Having a hard time choosing between 3 electrics, please help!

[Etienne Rambert]

 

​That is a great option, but if I wait for the time between family and work to do that, it would be weeks or months down the road. I would rather just go online and buy and deal with returns that way if needed. I agree with what you said about amp tone, I would rather buy an expensive amp and a mid-ranged guitar (hence my $500 limit). I don't currently own an amp yet, but I'm going to save for that next.

 

Sweetwater.

 

Ask your sales person which of the 3 pesent the fewest problems.

Then tell him or her to personally pick the best one in stock of the

model you decide to buy.

 

I did & it worked. They double the warranty and give free shipping too.

I can pm you the email of my sales guy if you don't already have one.

 

FWIW, SW is within a days' drive of where you live.

[WRGKMC]

Its a toss up. If you don't own a Paul or Tele then those might be good options for a collection. I'd be less likely to buy a Tele with two P90's vs one in the neck position, reason being without a standard Tele's Bridge pickup and bridge the instruments too much like a Custom Tele build and you loose most of its notable twang. Customs that have the original Split pole pickups can sound really good but my buddy has a reissue which sucks for tone.

 

I've done several Tele builds using Mini Humbuckers which I really like but they are a cross between a Gibson and Tele in tone. P90's would give you something similar with less drive. If that's the tone you want then definitely go for it. It will sound like a cross between a LP Junior and Tele.

 

Ibanez guitars are built well and have fast playing necks. Their tone tends to be generic. Not sure how well they do on a LP build. Its allot of weight to wear on your shoulder unless you know its something you want. I have an actual LP but I don't play it live allot because it's like wearing a cinder block.

 

I think the PRS is the best buy for the money. Its got all the modern elements and the necks are actually the best part about them. My buddy bought one of their budget models. I did a little tweaking for him to adjust the action. That's a common thing you have to do on most mail order instruments, especially imports. They are one of the better import builds out there, much better then Fender or Ibanez in that price range. Build quality isn't always the deciding factor of course. Tone and ascetics play a big role in instrument choices.

[Mikeo]

 

 

I suspect a road trip would be your even better best option. Maybe someplace where there's both GCs and Sam Ash stores, maybe some other local places... Overnight trip, if necessary.

 

Play 8-10 different makes/models, you may find one family sounds better than the others, without regard to specs on paper (although electric sounds are heavily influenced by whatever amp they're going through at the time)...

 

Play 2 or 3 different guitars -- same make, model, strings, etc. -- and you may find one feels better than the others.

 

-D44

 

 

 

I used to do that, and would head off to 48th Street in NYC.

 

Manny's ( now gone), Sam Ash and about a dozen other guitar shops and paw shops lined that street.

 

I could play everything and I would see what hit me the hardest.

 

When I bought my PRS CU22, I got that from the GC. I played a dozen PRS's not just CU22's, and picked the one I liked the best. I was pretty much set on a McCarty PRS, so you really never do know till you get a guitar in hand.

 

I mail order most stuff these days, but my tastes for instrument purchases got pretty costly. Even still I ask for good photo's, and like to see a few different versions of the same guitar.

 

 

[smathis]

I actually ordered the PRS a couple hours ago from Sweetwater. We'll see what happens. Again, thank you all for your insight, this is a great resource of information, especially for the less experienced like myself.

[DeepEnd]

I actually ordered the PRS a couple hours ago from Sweetwater. We'll see what happens. Again' date=' thank you all for your insight, this is a great resource of information, especially for the less experienced like myself.[/quote']

Cool. Let us know what you think once it arrives and you have a chance to play it. If it's not too late you might add a Vox Amplug to your order until you can get an amp: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/search.php?s=amplug&Go=Search

[Drummer44]

I don't currently own an amp yet, but I'm going to save for that next.

 

FWIW, I've become weight-sensitive, so usually shop on lowest component weights, assuming the product is viable. So mini-stacks seemed like a good idea at the time...

 

That led me first to a Marshall Haze 15 stack (15W, tubes, 2x single 12 cabs) and it sounded great... but had a hum in it that I couldn't tolerate and we couldn't diagnose. Marshall tried to help... and we shuffled through several replacement units... but the eventual result was we bagged it. Sounded great, otherwise, and later I heard one in a store (Sam Ash in Indy, I think) that wasn't humming. No longer offered new, I think, but a used one, auditioned first, could be decent.

 

Replaced that with an MG15 stack (15W, solid state, 2x 10 cabs), sounds fine.

 

Overall power was fine for our purposes. Lots of onboard effects, overkill for my preferences. Each component wasn't too heavy. Both offer the option to run on only one cab.

 

I've also got a small 25W Fender Frontman, solid state, 10" speaker, steel mesh speaker protector, older model that doesn't have some of the features of their current versions. Pretty good amp, easy to carry, powerful enough, but also slightly bright for my tastes, sometimes.

 

Not a recommendation, just data points. Of those, I think I liked the Haze best, except for that pesky flaw.

 

And we mostly play through the PA, these days, anyway. DI box, a very little reverb from the mixer, done deal. So I haven't been paying too much attention to guitar amps for several years.

 

-D44

 

 

[smathis]

Cool. Let us know what you think once it arrives and you have a chance to play it. If it's not too late you might add a Vox Amplug to your order until you can get an amp: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/sea...plug&Go=Search

 

​I considered getting one of those, but my multi-effects pedal has a headphone jack so I'm just stick with that for now until I save up enough to get a amp.

 

And we mostly play through the PA, these days, anyway. DI box, a very little reverb from the mixer, done deal. So I haven't been paying too much attention to guitar amps for several years.

 

​The only time I wouldn't be playing without using my headphones would be at my church, and we run direct through the PA there as well and then use stage monitors, so I'm with you there. But I like the idea of a smaller amp, too.

 

[hellion_213]

Have you considered a .44 Magnum? It's the size of a stomp box, but extremely capable.

[DeepEnd]

. . . ​The only time I wouldn't be playing without using my headphones would be at my church' date=' and we run direct through the PA there as well and then use stage monitors, so I'm with you there. But I like the idea of a smaller amp, too.[/quote']

I'm a worship musician myself and while I have a Roland Cube 80XL amp that's plenty loud, I just use it to hear myself and run a line out to the PA. Not sure what your amp budget is but the Fender Bassbreaker combo is well under $500 and it has a line out: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/BassB007C. 7 tube Watts should be more than loud enough for your purposes. No effects but you may not need any. Pretty much any amp with a line out will work fine, or you could mike it if it doesn't.

[GAS Man]

I agree. At first I didn't care for the SG looks, but I indeed got over that. While I do like the looks of a LP, I figure if I were a blind man (going my feel and sound alone) I'd probably choose an SG 4 out of 5 times over a L.P. I like that their tone is more spanky/vibey, like if a Fender and a Gibson LP had a baby. Plus they are comfy critters. I got about a dozen of the dern things + a couple Epi versions. My bad. I also have that Classic with the P90s but later got a '60s Tribute SG (thin finish) with P-90s that's a bit more vibey than the particular select I got from MF on that Classic. It's still often the luck of the draw.

 

And indeed, comparing an SG vs an LP Special (both all mahogany) it's easy to hear the difference the thinner slab makes.