Official buying advice thread

[waif]

Thinking about getting a new guitar. Budget: Under $500 Styles: Power Metal, Thrash Metal, maybe Death/Thrash and even Black Metal. Mostly power metal, but I would like to keep my options open.

My current guitar (in black):
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...ar?sku=519783\
I love it very much.

I'm not desperate to get a new guitar, so I don't want to get anything that isn't a significant improvement. But any suggestions would be nice, because otherwise I'll just blow all my cash on more fucking cds.

[ParsonsMatt]

A really nice bass amp for pretty cheap is the Ampeg BA-115.

[sceloporus]

Originally Posted by ParsonsMatt

A really nice bass amp for pretty cheap is the Ampeg BA-115.

My only consern with that model is that I like punchy tone and I'm not sure if a 15" will be bright enough.

[metalbeard]

I've been into Metal and Classical music since I was 11/12, and played the piano for about 2 years up until college work got heavy and I had no time :/

Taking a gap year now and I want to play the electric guitar because I fucking love metal. I have no clue where to look, so if its any help here is the sort of stuff im into:

Metallica, Slayer, Cannibal Corpse, Children of Bodom (love Alexei's style), Lamb of God, Rammstein, Arch Enemy, Amon Amarth...

Don't know if that was necessary, but what guitar and specs would you recommend?

Thanks a lot,
Metalbeard

[sceloporus]

What's your budget?

[metalbeard]

Ideally no more than £400, or $800 for you Americans.

[sceloporus]

Wow nice budget for your first electric!
You might want to split it it 300 for a nice amp and 500 for a good guitar. What kind of body style do you want? Strat, v, Explorer, les Paul?

[devilfish063]

Hi everyone..
Can anyone recommend a cheap distortion pedal that's decent enough for metal. I'm pretty short on cash so it doesn't have to be good enough for Hypocrisy or something, but at least somewhere around early Pantera. Or maybe a cheap sound processor would be a better solution?

[BlackMetalWhiteGuy]

Exactly how short on cash are you? I don't know that much about pedals, but if you can give us a price range, someone on here will be able to give you a recommendation.

However, a quick eBay search reveals that Marshall, Digitech, Ibanez, Rocktron, Rogue, Boss, DOD and... Dinosaur? all make pedals that can be found in what I would consider to be the "short on cash" range. The only pedal I've ever used though was some kind of DOD and I thought it sucked. However, I've heard great things about anything made by Boss.

http://search.ebay.com/search/search...dal&category0=

EDIT: Also, if you check out MusiciansFriend.com, most of their products have user ratings, and all the pedals that I've looked at so far have soundclips available.

[devilfish063]

Thanks for the tip, i'll check out MusiciansFriend!

[Pђoenix]

I'd recommend a used Ibanez to cut down costs and still get a good starter axe. But as Sceloporus said don't bust it all on the guitar, buy a decent amp.

[drawnacrol]

Best thing to do is buy a cheap acoustic and get a teacher and then see how it goes,you'll find out if you feel comfortable playing guitar,and then you should look into buying an electric guitar

[Vimana]

Very true, but instead you should buy a cheap electric, so you don't have to spend more on an electric if you want one. But why don't you just play bass or drums, too many people play guitar. If you just wanna be rich you have a better chance of making it big as a decent drummer than a decent guitarist.

[oldschoolowns]

caus guitar>drums. as whatshisface said, get an ibanez. and check out randalls for cheap metal amps.

[FenriR]

Ibanez RGs are excellent guitars. My current amp is a marshall MG, so I can't really give any advice there ^ ^

[Pђoenix]

For amps I'd recommend looking into Laney. Absolutly fantastic amps, and at a reasonable price (well here in England anyway). Anyways I'd go along the line of second hand gear so as to not spend too much.

[waif]

Originally Posted by Pheonix

I'd recommend a used Ibanez to cut down costs and still get a good starter axe. But as Sceloporus said don't bust it all on the guitar, buy a decent amp.

Y'arr. Vox has some good cheap solid state combos, should leave you about $550 for the guitar. You can get a damn good used electric for that.

