start listening to different styles of jazz, flamenco, and blues (specifically gun slingers like Albert King). Everything comes from those influences. Rock is EASY to learn after a couple of lessons in classical.




Phil, a new Gibson (excluding the custom shop stuff) is a WASTE. Their quality control has suffered since at least the turn of the Millenium. Find a 70's - 90's Custom and you're buying a quality axe. If you intend to play a lot of clean guitar (which it doesn't sound like due to your Marshall desire), you may want to look at single-coil equipped guitars. Not mentioned yet is Nash guitars. He makes vintage Fender-styled stuff, often "relicing" them which I think is dumb, but some like it. They are equipped with very good parts; Callaham bridges/blocks, Lollar pickups, etc. You can get one from Musictoyz.com, or check Nash's webite for other dealers.

Amp-wise, if you're looking for that classic "Marshall Crunch" check out those photos on the first page. The combo in the bottom right of Jay's superb collection would be right up that alley. JCM 800's epitomize what most people think of when they think "Marshall." I would recommend a half stack as opposed to the combo, I've had both and the combo seemed a little more shrill/trebly to me with a strat. The channel switching 50 watter is the best model in my opinion. If you want to play good clean stuff, a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe is a great, affordable option. Try to find a used one with a Celestion Vintage 30 speaker in it. I had one as my back up amp and it sounded surprisingly good! They tend to be pretty dark, so lay the treble/presence on! A SUPER-FANTASTIC amp choice is a Tone King Meteor II. Their clean sound/reverb is unrivaled, and their overdrive is a very tight crunch reminiscent of tweed-era Fender Bassmans. They're expensive, but TOTALLY worth it. Mark Bartel tested cabinet designs for 2 years to tune the amps' sound, and his customer service is amazing. I took my amp back to his shop in Baltimore to get the reverb tank replaced, and he even remembered my amp. I bought it from O.A.R.'s lead guitar player, and the first thing he asked me was "Did you get this from Rich?" Other great marshall alternatives would be Bruno, Fargen, and Budda. Other considerations in the amp department for a sweet class-A cruch (think R.E.M., and most neo-country lead players like Keith Urban) would be Matchless and Bad Cat. Early 90's Matchless and Bad Cat amps were both designed by Mark Sampson, and are great, great amps that can do clean and crunch very well.

If you want to know about effects, just say the word. I could buy a new MV F4 312 with the amount of money I've spent on effects through the years!!!
Hope this helped!!!!

 

Phil, to answer your original question, the major differences between your G-310 and a better SG is the bolt-on neck vs a set neck and hardware. Is a set neck better than a bolt-on? A guy named Fender will tell you no, and there are plenty of bolt-on neck guitars that are used by famous pros, including the Ibanez guitars played by Satriani. Better tuners, are, well, better, but your G-310 is not crap. If you're happy with the performance of your pickups then that's cool.

As you may know, I'm not a big Marshall robot fan who believes that every other amp sux. I own Peaveys and Carvins, and I'm very happy with them, I can get a wide range of tone out of them that Marshall androids will tell you is impossible. Listen to your ears, not religious nuts. Check out Peavey's JSX if you are really into Satch, or the Carvin V3. Or, better yet, check out the Line 6 Vetta - I know a Marshall worshiper who bought one and thinks it's one of the coolest amps he owns.

AFA the Satriani axes, I own a JS100 and a JS1000, big difference again is the neck and the hardware. The Prestige neck on the 1000 has a different radius, either you like it or you don't. The pickups are better, but I retrofit my 100 with a DiMarzio PAF Joe and a Fred in the bridge, and it was well worth it. I'm happy with the cheaper Edge bridge in the 100. You can save bucks by hotrodding a JS100 and tweak it to your preferences. I like both, and really can't say that the 1000 is a far better axe.

 

Awesome! Thanks guys!

 

