Help me build a rig.

[Mr.Coneman]

Okay, long story short, I left my last band about half a year ago, because I simply couldn't afford to keep up with the rest of the guys in terms of helping with recordings, and buying gear for playing live (we occasionally headlined and having to borrow amps was becoming a serious pain).

Anyway, I left, got myself a job, and finally am in the stable position where I can start spending some decent cash on gig worthy gear. I'm okay for guitars for now (Epi Black Beauty LP with 3 BKP's), so I'm concentrating on a new amp, and pedals. But being honest, I'm well versed in guitars, but I have no idea about amps and effects pedals, other than as a lead guitarist I need them. Jesus, I talk too much.

Anyway, I'm looking for a good hard rock tone, that when pushed can hit those 80's metal leads. The tones I would hope to emulate would be Gary Moore, Randy Rhoads, Slash, and I would really really love to be able to get that awesome Hendrixy/SRV/John Mayer strat tone. Though I own a Les Paul with a single coil pickup, not a strat (though I want a strat eventually). Essentially just the tried and tested Les Paul into a half stack sound.


I already have your bog standard tuner pedal, and a dunlop crybaby wah, so those are covered...recommend some good distortion/overdrive/reverb/other essential pedals. I'm not looking to create any kind of new sound scapes, just the basic blues/rock/metal tones. Please talk as if to a noob, because I'm a pedal noob. Also, I'm totally considering getting a pedal board...do I order the board and put peddles in later, or do is there someway to order everything at once?

On the amp side of things, I don't really know what I'm looking to spend £300-£400 would be about the max I would like to spend, but am willing to go higher (it would just take longer to save the cash) if someone really thinks they're on to the right amp. I am thinking a half stack, but feel free to talk me out of that if you think it's a bad idea (I've seen people say they are just inconvenient on here). The only amp brands I really know are Marshall and Hughes and Kettner, because that's what me and my singer played in my old band. I never really enjoyed my tone in that band, but that's because it was a Marshall MG and it sucked, and I never had any real peddles to control my tone. Seriously, I talk too much.

I understand if nobody reads this because it's turned out 10 times longer than I wanted, but any help is really really appreciated.

[Transcend]

I think something like a used JCM800 2203/2204 could do perfectly well for you with a boost for those moments you really want to push things over the top.

For boosts theres your bog standard ibanez TS9 tubescreamer which you cant really go wrong with if you dont mind the huge mid hump.

And that is where i would leave it.

Guitar, amp, tuner, wah & boost

and at a push i would add in a chorus & delay but i prefer to keep things as simple as possible.

My current rig is Guitar > Amp

[Mr.Coneman]

Thank you for the reply! :)
I'm definitely looking for a basic set up here, but I am quite eager to have a delay/chorus aswell because I would like my clean tones to really sparkle, but those would definitely be the only exotic pedals I would be looking for.

I will most definitely look into the Marshall you recommended, basically I'm hoping this thread gets a few good replies and then I can judge all the set ups and pick and choose the best. Cheers :)

edit: Haha, those sell for over a grand!  :o A little out of my wallets league!

[metale]

I don't think you have much choise for a head AND cab for that price bracket. An orange dual terror will cost a bit more than that and still need a cab. Vox night train would probably need to be micked. Maybe Marshall Haze combo?

[Transcend]

Oh i didnt notice the price was for both the head & cab.

I would personally save a bit longer and get something decent rather than settling for the lower options.

i learnt the hard way that you will never be happy when you are settling.

The best advice i can give you is to go out and try a load of amps and see what you like then we can all advise a bit better if you want something similar but a bit cheaper

[Mr.Coneman]

Alright, good wake up call at least, I was being a little unrealistic in my price range I suppose! I'll just have to save up a little more and think about it at a later date I guess!

Also - Which is the better idea, get the pedals first, or the amp first?

[Transcend]

i would personally go for the amp first as its one of the largest contributers to your tone

[Mr.Coneman]

Thanks guys, you're really helping a gear noob here!  :lol:

Alright...next plan of attack then I guess, I can buy a good head first (just the head) for around £500+ when I get the cash up again, and then save up again after that to complete the half stack with a decent cab (£200? I guess is a decent cab?)

[Telerocker]

Have a look at Bugera (6260), maybe you find one used. Or a used Marshall JCM 900 head. Look for a 2x12 or 4x12 cab on E-bay. There are decent used Hughes & Kettner cabs around. A tubescreamer does the job in most cases, or a Marshall Guvner, Boss DS-1 etc.

[Mr.Coneman]

Blackstar, Peavey, and Bugera have all been on my radar tonight. I think I'm leaning toward the Blackstar ht100 though!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29esAeMCiCE

Affordable (if I buy the head and cab separately, and used) , and sounds bad ass!

[Alex]

Both Blackstar and Peavey make good and affordable stuff; can't really go wrong with them. I thought the Peavey Windsor was an amazing amp for the money. You could probably get one used. It will do a great JCM800 sound, but not a lot of clean sounds. The Valveking is also popular and more versatile. If you want a combo the Peavey XXX had some nice combos, but I would rather go with the Blackstar combos then.

Don't spend a lot of money on pedals; pedals like the Digitech Bad Monkey are 90% as good as boutique pedals IMO, but cost a fraction.

[BigB]

Blackstar, Peavey, and Bugera have all been on my radar tonight. I think I'm leaning toward the Blackstar ht100 though!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29esAeMCiCE

Affordable (if I buy the head and cab separately, and used) , and sounds bad ass!

Beware, a 100watter tube amp is WAY too loud unless you're only playing big stadiums. Even a 40watter may require some attenuation to get good tones at a manageable volume level (rehearsal, small gigs etc).  Remember that with tube amps, the name of the game to get "that" tone is to crank the output stage.

Else I can only second Toe-Knee and Alex:

* take time to try as most amps as possible (without worrying about brand, power, price or whatever), preferably with your own guitar, so you get an idea of what works best for *you*.

* don't bother too much about pedals until you have your amp and cab, else you may end up with a pedal that don't play nice with your amp

wrt/ cab, you may want to consider (closed back) 2x12 or 4x10 options instead of the canonical 4x12.

[Telerocker]

Like Big B. I can't stress enough that 100 watts of tubeamp-power is most of the time too much, unless you're playing big halls or open air-concerts. 30-40 watts is really enough for most gigs. I'm in a coverband doing gigs every weekend for 100 to 500 people and I take my Rockerverb 50 only for outdoor gigs (tents) and bigger halls. Usually I play a 15 watt tubeamp (Blues Junior) with some pedals in front. It's amplified by the PA-system and it works fine. Seldom play full throttle on the Blues Junior.

[BigB]

Like Big B. I can't stress enough that 100 watts of tubeamp-power is most of the time too much, unless you're playing big halls or open air-concerts. 30-40 watts is really enough for most gigs.

I'm using a Fender HRDx  (40w) plugged into a Marshall 1965 cab (4x10, low sensibilty celestion speakers), and even for an outdoor gig I never had a chance to use more than about 1/3 of the available volume. FWIW, I'm considering switching to a 22watter so I can get the output stage to cook a bit more without having to use an attenuator.

Hint: our drummer and bass player both come from Metal  and we're doing a mixture of grunge and punk-rock... so yes, we do play quite loud.

[richard]

Check out the Cornford Roadhouse 30. Amazing amp for not a whole lot of cash.