Ok, according to several other threads, there seems to be quite a few musicians here. I have some curiosities about an electric guitar and a "practice" amp I suppose.

First off, let's say that my wife bought me an electric guitar for Christmas. Let's say she was going to buy it from a retail store, some POS "beginner" packs that are extremely cheaply made that comes with a guitar, amp, and everything else for not so much money. I had thought she bought this for me. But, the other day, she told me what she bought because she was worried about the fact that the guy at the music store told her that all sales were final and she couldn't return it.

So, the guy sold her a Cort G200 Strat-style off the rack. I had never heard of Cort. She showed it to me the other night and dang, it's a real pretty guitar (typical sunburst color.) I am wondering if any of you have heard of this guitar. My guitar site is dwindling down to very little activity lately. The Cort G200 is obviously not a $2000 guitar, but I saw reviews at Ultimate-Guitar.com and they look very favorable for an inexpensive guitar.

From what I'm seeing on the net, it seems to me that this Cort that I've never heard of is one of the largest guitar manufacturers in the world. I've read that they are the company that others farm the work out to for all Asian produced guitars including Fender, Squier, and many others that replicate the Fender Strat. Anyone else heard of them or have an opinion?


Now on to amps. I have absolutely zero knowledge of amps. What I'm looking for is something for noodling around on in the house. I don't know a whole lot nor do I plan on public use or anything. My guitar is strictly for personal use and satisfaction while sitting at home in the evenings.

At guitarcenter.com there are quite a lot of amps in my price range of $100 or less. They are all about 15W which is what I am assuming I am looking for to play around with in the house. Anyone have any suggestions on a nice simple amp for noodling around in the house with? The only names I know are Fender, Ibanez, and Peavy, which there are a handful of each on the guitarcenter.com site to choose from.

Well my starting amp was a 15W Yamaha. It was cracking, but unfortunately it hasn't been used for an age since I started using the PC for recording. But 15W is definetly all you need. Take a look at some units from Marshall (Expensive), Yamaha, Line 6 (Good quality, and has just about everything you need) or Peavy. Shopping around usually gets you a more than reasonable amp at a relatively low price too, so keep looking!

Cort makes some really nice guitars, no doubt. I think it'll be a better guitar than many others in the same price range.

Regarding amps, i've always prefered tube amps over transistor amps. There's nothing like the sound of a tube amp. They are a little more expensive than 100$ however. A good brand would be Carvin for example, they make really nice little tube amps for home use.

If it's going to be a cheap transistor amp (a 100$ amp will not sound like much anyway, i would stay away from the really cheap stuff) it's better to go to a store and listen to it yourself (bring your guitar... and don't be shy to ask somebody to play it if you've never played before and feel to shy to do it yourself), rather than just pick one from some online shop.

From what my mate (who is a lead guitarist) says, there is only 1 choice for top notch, crystal clear clarity, and ball shaking power, and that is, brunetti.

They are an italian company, and annoyingly, their website is also in all italian, but from what he tells me, plus when i have been around when they are rehursing, they blow anything else out of the water, even a marshall of comparitive power/price.

They do have a marshall or two laying around, but they are for backup purposes as they just aint good enough.

http://www.brunetti.it/

I've never had a tube amp =/ would really like one mind you. Just VERY expensive, thats the problem. Sound like every penny though.

If you are looking for small practice amps to play around the house or jam with friends without a drum set, definetely look for some modeling amps, i highly recommend the Roland MicroCube, it's got a pretty good tone and volume for the size, and it's really cheap. It's no big tube amp, but it can make some noise, without sounding shit.

The Line6 MicroSpider is really cool too, small, its 6Watts, but loud enough for any playing at home and easy to carry around.

If you want tube, then you can look for something like the Zvex 1Watt, for practicing is more than enough, or a small Fender, like the VibroChamp.

But if it's for practicing at home,i would go with modelling. I use a POD for practice and late night recordings and works just fine.

Cort are nice guitars don't worry. Don't forget to have it setup, or at least checked by someone.
As far as home amps, valve Vs. transistor, keep in mind that, yes, valve amps are better, sound better and all that, BUT valves need a louder volume to really "give" what they're born for, otherwise they sound "empty", so it really depends on where you live/how much "noise" you can produce before police knocks at your door ;-) 15 Watts at max volume are more than enough in a flat.

Transistor amps on the opposite, can give a "distorted" sound even at lower volumes.