YES they are…….Like people have been saying there is a difference between Gibson/Epiphone quality materials etc which all equates to tone and playability...plus the name does add alot to the value...lol It really depends on how *hard core* you want to get…lol money etc.
I’m a total tone geek I’ve been working for over 10 years on my rig and I’m finally now just getting it close to what I like? I play thru a 5150 based wet/dry/wet stereo setup. (I have a heavily modded 1994 5150 head) I’ll take some pics later…lol (my wants in tone are always changing if you would of asked me 5-10 years ago I was fairly happy then with my 5150, it just evolves over time)
But Marshall makes such a huge array of amps between tube/solidstate. I’m not a big fan of Marshalls (new stuff at least)…an old plexi or somethings like that are cool (again depends on what tone you like) oh and I’ve heard a few marshall jubilees’ that sound pretty good.
It’s all gonna come down to “tone” what sound are you looking for???
Are you playing out? Are you just playing in your house and normal levels? Keep in mind tube amps don’t’ start sounding good until they get turned up. But NOTHING sounds better then a “good” tube amp. If you go that route you might want to think about some kind of power attenuator ie. Hotplate or a speaker simulator.
If you’re into Joe Satriani obviously you know he plays an ibanez thru Peavey stuff (I think he still uses peavey amps) his signature guitar amp JSX; is a 5150II tube based amp. He’s got a pretty cool tone now a days.
If you’re playing his style of music you’re gonna want a guitar with a full floating floyd rose cuz he’s the master of dive bombs and other cool whammy bar effects. Tho you don't need one I play all kinds of satch stuff without a full floater. Now here comes an issues to your original question…..Yes spend some money on a decent guitar that is set up(well) with a full floating floyd rose. If you want a Floyd Rose keep in mind they are a total pain in the ass if they are NOT set up correctly. They don’t stay in tune and you can’t really play in dropped D on other tunings without re setting up your bridge.
I have an Ibanez Rg520 and don’t really play it. Not a big fan of it…lol So again it all depends on what you want, what you’re doing, tone, etc….

I can go on all day about guitar stuff, if you have any questions let me know and I’ll answer them as best as I can.

Hey road racer X nice wolfgangs in your collection….

 

LOL I hear ya...I just got a Gforce and it's pretty buck, I'm trying to get away from all my stomp boxes....

 

Ok, now I have another question. If I want the sound of Satriani's guitar, can I just put new pick-ups in my guitar, or should I try to buy an Ibanez?

 

Pickups will get you "in the door" so to speak,but the rest is phrasing.Riding Mat Mladin's bike won't make anyone as fast as he is,capito?It ain't the equipment,it's the player.

You guys are giving him way to much info waaaaay too soon. It's his guitar,let him learn and decide for himself.

Didn't know that guitar (Epi SG) was a bolt on.The set neck EPIs,the major difference is the hardware.

Best bang for the buck? G&L and Music Man.My Luke would cost $20,000 if it said Fender on the headstock.

 

Gimme a call, Kenny!

 

Thanks Mr. Johnson, if you had been playing for just a few months and were really wanting to get into guitar, what would you do? Basically, if you were in my shoes, what would you do?

 

Jay,PM me your number.

Phil,if I were you,I'd buy my 15 watt for sale j/k

What do you like? What do you want to do with your guitar/music?

 

You say that like it's a bad thing.

 

and



Hands down, the wolfie is the finest guitar I've played to date
A very good friend recommends Agile guitars. Very inexpensive Gibson knock-offs. My buddy says their build quality and playability is outstanding, but the pickups suck. $300 gets an awesome playing, and awesome looking guitar.

Just my 2 cents.

 

sln, are you recovering those heads? If so, where are you getting the tolex and is it terribly difficult?

 

Jeezus! I cant believe my eye's....a ADA MP1! I had one of the first one's in the mid to late 80's. I always had to program two of the buttons on the foot pedal the same...because single buttons were to small and hard to hit on the stage.

I loved the sound of that pre-amp when mixed with some good midi processors.

As for the Marshalls....I always ran the 35 watt celestions rather than the 70 watters that came with them stock. The seem to break up at lower volumes.

I will admit that I did love running a Marshall stack with Mesa Boogie tubes and slaving it with a fender twin amp....now that my friends was the true sound of Judas Priest!!

 

Nah, I'm not terribly interested in how they look. They sound ferocious though. The '73 100 watter is pretty much bone stock, and the '72 50 watter circuit is bone stock, but someone tried to get tricky and put a plexi faceplate on it.

I've kinda been jonesin' for a tele. Tele's and Marshalls are a pretty cool combination

:up:

 

let's hear a sample of some of your playing....

 

Sorry about the crappy pics I just took these in my computer room...lolOk here are some pics of current rig configuration, wolfgangs I play, and my pride and joy a 1992 musicman EVH...tho I don't play it that much anymore it doesn't have the tone I want like the Wolfgangs have (at least thru my current rig/setup). But it's the sweetest playing guitar I've ever played.
The cabs have vintage 30s in them and they totally rock. I had Jerry at FJA mods *hotrod* my amp and it sounds amazing!
Right now I'm messing with a fender bandmaster *maybe* to run the clean tones thru I also have a custom audio amp switcher I might start using again...lol Basically it's way too much shit to carry around gigging but you do what you have to do ........ LOL
Oh and FYI all a wet/dry/wet stereo rig does is confuse the hell out of sound guys...lol So with my line mixer I can mix dry guitar to to keep the sound guys happy but I lose my stereo panning effect...lol