Buzzer

Hi

My lad has expressed an interest in learning to play the guitar (he's just turned 12). He's had an acoustic for a few months now and i must admit that he's trying hard learning his chords, so i thought maybe an electric for Christmas

Obviously dont want to spend silly money so dont recommend a telecaster lol. I would imagine someone must have a recommendation as a starter ( i was a bass player so not to sure about 6 strings)

I'd need to get him a practise amp aswell, so try and keep the recommendations within a budget as a Christmas present. I dont mind 2nd hand as long as its good nick.

Any help, thanks

*Sonic*

Marshall Practise amp like mine is pretty good Pete, and was cheap too

squire stratocasters are cheap enough too, and the ones I have are pretty good too

David Lock

I bought my 13 year old a £100 second hand kit from shop window ad; basic 6 string electric and amp. 4 years on and guitar playing is his life. Now at music college studying rock guitar. So go for it - most decent music guitar places have some second hand gear and will help 'cos music people are nice people. No need to spend too much to start with though. David

SimonD

Virgin are doing a Squire Strat + practise amp for £150 in their music stores at the moment.

Buzzer

Simon

Is that the Virgin record stores?

Cheers everyone for the replies I was thinking the Squire Strat myself but purposely didn't mention it coz i thought i might be talking poo

£150.00 sounds perfect

Has anyone seen the one in Virgin, is the amp any good?

*Sonic*, you are already earmarked for *lessons*, in return i'll show you how to drive

thundertiger

also take a look at the yamaha pacifica's.
they are well set up (nice low action) and the build quality is fantastic.

BB

Buzzer

Cheers BB, i'll do a search

Anyone got any views on these. I cant find where Virgin sell their deal either

thundertiger

how serious is your boy?

my general rule of thumb is buy what you can comfortably afford, but not the cheapest!!!

for example if i saw products ranging from £100 to £200, i would prob go for the £150 mark.
you really do get what you pay for, and i suggest the amplifier will be of a higher quality then the cheapest one.
(although your ears might take a punishing)

get a relative to buy him an "effects" pedal to had some overdrive or distortion - they can be had from £20.

this will increase his interest, no end.

also some of the mid-price (from that advert) packages have overdrive/distortion built into the amp.
go down there and take a peek.

good luck

BB

David Lock

Agree with BB. Yep a few "extras" can add a load of fun. Have a look at www.stringsdirect.co.uk to give you some ideas - even a cool strap goes down well. David

Buzzer

BB

Like i said he has been practising on a cheap acoustic for a few months for about an hour or so a night. He is getting bored as i only know about 6 chords and i've got him just practising those and getting him to get used to changing

He keeps saying he'd like to have an electric one which to be fair is what young lads want (only go to acoustic later on in life)

I *think* my dad has a reverb pedal for his semi acoustic but like you say, no harm in someone getting one for Christmas

Pete

IanWatson

Squire Strat and Yammy are great guitars to start with.
You'll find all the opinions you need at www.harmonycentral.com - look at the product reviews.

If you do buy from Virgin or Argos make sure you take it to a decent guitar shop and get it properly set-up (bridge height, tuning etc, neck bend) as they can be pretty duff out of the box. Also make sure the strings are nice and light. Nothing worse for little fingers than a guitar that's too hard to fret - huge chance of developing a left hand technique like a claw from being too tense

He WILL be disappointed first time he plugs it in if you don't buy an overdrive/distortion unit too - I remember (aged 10) thinking I was going to sound like Hendrix, not like a loud classical guitar!

Best buy cheap pedal IMHO is probably the Danelectro Daddy O - paid about 25 quid for mine off eBay. Looks cool too.

*Sonic*

Or get him a Line 6 Pod,

great effects unit

I have one, but it is on loan to one of the guys at work, which reminds me I should really get it back

Wizzbang

get to Regent Guitars

Great service and good products, you simply cant buy a bad guitar from them, and plenty of starter/beginner kits.