It also depends on what kind of music you love and play, if you "need" distortion, or need a clean sound.
The King of amps for many jazz guitarists, for example, is the Roland Jazz Chorus 120, and it is a transistor amp...(out of your budget unfortunately )
http://www.imusician.co.uk/acatalog/info_00056030.html

Try to find an amp with a headset output, if you want to practice at 3 in the morning.

Brunetti has an english site
http://www.brunetti.it/index_en.php
but it DOES NOT cost 100$

In Italy we also have these...not cheap
http://www.orlandoamps.com/

ZVex Nano Head is also very interesting, but still...expensive. At least here in Italy I found it at around 300 Euros...
http://zvexamps.com/amp_view.html
Check it out on Youtube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHSM5GJD87A

Line6 POD sounds a good advice (lots of sounds), but I don't know the cost
http://line6.com/products/detail/4

Quote from Ripley :

Try to find an amp with a headset output, if you want to practice at 3 in the morning.

That is indeed a necessity for me as I am indeed often up at 3 am on the weekends. I like my acoustic guitar, but one of the reasons I want electric is that aside from the fact I like electric blues, I want to be able to play around with it unplugged and not keep everyone away at night which I can't play around at night with my acoustic. Electric I can play unplugged and no one but me will hear (just for practicing) or play with headphones so only I can hear.

Yeah, tube amps are probably out for me, too expensive. I've been reading reviews online on the guitarcenter.com site, but it would probably be better to just take my guitar into a store to listen or at least play the same guitar where mine came from on a selection of amps. From what I'm researching, it seems that the amp sound is pretty subjective and they are all different. I just don't know enough to play it myself in a store.

My other main problem with listening to them in the shop is my wife works evening, thus we pretty much only pass each other at the doorway as I come home and she leaves. I can't run to the store after work (too long of a drive to go home, then go back in to town with the kids having homework and stuff to do.)

We don't have much for music stores around me. There's just two hole in the walls that are a bit disgusting to even walk into, although each of them has been in town for at least the 30 years I've been in this town.

Oh, and one other thing. I guess the $100 currently is a bit misleading due to Christmas time. Stuff I'm looking at online are currently in the $70-100 range, but those are at significant discounts (discounted up to 50% from the "regular" price according to the website.) For example, the Line 6 Spider IV is currently $99, but it lists for $199.

I would get this personally and hook it up to headphones/normal stereo amp/computer at first: http://www.voxamps.com/pedals/tonelable/ (~300€)

Gives you plenty of versatility sound wise and is handy for night time noodling. You could then get a basic amp later and still have plenty of sounds and handy features to play with.
It's a bit more pricey than what you had in mind though, it's just that I've never been satisfied with any small transistor amp, especially the overdriven sounds have been disappointing and I rather not use one at all. However those may be just fine depending on what you play, to each their own I guess
I used to own a marshall jcm-900 stack but these days I just use an amp modeling software (Amplitube)

Youtube demo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pUVQnt2kuM

A friend of mine bought a tube Blackstar amp. Its great, but a little more expensive than 100$.
I think is this one:
http://www.blackstaramps.co.uk/products/ht-5/index.html

Only 5w valve amp, but believe me, it puts out big sound. He cant play above medium volume inside is house

It makes a lot of sound inside one normal house. But it needs also a speaker, he bought one Orange speaker.

I love it, it makes the awesome overdriven analogic sound only valve amps can do! It comes with 2 signal tracks, clean and overdrive.
Its worth it IMO.

Quote from mrodgers :

Cort ... Anyone else heard of them or have an opinion?

I've never picked one up myself, but their basses are quite well-regarded on a bass players forum I visit and they do get actively recommended (along with the 'SX' brand which probably come out of the same factory). Seems the general consensus is that they're good quality for budget instruments.

Quote from mrodgers :

At guitarcenter.com there are quite a lot of amps in my price range of $100 or less. They are all about 15W which is what I am assuming I am looking for to play around with in the house. Anyone have any suggestions on a nice simple amp for noodling around in the house with? The only names I know are Fender, Ibanez, and Peavy, which there are a handful of each on the guitarcenter.com site to choose from.

Don't worry too much about that, all those little combos sound the same. I've not used Fender's budget gear but I have used Peavey's - they'd be my first choice out of that list.

Quote from tibone :

i highly recommend the Roland MicroCube

Yep the Roland Cubes are good little boxes, I used to busk with one.

Quote from danthebangerboy :

From what my mate (who is a lead guitarist) says, there is only 1 choice for top notch, crystal clear clarity, and ball shaking power, and that is, brunetti.

