If You Were Starting Out?

Cols

hywelg said:

I'd probably have a word with myself and tell me to learn to play better. If you can play well, really well, equipment makes a lot less of a difference.

This is true; a fantastic musician can make a budget guitar sound magical.  And a terrible guitarist is never going to get the best out of decent kit.  Sadly, a ‘59 Les Paul and a Marshall stack is not going to make me sound like Jimmy Page.

On the other hand, having poor kit as a beginner can limit development and ultimately demoralise the player.

A good experienced player can compensate for the deficiencies of a bad instrument up to a point, but it’s not much fun.  A novice will have a very frustrating time with the same and won’t be able to make up the difference.

olafgarten

english_bob said:

The biggest disadvantage of going the digital route is that it's still a developing technology, and as such whatever you buy now, even if you're spending Axe-FX amounts of money on it, will be obsolete within a decade (if you're lucky) and worth a fraction of what you paid for it. Valve amplifiers and analogue pedals are about as far evolved as they're ever likely to be, so barring the usual depreciation if you buy new and sell later, you probably won't lose as much money.

There are many reasons you'll find people selling off stuff in bulk here. Sometimes it's because they've joined a new band and need a very different setup to what they currently own. Sometimes it's because they're going "all-in" on a digital system like the Helix. Sometimes it's because this is a hobby and they need something to keep them entertained. Very few of those reasons are anything to do with the quality of the stuff they're selling.

Don't take forums like this as representative of guitarists in general- I know plenty who have no interest in the sort of gear geekery that goes on here, and there are plenty of other forums that have their own particular and quite different brands of geekery too.

Barnezy said:

My my initial thoughts for an amp and pedal setup were:

68 Princeton Reverb 
Tube Screamer
DS1 (already own)
EXH Canyon Delay 
Neo Clone (already own)
EXH Soul Food (already own)
Spark 
An EQ pedal

Is that simple enough? 

I'd say it depends on what you want to play. For plenty of stuff it isn't simple enough- a Tubescreamer is similar enough to a Klone that having both might well be redundant for some players. Likewise, a clean boost and an EQ (and a Klone, and a Tubescreamer) can overlap somewhat, but not necessarily (and clean boost type pedals react very differently with different types of amps in different stages of overdrive, so might not do what you expect).

If it was me, I'd want a delay that can store presets and has more comprehensive tap tempo capabilities. I'd also pick an amp where I could dial in some overdrive that wasn't dependent on how loud I was playing, but that's about personal preference and how I play, not necessity. 

If those are the tools you need to do the job you want to do though, it's a perfectly good setup. It might not always be suitable as your needs change and your playing develops, but that's one of the reasons all this gear gets bought and sold here.

I disagree with it becoming obselete, there is really no reason for that to happen. You might find that there is something new and better, but that doesn't mean it won't sound good anymore. 

I think we are a long way away from the inputs and outputs of these devices are changed. 

Barnezy

Just picked up a 65 Princeton Reverb off Gumtree. Absolutely love it! My wife even commented on how nice it sounded, which my mean it’s really good. I haven’t had a chance to get the volume up as the kids are in bed but I’m pretty sure it won’t be loud enough to gig on its own, but at worst it can be mic’d or I have justification for a HRD and keep this as my at home amp. Really glad I’ve gone this route now instead of a modeller. 

Time to to build a pedal board.  

Thanks for the input guys! 

Barnezy

RaymondLin said:

This is my practice rig.





Just don't what I do and also buy a Bogner, Lazy J and then another board.  Well, you can, YOLO and all that but it's kinda a waste TBH.

Raymond, where did you get that tweed pedalboard case from? Looks great! 

monquixote

RaymondLin said:

This is my practice rig.





Just don't what I do and also buy a Bogner, Lazy J and then another board.  Well, you can, YOLO and all that but it's kinda a waste TBH.

That board looks like a total disaster for a beginner. I'd strip that right back and just focus on your playing.

You don't want to be doing a Heston recipe when you haven't learned to boil an egg.

Grunfeld

Barnezy said:

If you were in my position now, would you go tube amp and pedals or something like a Helix Stomp?...
For those more experienced than me, what would you do now? 

Genuinely I'd go tube amp and pedals and I'd actually get something like what I'm selling (! product placement alert!**) which is a Blackstar HT 20 because does clean, takes pedals extremely well, and at the press of a foot switch you're in classic rock overdrive.  Basically, it covers all options. 

** PM if you're interested and I'm sure I could do a healthy London discount!

Cols

monquixote said:

RaymondLin said:

This is my practice rig.





Just don't what I do and also buy a Bogner, Lazy J and then another board.  Well, you can, YOLO and all that but it's kinda a waste TBH.

That board looks like a total disaster for a beginner. I'd strip that right back and just focus on your playing.

You don't want to be doing a Heston recipe when you haven't learned to boil an egg.

Not the OP’s board.  That one belongs to @RaymondLin, who I very much doubt is a beginner.

monquixote

IIRC I think he's only been playing a few months.

Barnezy

monquixote said:

IIRC I think he's only been playing a few months.

2 years.

RaymondLin

You can't get the board anymore as that guy as gone bust (Salvage Customs).  I am sure there are other UK builders which can make something similar.  It's nothing special in terms of design, a plain flat piece of wood with side handles, just looks cool.