Mephaphil

Yea, no Line 6 Spiders, no MGs. Epiphone LPs are great starter guitars, as are the Squier Custom Vibes.

I had a Squier Strat when I was younger, but I didn't like it after I heard my friends Epiphone LP.

I later got a LP. It's quite a cool guitar, if you can get cheap pickups, maybe used ones they seem to benefit greatly from that. I wouldn't spend £150 on new pickups as that's over half the value of the guitar, which is kind of a false economy, I would definitely recommend getting some used pickups if you want to change them. But whatever rocks your boat.

The Mustangs are good practice amps, as are the Vox Valvetronix series. I'd suggest checking them both out and seeing which models you like the best.

But I had a little look on the german eBay for you. You might be able to get both a used Epiphone LP, and a used Fender Blues Jr (which is one of the best practice amps and blows the Vox and Mustang out of the water) for more or less your price range, and then splash out a little more and get a Blues Overdrive pedal, the Blues Junior has no overdrive, so you'd need one.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Epiphone-...=item3f210a97eb

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fender-Pr...=item4ac05ce5d8

That's around 550 euro.

Any of those options seem good to me, but I think that if you go used you could get some really cool stuff.

I hope this helps.

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Germanrookie

I didnt post a link, but I talked about the Epiphone LP Standard in my first post.

@ Mephaphil

Don't you think I will benefit from the extra features of the Pro model? (I never played a guitar before, so thats why I ask so much questions).

steven seagull

http://www.thomann.de/de/yamaha_pacifica_112_lpb.htm

http://www.thomann.de/de/vox_vt20.htm

http://www.thomann.de/gb/vox_vfs5_footswitch.htm

seriously, this setup will be perfect for you - great for learning on, good enough to gig with at a pinch and the guitar is plenty good enough to keep as a backup no matter how good you get and how expensive the stuff you buy in future is.

I'd take a Pacifica over an Epiphone as a starter guitar any day, Les Pauls are nice but the Pacifica will be lighter and much more comfortable to play which can make a big difference in the earlt stages of learning. It's also a very versatile guitar that can comfortably cover a range of tones.

The footswitch means you can change stuff on the amp without moving away from the guitar,

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Actually called Mark!


...it's a seagull



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Dave_Mc

^ if he does consider the pacifica then those japanese-made pawn shops are back in contention...




ah ok, thanks. i'm guessing they're much of a muchness, but the pro has the coil splits, which you might as well have for some versatility, I guess. i doubt the pro plus is a better guitar, but it has a few more features which may be useful, kind of thing.

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Mephaphil

Do you mean the PlusTop Pro? If yes, I don't know if it's worth the extra money. The pickups are better but coil tapping is something that you may not bother with. You may like the stock pickups, you need to play them both.

Nearly every suggestion has merit, it just depends what you want from your guitar and amp.

If you want light, gig ready, and a solid guitar go with Stevens suggestion.

If you don't mind a little weight and want humbucker tones like Slash, Jimmy Page, etc change the Pacifica for the LP.

If you want a good guitar with a better amp go with my suggestion.

If you wanna spend more and get the PlusTop Pro then do that and figure out what amp you want.

As I said, all the suggestions are valid, it just depends on which one fits now that you have the information.

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steven seagull

It's definitely worth going into a shop and having a quick look over different models to see how they feel - you may not be able to play yet but you should still be able to tell if something's going to be comfortable for you with regards to things like weight, body shape and the feel of the neck.

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Actually called Mark!


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The_rylan

I've got a Vox ill Night Train. The cab is crap but the amp is great. I love it, everything can be played on it.

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1988 Epi LP Custom
Peavey Wolfgang Special
G&L ASAT Classic Tribute
PRS SE Soapbar
PRS SE Custom
Jet City JCA20H
VOX lil' Night Train
Celestion Greenback and Vintage 30 Speakers
Assorted Pedals and swag

JustRooster

+1

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Germanrookie

I will go to the shop tomorrow to test out some guitars, thanks for all the help I got so far.
Now I will also need to buy an instrument cable. I've read that tweed cables are too stiff and difficult to handle, so I don't want those. The question remains, what is a good buy? Most products recommended here aren't for sale in Germany.

Mephaphil

I've used tweed cables for 10 years, they're great. I've never found them stiff.

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steven seagull

um, pretty sure they are...

http://www.thomann.de

http://www.musicstore.de/de_DE/EUR/

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stuffmycatswatchontv.tumblr.com

Germanrookie

I meant the brands of cables, not the guitar and amp

Dave_Mc

klotz, sommer, van damme (all with neutrik jacks edit; not sommer, they use some other jack) are all pretty good and should be easily available in europe (and more to the point, not silly money). they do a range of cables from low end to higher end, but even the lower end ones should be ok. they're normally around 15-20 euros or so.

e.g. http://www.thomann.de/gb/sommer_cab...xl_instr_60.htm (3 metres might be plenty if you're only playing at home)

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Shadowofravenwo

Plus the decay is very bad on Spiders. It just kind dies suddenly.

Epi SP Standards are solid guitars. I wouldn't recommend any of the cheaper models.

The coil tapping on the Plustop Pros is meh. I know coil tapping produces a weaker output than a real single coil, but I just couldn't get that snarl out of them. This includes my Washburn. I think coil tapping is more a gimmick than a useful feature.

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Washburn MG-44
Art & Lutherie Electric Cutaway
Vox Valvetronix VT40+
Vox Original Wah-Wah Pedal V847

Dave_Mc

^ i wouldn't say splits are totally a gimmick... but they're definitely the poor cousin if you're used to "true" single coils sounds. If you need humbucker sounds 90% of the time and only occasional single coil sounds, they're fine. If you need a 50:50 split (or close enough to that) a guitar with both humbuckers and single coils is probably a better idea.

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Shadowofravenwo

That's true. My Washburn does have a hb-s-hb configuration. I guess it's not fair to compare a real with an add-on feature. I'm not a big single guy.

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Washburn MG-44
Art & Lutherie Electric Cutaway
Vox Valvetronix VT40+
Vox Original Wah-Wah Pedal V847

Dave_Mc

oh, your post was perfectly fine, i was just clarifying a few points in it . particularly your point about coil splits generally being weaker than true single coils- you can get round that by using hotter humbuckers, but then that's only a solution if you actually want hotter humbuckers, lol.

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WholeLottaIzzy

I've got coil splitting on my Les Paul and yeah, it can be a bit underwhelming but then I turn on the midboost on my amp and I can get some really authentic single coil tones.

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Germanrookie

Today I visited some stores, and while the Epiphone looked great on the internet, it didn't feel like a quality product. I did try out some other guitars, and these caught my interest:

ESP LTD MH-100QM - €299
Ibanez GRG270B - €299
Hagstrom XL5 - €399
Hagstrom Super Swede - €499

I've also listened to the amps, and the Mustang 1 was a lot cheaper but sounded good also. So I'm going with that one. It costs €99 so I have enough money left to buy the Super Swede (although I don't know if its the best, thats where I need your help!).

Any comments on the four guitars in this post? Don't want to go downhill from when I started this thread haha.