It's been a few months since we've had a guitar thread. The bass thread hasn't gotten much attention lately, either.

[conquistador] I claim this thread for Spain. [/conquistador] Or rather, for guitars, basses, amps, effects, and related miscellania.

I'd like to start the discussion with a question about amps. I've got an M-Audio Black Box, which has several amp-modelling presets and effects, so I'm looking for an amp with little individual character. I want something that will simply give me a true sound across the spectrum. Price and power are minor factors in this decision, though I'd like the most crash for my cash, if you know what I mean.

When I get a satisfactory decision made, we can talk about why the Les Paul is the best body style. 

Also:

Did you know?

Lostshoe420 has started three guitar threads, two of which share identical titles. Neat!

Back on topic, you scoundrels. 

i'd go with a line6, they're all digital but thats what makes them great for a ton of different situations 

All digital, you say?

Regular 1/4" connections, though? 

I'm looking for an amp with little individual character.

Buy a secondhand rig and stub your cigarettes on the head.

I have a Crate Blue Voodoo which I used to love and now use as a reading lamp,
And a Fender Stage 100, which pleases me.

If you want individual character, build your own.
I'm serious. 

I want as little individual character as possible in an amp. Perhaps a jazz-style amp would be best...something clean. 

I want as little individual character as possible in an amp.

Buy a Marshall and spill beer on it. 

Haha! I like a good Marshall, and that's a waste of beer. 

I won't be much good in here until we start talking about something else.
Using sub-par gear has always been a point of pride for me.

But try Mesa Boogie. 

I suppose I should just go to the music shop and look around...

Moving on: Guitar body styles - What's the best?

I humbly submit that the classic Les Paul is the most elegant and beautiful electric body style. 

The Les Paul is wonderful.
Only complaints are that it's heavy and you can't thumb the bass strings on the upper frets.
But I don't play live and rarely play up that high, anyway, so, yeah.

I wish telecasters weren't so damn ugly, because I love the way they play and sound. 

True, true, and true.

The tele is very nice, but damn...almost as awkward-looking as the strat. 

Wait...not the strat...the SG.

I hate the SG body style. The strat isn't much better, but at least it's distinctive. 

So how can I build speed on the fretboard? 

It'd be really cool if there were a way around hours of practice.

And there is, but it involves hours of what looks and feels a lot like practice. 

I've got a Peavey 212 TransTube. It's got great range and has some built in digital effects. The only one I really use is delay, but it works great. Mainly, it's really loud. 

The Les Paul is wonderful.
Only complaints are that it's heavy and you can't thumb the bass strings on the upper frets.
But I don't play live and rarely play up that high, anyway, so, yeah.

I wish telecasters weren't so damn ugly, because I love the way they play and sound.

My first electric guitar was a telecaster. I've played it to death. The input jack had to be glued back in and I've got nicks in two frets (15 and 18, I believe). But I still love it, as it has sorta become part of me and has developed a certain level of character.

My second electric I just got a few weeks ago...a Gibson Firebird Studio. About 3 times as heavy as the tele, but the sound and action is unparalleled.

I ruv it. 

i'd go with a line6

good for digital recording ,,, but hard to make them sound like a real amp, lots of time tweaking

im a fan of a good fender twin

Moving on: Guitar body styles - What's the best?

strats are sure comfy .. but i gotta go with a tele 

Have acoustics come up yet?
No?

ugh 

Have acoustics come up yet?

I'm waiting for that too, also I'd love the name of a great acoustic song to learn, one that wasn't designed for acoustic, something I can pull out at a party and leave everyone all Whoa! 

m R R o R y said:

I'm waiting for that too, also I'd love the name of a great acoustic song to learn, one that wasn't designed for acoustic, something I can pull out at a party and leave everyone all Whoa!

Straight Outta Compton. 

I have a line 6 spider II <mmm two 10" speakers> and the only real complaint i have with it is quite a few of the settings you can tell are digital. They don't sound like their analog counter part and i've felt like it can sometimes leave my notes sounding shallow and empty.