[soa_bass]

Originally Posted by LadyValerie

I wouldn't care if they looked the same if they weren't ugly >.>

but the way they look is completely unimportant and irrelevant to the music. Most basses are shaped in a general way for many reasons ( balance, playability, etc. ). There are some basses with extreme shapes that look metal but they often have severe neck dive, are very weighty, or have one of a number of disadvantages over a plain looking bass.

And if you pay attention to some extreme bands you'll see even their bass players have very plain looking instruments.

Martin Mendez - Opeth - Fender Jazz
Alex Webster - Cannibal Corpse/Hate Eternal - Modulus and Spector
Tony Choy - Atheist - Zon Basses
Shane Embury - Napalm Death - LTD Basses ( and I think Warwicks )

[VadimVon]

If you want a decent bass for playing metal, get a Warwick or even a Spector. Some better SoundGears are ok too. But if you're willing to spend some bucks, I'd recommend a Modulus hands down.

/////////////////////////////////////////

Originally Posted by WeAreInFlames

Steve Harris uses a Fender P Bass. Making that the ultimate metal instrument.

I disagree completely.

[metalbeard]

Originally Posted by Giza

Very true, but instead you should buy a cheap electric, so you don't have to spend more on an electric if you want one. But why don't you just play bass or drums, too many people play guitar. If you just wanna be rich you have a better chance of making it big as a decent drummer than a decent guitarist.

Who talked about being rich... dude what are you talking about? I want to play guitar because I would love playing heavy riffs.

I've played on my friends classical acoustic guitar, I don't really like it, because I'm not into playing soft classical tunes anymore, otherwise I would stick to the piano. Drums are great, especially double bass, but I'd rather play the guitar

[metalbeard]

Originally Posted by sceloporus

Wow nice budget for your first electric!
You might want to split it it 300 for a nice amp and 500 for a good guitar. What kind of body style do you want? Strat, v, Explorer, les Paul?

Hey, I'm a fan of the V shaped body - don't like round body style (no offence to anyone)

[Bitter Dawn]

I've been contemplating getting a drumkit as I just don't think using simulators is enough. I know very little about drums aside from the sound I want, and that I don't want to spend a lot (over $1000). I went to the local music store and asked about Ayotte because I like the very hollow sound of the snare, and they said that it's really hard to find around here but it's just a matter of tuning to get another snare to make a similar sound - I also found out online that Ayotte is pretty expensive.

I am not too worried about toms, so it would come down to picking out the following: cymbols, snare, hihat and bass. Obviously a double bass is crucial, and I am not sure I need more than three or four cymbols. For cymbols I was thinking something along the lines of: Crash ride, Bell ride, Chinese and a regular crash. My termonlogy isn't the greatest so hopefully I expressed the proper thing.

Any suggestions or advice? Ultimately the idea would be to get new recording equipment, like mics, new hardware and cables. After talking to a friend who is a sound tech. he said it could be done for roughly $1000, which was my highest budget anyways. Thanks in advance!

[DawnWatch]

ok, here I go

I must say that I'm very happy with Sonor drums, as pecialy the bass drum sound. one advise, once you get a set, ask in the store to cut a hole on the fornt of the drum and put some styrofoam insite as well as some rubber padding, takes less space than pillows or blankets, and work much beter for double bass sound. aslo get DB stickers on the back of the drum for more click in the sound.

As for cymbols man, I can tell you one thing, Doesn't matter whats the price or make, you have to find a nice store for drums, preferably with a sound room so you can try out cymbols. It's all about personal prefference as well as the style of music you are planing to play. Also onse you get start getting more then 2 cymbols, bring your own to the store and try out with different new once. so at the end you have well balanced sounds out of the whole set of cymbols.

[cholo11]

If you like V I've just bought a B.C. Rich Deluxe Jr. V and its damn good.
The problem of it is that it costs like 700 american dollars and you would have no money left for the amp.

[Jeff-Loomis-fan]

just go to your local instrument-dealer and ask for help

if they recommend start play with acoustic isnt nescessery tough
i started playing electric and im fine with it

say you want to play metal they'll understand