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Post subject: Foot pedal, Amp, and whammy bar question
Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 12:52 pm
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Okay, I'm a complete and utter noob as far as electric guitars are concerned. I've only played on a classical guitar before getting my first Fender Squier electric guitar.

1. First of all, what is a foot pedal? (Feel idiotic asking this but I really don't know what this is). Is it for the amp to create effects or something like that? And what kind would you recommend?

2. Also, I have a 'baby amp' (SP-10 Squier amp) and it has some humming noise. How can I tone down the noise?

3. Lastly, whammy vs. no whammy bar. What's your preference. How is it installed? (I have no directions. I know it screws on but how far should one screw on a whammy bar?)

Thanks for your patience.

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Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 1:08 pm
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Welcome to the forums LVA.

Pedals. There are hundreds, maybe more, to chose from. Check out the amps/effects listings on the Guitar Center website and you'll see what I mean. Youtube is a good place to hear samples and get real end user reviews.

As far as that noise is concerned, it could be as simple as turning the gain down on the amp if it has a knob for that.

Whammy bars sould not be tightend all the way down. They'll get stuck and you couls strip out the threads in the block getting one out again. I don't use mine often, but when I do I leave it loose enough to hang down and swing it up to use it.

Hope this helps. Enjoy your new gear. :D


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Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 1:16 pm
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Thanks, that helps. I'll check out the nobs on my amp, but I don't think I have a 'gain' knob--no, just volume, treble, and bass. Very basic, but i don't need alot right now, just for practice and stuff.

I practically live on youtube so will be checking youtube out. lol

Helps alot. Thanks.

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My dad said, "I'm going to miss you."
I said, "Well, now that I broke that sight off your rifle..." (Emo Philips)


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Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 1:38 pm
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You might even try switching the pickup selector switch to a different position to see if it goes away. It could just be the natural 60 cycle hum from single coil pickups.


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Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 2:41 pm
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YZFJOE wrote:
You might even try switching the pickup selector switch to a different position to see if it goes away. It could just be the natural 60 cycle hum from single coil pickups.


Ummm.....okay, really feel dumb here. I have an od/clean button, treble, bass, and volume button on the amp. that's it. On the guitar, there's two 'tune' buttons and a volume button. I've never worked with electric guitars before so I don't know the terminology.

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I said, "Well, now that I broke that sight off your rifle..." (Emo Philips)


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Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 2:43 pm
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Oh, you may not have a pickup selector switch like a standard strat. I'm not that familiar with your guitar. I just assumed it would have one.

Does your guitar look like this one?
http://www.squierguitars.com/products/s ... 0310602506


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Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 4:06 pm
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It's this one...

http://www.squierguitars.com/products/search.php?partno=0301600032

I have the sunburst one.

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I said, "Well, now that I broke that sight off your rifle..." (Emo Philips)


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Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 4:18 pm
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Ok, it does have a selector switch. It's right by the vol/tone knobs. Try switching it around and see if that hum goes away.
Nice looking guitar by the way.


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Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 4:34 pm
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Ah! Duh...I was looking on the amp, not the guitar itself! :oops:

Thanks. That does help. I can reduce the noise now.

Thanks. I like it. The price was right (99 dollars for the set--I think they were moving them out because now there's a different tuner and different colored picks), and got the last one in that color before selling out.

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My dad said, "I'm going to miss you."
I said, "Well, now that I broke that sight off your rifle..." (Emo Philips)


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Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 4:40 pm
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Glad to help. Enjoy. :D


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Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 8:00 am
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Welcome to the world of the '60 cycle hum'...

Seems you've got most of your questions answered, but since you mention pedals (effects), if you can, why not trade in your amp for one that has a load of effects built-in?

The basic ones are: gain (a kind of 'loud' distortion sound), reverb, chorus, delay (or echo), tremolo. It can be cheaper than buying individual pedals.

If you can stretch to it, a Fender Vibro Champ is a brilliant place to start – it has all the effects, plus a number of 'voice' settings, which give you a range of additional tones, from clean, to dirty, to acoustic.


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Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 8:35 am
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How about you let us know what kind of music you would like to play and we can recommend pedals. Or if you need any at all...


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Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 5:03 pm
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Well, I would like to play a variety of music--soft (like acoustic) to heavy metal. Not sure what the 'dirty' is, but it sounds interesting. I have lots of interests in music, but not country. Not sure if that helps.

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"While My Guitar Gently Weeps."

My dad said, "I'm going to miss you."
I said, "Well, now that I broke that sight off your rifle..." (Emo Philips)


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Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 5:15 pm
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Sounds like you would be a candidate for a distortion pedal to start. More costly would be upgrading your amp down the line as it is the basis of your sound besides your fingers on the strings.

Tube Screamers dont work very well with solid state amp, as the name implies.

As suggested there are ton of demo on youtube. Now the hard thing to do is to not become pedal crazy.


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Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 12:40 am
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LadyVendettaAngel wrote:
Well, I would like to play a variety of music--soft (like acoustic) to heavy metal. Not sure what the 'dirty' is, but it sounds interesting. I have lots of interests in music, but not country. Not sure if that helps.


One of the Vibro Champ's voice settings is an acoustic one. It's obviously not going to make you sound like Segovia, but it's a nice lush electro-acoustic effect.

I'm sounding like a bent record, but I think you'll get a lot of fun out of that amp and you'll learn a lot from it – about which effects you like, without having the expense of a load of pedals. I got one over here on eBay for £100.00... is that about $130.00?

(PS. 'Dirty' is that heavy metal sound... there are loads of dirty effects/voices on the Vibro too.)


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