But for practice and to really piss off the neighbors at 4am it works like a charm. 

...my guitar is staring at me now, thanks. i really should find a place to take lessons 

Can someone explain the difference between a tube amp and a stack? I've heard there's a difference but don't understand. 

i took lessons for the last two years and felt that it really helps to have someone to be able to go to to ask questions. One of my friends plays and never took lessons and has played for about twice as long as me, and i can easily play circles around him... 

Straight Outta Compton.

Link? Tab? 

I bought a LTD Viper 400 w/EMGS on Wednesday! Timely! 

I got a capo for Christmas.
Now if I can just tear myself away from Guitar Hero II to play with it. 

spastichero said:

Can someone explain the difference between a tube amp and a stack? I've heard there's a difference but don't understand.

A stack just describes the combination of a separate head (amplifier) and cabinet (speakers).
You're probably thinking of tube vs. solid state.

Wikipedia explains the technical details far better than I could,
but essentially, tube amps are called such because they literally use a vacuum tube,
while solid state amps use a transistor.
The tube distortion comes from running more power through the amp than it can handle,
while the solid state distortion these days typically comes from DSPs (Digital Signal Processors).
Tubes are usually associated with a warmer, more analogue tone (think classic rock, old punk, and blues)
while solid state is a harsher, somewhat buzzier sound (think thrash, et al)

There's a place for both (moreso than my overly simplified examples would indicate),
and plenty of people who prefer one over the other,
but you'll usually find far more tube fanatics than solid state fanatics.
The truth is that these days, it's getting harder to tell the difference by listening,
and in fact, Craig Anderton, something of a legend in the recording world,
found that many highly trained people could not tell the difference in a blind test. 

a friend of mine has a tube amp with a digital pedal pre-amp deal set up. sounds spectacular.

of course i don't have the kind of money to spend on it that he does.

but things sound so much better on his and you can get such a wider range of sound that way.

So I guess in my opinion it would be better to buy a simple amp that doesn't have any or many effects, then buy pedals to add the effects you want. seems to get better sound...but that may also be my amp. 

SI, out of curiousity, what do you plan to use the amp for?
I ask because "I'm looking for an amp with little individual character." doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
I can't imagine that you're going to use it for recording,
since you already have amp modeling at your disposal,
and I haven't heard you mention planning to play live, although I could've just missed it.

The best guess I can make is that you just want something to noodle on at home,
and you plan to play a number of different styles and would like something versatile,
in which case, the Line 6 stuff is probably worth looking into, but I'd play one at a local store first.
If you really want as little character as possible, you could try plugging your guitar straight into a PA and running it out of some decent studio monitors,
or if you're looking for a recorded tone as unaltered you can get it, try a direct box.

If you're willing to get a separate head and cabinet,
my girlfriend got me one of the Crate Powerblocks for Christmas, and it seems to have a pleasing but fairly neutral sound,
which is perfect for me since I'm going to be running into it through a Pod XT Live
They were running only $99, but it looks like all of the major online guys (Musician's Friend / Guitar Center, Music123, zzounds, etc)
have suddenly, inexplicably stopped carrying them, so I dunno. 

I have a question:

I know that i can take my guitar in to my sound card on my PC, as i've done it before <i have 1/4 jacks on my sound card> but is there any way i can play that through my speaker system as it's coming through the card? 

NEVERMIND cancel last question. Found the option for it in audacity.

i love this software by the way. 

That's how I usually play these days, unless I'm downstairs in the basement with our almost-a-band, of course.
I have one of the Soundblaster Audigy cards with the live drive,
and I just run straight into that, and play through Native Instruments' Guitar Rig 2.
Nice for playing through headphones when the girlfriend's asleep,
and for practicing playing and singing at the same time, when she's not home. 

i just like that i didn't have to buy a looping kit to be able to overlay when i play. this way i can lay down some background to noodle over. i like that much better. 