There's loads of options for hand-made giant metal guitarist stacks, but that isn't what Mike wants.

I still love the proper Marshall tube distortion sound. No effects pedals, just the raw overdriven amp. Beautiful tone for almost any guitar. You probably won't get anything but solid-state for that sort of price though.

There's a good deal on a little Line 6 Spider IV for $100 (reduced from $200). Has loads of amp-style effects built in as well as the ability to create your own. The little box has about a dozen knobs and buttons on the front! There's a load of artists from almost every genre that use Line 6 too, so they must do something right. Could be worth going to try it out.

Our guitarist has used everything from Fuchs to the weird new green one which has a name I've never heard of but sounds awesome. But they're usually half-stacks so a little excessive for what you want

I use a Line 6 Spider III and its brilliant, gives really nice tones and pretty much eliminates the need for effects pedals (aside from the crazy stuff).

See? I do know what I'm talking about sometimes

The Line 6 Spider is one of the ones I have marked, along with a Peavey Vypyr, and a little Behringer GM108.

But, I've been reading about all these "modelling" effects on these amps, and I probably wouldn't use any of it. I would be more interested and more impressed with a 6 minute solo with 4 notes with massive bends and vibrato rather than the shredding all over the neck with tons of distortion as fast as possible. I'm all about the blues is what I'm getting at.

Thus, I would think that an amp with just the very basics would be much better at producing the clean sounds needed than one that has parts for all these modelling effects built into it.

Still, I haven't made it to a store yet. Wednesday I have some stuff to do at my kid's school, thus I'll be off work and will go visit a shop or 2 then. Unfortunately, I've found 2 more shops to check out, one of them I forgot about and is a very clean and very nice looking place, but they are all quite a drive from each other (1 shop per town with 40 minute drive between..)

Told the wifey to just give me the guitar early so I could roam the shops next Friday getting off work early and she won't, LOL. Ideally it would be better to hear my particular guitar plugged into any possibly purchased amp. Only the one of the shops has the guitar I have.

Ehm.. what sort of music do you like, think you'd play?

I personally think.. you can't go wrong by getting a valve(tube) amp... 15w would be more than enough for practise.

Fender Blues Junior... Laney vc15, Laney Lc15.. and so on

Personally got laney vc 15 and love it

Well for Guitar gear ask me, i Know a lot about that;

For the Cort Guitar: be sure that it will work for you, they are good! (I´m talking from experience) so dont worry about that. the only point is that after a while maybe you will want a pickup swap, but that´s not That important.

For the Amp: Get a Peavey Vypyr 15w, as Loud as a Line6 Spider III, Sounds A LOT!! Better, its a modeling Amp, so it emulates many different amps (a bit difficult to use in the very first days, but you will be proud of your Amp in no time ), I have tryed it in my local music shop, and have to say that it kicks major a** in sound and effects, and I´m sure it´s one of the most loudest 15W amps I ever Heard.

So Hope I helped you atleast a bit, and hoping you enjoy your playing, Have fun .

Adolfo Herrera.

EDIT: A little reason for why not get the Line6 Spider (III of IV): as it is a cheap modeling amp, it sounds very "digital" (the effects sound very emulated, as the Amp Models too) So thats Annother reason to get the Vypyr, really, take my advice, you wont be dissapointed .

Quote from ADOLF1612 :

Well for Guitar gear ask me, i Know a lot about that;

Ok, then......

Quote :

For the Amp: Get a Peavey Vypyr 15w, as Loud as a Line6 Spider III, Sounds A LOT!! Better, its a modeling Amp, so it emulates many different amps (a bit difficult to use in the very first days, but you will be proud of your Amp in no time ), I have tryed it in my local music shop, and have to say that it kicks major a** in sound and effects, and I´m sure it´s one of the most loudest 15W amps I ever Heard.

So, my question since you say you've played on it at a shop... How does it sound clean? That's what I am wondering about all this stuff. All this modelling stuff, most from what I'm reading on the net and watching on youtube is very high gain stuff. What I want to play is mostly clean blues or just a little bit of distortion. This modelling stuff sounds like major overkill to me and my thoughts are more would go into a clean sound with an amp that doesn't have all that modelling stuff.

Yeah, the Vypyr is one of the ones on my list to try and find to listen too. Every shop around me carries a different brand and every guitar shop around me is a 40 minute drive in a different direction to visit.

