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Post subject: question about my strat and amp
Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 2:14 pm
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So I just bought a MIM strat. I don't know much about guitars yet, but I do know that this guitar is wonderful. I started with a Epiphone starter pack and it came with a starter amp that is 15watts. The amp seems to sound alright in the bridge position, but gets very hollow and muddy with the neck pickup. Is this just because I have a garbage amp. I play most types of music not too heavy on the distortion. I was going to buy a new amp in the $500 range. I was looking at the G-dec and Line 6 spider jam. Any suggestions?


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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 2:26 pm
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Yes it most probably is your amp that can't deal with the sounds that you guitar is putting out. Especially since the amp is from a starter pack. I have an american standard and i am pushing it through a line 6 15 watt spyder III and although I have a peavey classic 30 tube amp on order i think the line 6 is a great starting out amp to guide you in any musical direction before you branch out. I suggest as all will that you go to your local shop and test drive all the amps you can and see which one you like. You got a good guitar with the MIM great choice.


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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 2:41 pm
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Hello my friend! If it were me I'd get a Fender blues Jr. but I've heard good things also about the Line6 too! Try them out if possible and if you see a poster named Snowy72 ask him as he has both! Good luck and enjoy!! :wink:


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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 3:14 pm
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A good amp can make a poor guitar sound good, but no matter how good the guitar is, it can never make a bad amp sound good.


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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 3:27 pm
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I had read on some other forums (ultimateguitar.com) that the Spider Jam wasn't that good. The main gripe seems to be that it's not good for gigging. I don't plan on taking it anywhere and I like the idea of being able to play along with some backing tracks. I like the G-dec but the backing models sound a bit more natural on the Line 6.


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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 3:53 pm
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Get the amp that sounds the best to you now. You can always upgrade later as your ear gets better and your tastes change. Check out the Cyber Champ too while your shopping.

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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 8:15 pm
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[quote="cryingstrat"]Get the amp that sounds the best to you now. You can always upgrade later as your ear gets better and your tastes change.

Excellent advice. I recommend Vox, Crate, Marshall, Fender, Line 6.

Play them all and see which one you like best.

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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 8:37 pm
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Get the best all tube amp you can buy if you really wanna hear what your strat sounds like. Do a lot of homework on this.

I've played for 40+ years, and I've owned a lot of amps. Fender twins, Fender Dual Showmans, Vox AC15, Peavey, Rivera, etc.

Not so long ago I owned a Peavey Classic 30 (which happens to be all tube). Ya know, it sounded okay in the store, but it would grate on my ears aftar a while. Just not that good an amp. I tried recording with it and the simulated amps in my program sounded better than the Peavey. Lots of guys suggest the Classic 30 as they don't cost a lot and they're all tube, but IMHO they're short on tone. Speaker upgrade won't cut it...I tried.

I recently got a very good class A 15W amp and I'm running it through a premium 12" speaker with an alnico magnet. TONE TONE TONE. Actually, when I first listended to it, I wasn't so sure about it. It sounded so different than anything else I'd used. When I heard it as I played along with various CDs I realized that it seemed to fit just about any mix. I never get sick of listening to it. Seems to sound good with just about everything I play. Pedals sound nice with it but it sounds great just plugging straight in.

I'm deliberately not telling you the brand of amp, as it's not the only good amp out there. I've got about 800 into my amp and speaker. That's more than you said your budget is, I know. I'm saying save up.

I recently jammed with a band and the guitar player had a new Line 6. It had 2-12's plus an extension cab with another 2-12's. We tried every adjustment on it trying to get it to sound anywhere near as good as my tube setup. I'm not talking volume, but tone that's thick and fills the room and stands out in the mix. It was the second band I've played with in the last month where the guys were stunned at the sound coming out of a small package. It's a small amp head, and they weren't expecting much out of it. With the second band, the other amps were a 100w Peavey stack and a Fender with a bunch of pedals in front of it. One big cruchy chord and they looked at the amp and said, "what the hell is that?!!".

It's really hard to try amps out in a store. Almost impossible. Make sure it's actually positioned so you can hear it. Put it on a chair or tilt it back, etc. I worked for Gibson back in the 80's and I remember one of the VP's was talking about opening a store with a big amp room with good acoustics where a guy could wail on various amps and really compare them. I thought he was nuts at the time, but he was right.

And just because you need a good environment to choose an amp doesn't mean the differeces between amps is subtle. Recording or on stage, a good amp makes a world of difference.

Take your time. Do your research. The reviews at Harmony-Central.com can be useful.

Bottom line, I always want to have a good guitar and a good amp. If I had to I'd settle for a good amp and a not so good guitar. A good guitar and a not so good amp....no thanks. Amps matter.


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Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 6:30 pm
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Randy1 wrote:
A good amp can make a poor guitar sound good, but no matter how good the guitar is, it can never make a bad amp sound good.


This is a profound statement!

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