I played Guitar Hero once. Does that count? 

That shred-off on The Colbert Report was pretty cool.

"owwww my hand! I can't play! Peter Frampton? Will you take my place in the shred-off?" 

I'm about to look like a Fender whore.

I've got a Fender Strat (midnight wine), Tele (arctic white), and a Hot Rod Deluxe. It's a pretty good amp, but I would want an AC-30 or Marshall to get some harder tones.

I've been thinking of picking up a Tubescreamer, and have been drooling over one of these for quite some time. The neck pickup on most of the one's I've played is kinda muddy at higher volumes but that can be fixed. The bridge with my hot rod is perfect. 

So is this thread for those who already know how to play or can the noobs join in? 

I dunno why not, if anyone's got questions I would be happy to answer if I can. 

les paul specials are amazing 

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/5678/guitars3bw9.jpg

i plan on having another photoshoot today. somethings have changed since then. 

Ooooh, that's hot. @42. 

The Les Paul body is nasty.
My argument is biased though because I am a Fender man, through and through. (Two Fender USA strats and a Fender Blues Deluxe amp. )
The Les Paul's neck angle is the thing I have the main problem with; I don't like how it angles back from the body. Plus the strings are raised, which means the humbuckers have to be raised too, which gives you little playing room underneath the strings.
Mahogany and Maple? Looks good, but it's heavy. Yes they sound furking incredible, but they only sound better than Fenders at high volumes through a Marshall stack. When they're quiet they sound mediocre at best. Strats always sound good.

The Fender Strat is, has always been, and always will be the greatest design of guitar in history. 

And if you disagree, you hate jesus 

i'm jewish. and i pretty much agree. i have a fender deluxe powerhour strat. sometimes i try to cuddle with it. 

Alrighty, I've decided to give tube amps a try, based on what I've heard and read in here.

On Fender: I don't like the width between strings...it's probably only a marginal difference, but it seems like they're much too close together for my fat, stubby fingers. Also, I think they don't sound as nice clean. Of course, it should be noted that I have a Les Paul copy, not a genuine Les Paul, so mine is a bit different. The top is nearly flat, the neck isn't angled as much, and the electronics are much louder than the real ones I tried out. It's a 1970's Lotus from Japan, and I was originally weary of picking up a copy, but this thing is solid, in mint condition, and it plays very well. The sustain is surprising for a solid-body, and it's even got a custom pre-amp boost switch for treble. It doesn't even seem heavy, probably due to different woods being used. The only gripe I have is that it can be sort of biased toward the bass if I don't keep an eye on my tone and volume, but that's a minor detail.

On acoustics: I have a small classical and a regular acoustic, but I'd like an acoustic-electric, maybe a shallow bowl like those Ovations. Anybody have one?

And Rory: If you're looking for a good song to play on the acoustic, learn Paul McCartney's Rocky Raccoon, assuming you can sing and play at the same time. It's not a super-well-known song, but it's catchy as hell, so it should earn you points with the ladies. 

I have an old reel-to-reel tape deck from the late 50s that uses tubes . This summer I figured out I can plug my bass into its 1/4" jack and use it as a small amp. Sounds great--warm and punchy, mostly clean but with a smooth, climbing fuzz at higher volumes. The smooth fuzz is the best thing about it. Can't match it in any other amp--they either fuzz the tone or don't, and there's not alot of play in between. This old tape recorder produces the nicest fuzz gradient (if that makes sense--clean, but kinda fuzzy, getting fuzzier as it gets louder). 

I'd like an acoustic-electric, maybe a shallow bowl like those Ovations. Anybody have one?

My son has one
(not an ovation but the same base shape)
He loves it,
and I prefer my old fashioned "proper" shape.

A lot depends if you play sitting hunched over,
or if there's a lot of you. 

My favorite guitar is an Explorer.
There's just something about that body.

My favorite headstocks, though, come from PRS's.