WizzBang

Buzzer

Would it be safe to say that for a difference of say £30.00 i could get a 15 watt amp instead of a 10 watt amp. Is it worth it?

shug

Get an Orange Crush 10 watt for £59

http://www.soundcontrol.co.uk/mod_1/...1.1-120-50-111

read about it at Harmony Central

http://www.harmony-central.com/Guita..._Combo-01.html


Only 10 watts, but more than loud enough for the house.
You can also get a good range out of them - from clean to distorted and should be able to get a good lead/overdrive distortion without buying an additional distortion pedal.

They are so good that I have 2 of them connected in stereo through a Digitech RP7.

Buzzer

Cheers Shug, funnily enough *Sonic* had recommended Soundcontrol to me only an hour ago on msn.

As they are not far from me, i'm going in there maybe on Saturday to have a word with them. Strange my lad actually likes the brown sunburst squire "frontman". I thought he would prefer a red or black one? He also likes the Yamaha Pacifica but i cant find any "package" details for them


Edited to add that Duuurrrr I did find the Pacifica packages on the sound control site

Macoz

If you start your lad on somthing cheap and nasty he will have to be really serious to stick it out and will have to learn a bit about setting up the instrument himself, never did me any harm, and you'll save a bit.

Buzzer

Macoz, define cheap and nasty, he has a cheap acoustic now. Is a Squire strat cheap and nasty enough?

Buzzer

Jase mate,

There is a "frontman" and another a bit more expensive (all between £150 - £190) should i have a preference?

Buzzer

Hi mate

One of these, not from Tesco but i think one of these would be okay (note the amp size changes from 10w to 15w).


Pete

The Welshman

PM for you mate..

Buzzer

Exactly what i thought mate, i can see the attraction with getting a 15 watt amp instead of the 10 watt but is there any difference in the guitars

SCOOBYD00

I remember my old 'min Marshall Stack' Well loud and only about £20 - great with batterys, portable and looked cool - good option and will not go *too* loud... oh yea Squire - nuff said. Or Epiphone SG Copy etc... most important IMO is the *action* cheap & nasty you'' never get it in tune & it will be like a cheesegrater...

Buzzer

Cheers Welshman, you have PM back

The action on my Aria pro II base was the best action i ever had at 16

The Welshman

Good advice M8.
The only problem with it is that by the time you have bought the guitar from one of these chain type stores, that know nothing about guitars., and then taken it to a proper guitar shop and paid to have it set up so its plays as it should, it's no longer a cheap option...You may as well get the guitar from a guitar shop to start with...
A decent shop will make sure that the guitar is set up properly, and that the whole pack works as it should when the big day comes and little Jhonny opens it and plugs it in...Remember that these guitar packs may have been in transit/storage for months.. I know that 99 out of 100 guitars that we get in, need work to make them play properly.. Even if its only tuning, its easy if you can do it, but impossible if you can't!!
Will Argos, Tesco etc. do that? I kinda doubt it..

Bubba po

There is **** all difference between a 15 watt amp and a 10 watt amp. You need eight times the power to get twice the subjective volume on the dB scale. You need to be looking at features rather than power, like on-board overdrive and reverb.


Guitars are incredibly well-made for the money these days.

Buzzer

Do these amps have these features?

Bubba po

Some do, I believe... I'm not in the market for one! Most ones you can get a reasonable "crunch" out of as they often have gain/volume arrangement. I doubt you'll get one with "saturation"-type gain, though.

Freak

I had one of them too
Lol
Im sat here looking at my brothers laney stack and his 5 string beast.... never played it in my life ( i learnt the drums instead)
I feel some impromtu strumming coming on in a few mins.....

shug

OK - in tandem with the hi fi thread
what do you spend the money on - the source (guitar) or amp
I would go with the amp.
20 years (or so) ago I had one of the first Kramer pacer deluxe with floyd rose
imported to the UK
At the time it was played through a 50w master vol Roost (bit loud for the house) Even though the guitar & amp were state of the art for the time - it wasnt exactly ideal for the house - even with a powerbrake.
I would say that most inexpensive guitars are just as easy to play (as each other) and the main thing to prolong interest with the young fella is the overall sound - which comes overall with the amp.
I would argue that in a budget setup most of the money should be spent on the amp.