I'm basically fretting all over it on the net right now only because it's the last week of work before the 2 week Christmas break, thus not much is scheduled workwise,

Well, Clean, Have to say it´s actually good, Going from the differents models you can have Brittish or American Voiced tones (Brittish: More trebly, American: More Bassy) deffinitively It sounds Good for Blues (I like Playing Blues, and have to say I was Impressed).

For the Modeling: Well Modeling is not only High Gain Stuff, in Youtube and sites like that, the people focuse on reviewing more the Overdrive/Distortion side of the Amp, Cause the cleans are no that important for Those guys, But I have to say It´s a very good amp in the cleans side, and as good in the OD/DT mode too.

What Modeling Does is Emulating Different Amps in One, That Means Marshalls, Mesas, ENGLs, Fenders and the like, ALL in One Amp, Each one with Their Clean/OD channels (Off course, it isnt going to sound Exactly like the originals, but it is Very Very close ), and an extra thing, it´s got the peavey transtube circuit, wich in My opinion too, Sounds Very Tubish (btw dont worry about the need of cranking it to get distorted sounds), Plus all the presets on it are editable, so you can edit the aspects of your sound (gain, EQ, and volume, of course) for Each Amp Model, so if it sounds way too much distorted, you can edit ´em to get a less Gainy and more "Crispy" tone, just what you´ll need for blues .

Hoping i Helped you ,

Adolfo Herrera.

Quote from mrodgers :

Ideally it would be better to hear my particular guitar plugged into any possibly purchased amp.

It won't really make any difference, I wouldn't worry about it. Stop making excuses to get your christmas present early!

TBH budget practice combos are much of a muchness, there's little to choose between them. The Peavey is probably as good as anything you'll find so if it's the right price just get it.

As for Line 6 stuff... Personally I don't like them, and I agree with you that the number of subtly-different amp models are a bit pointless when you're only going to pick your favourite and stick with it. Plus what's the point in trying to model famous amps when the sound is going to be reproduced by a single 8" speaker? Waste of money IMO.

Quote from mrodgers :

This modelling stuff sounds like major overkill to me and my thoughts are more would go into a clean sound with an amp that doesn't have all that modelling stuff.

I think you've misunderstood things a bit... With amp modeling you can get a convincing enough tube sound. Perhaps you've heard mainly high gain demos because that's the hardest to achieve with a transistor amp imo. The transistor distortion is quite coarse, edgy by nature and...well basically it sounds like ass hence you might want this modeling to get that warm, round tube distortion even if you plan to add very little of it.

An amp model can just as well be a very clean sounding Fender Twin Reverb from the sixties by the way. Basically it gives you more options to chase that tone you hear in your head

You're very lucky if you've figured out your 'signature tone' by now and gonna use it for all songs you play

Quote from thisnameistaken :

It won't really make any difference, I wouldn't worry about it. Stop making excuses to get your christmas present early!

LMAO! Wifey actually had it wrapped and "hidden" (not too good, it was under the bed) and unwrapped it to show me last week. She works weekends and works evenings. I send the kids downstairs to play on the computer and they are out of my hair for several hours. She hasn't wrapped it back up yet . Thus it has been played unplugged on several occasions over the weekend, hehehe.

And this is what it is....



The girls named my acoustic "Sally Sue" and I think they want to name this one "Lucy Lu". Though, they don't know that I know about it. They think that I am planning on buying one after Christmas. Everytime I ask if I'm getting a guitar for Christmas, my oldest one growls at me through clenched teeth, "You're not getting a GUITAR!" and punches me in the gut .

Quote from mrodgers :

And this is what it is....

Nice. To be honest that's probably a better instrument than the one I was recording with yesterday. Actually both me and my guitarist are using guitars that require mid-rehearsal repairs pretty much every week, we're a bit shit like that. I've never really seen the point in buying expensive gear if you're just going to chuck it in the back of a van. If it plays alright then you can probably make it sound as good as you'll need it to by swapping out hardware at a later date.

Quote from mrodgers :

The girls named my acoustic "Sally Sue" and I think they want to name this one "Lucy Lu".

It already came with a name from the factory. It's called 'Cort'. I tend to just leave it at all.

You blues nerds...

I would have suggested Orange (probably a tiny terror) but sadly its about double the budget............wish I had one

Quote from Electric Eye :

Personally got laney vc 15 and love it

Yes, I also have this amp. Lovely.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

...I've never really seen the point in buying expensive gear if you're just going to chuck it in the back of a van...

Maybe because not everybody chucks it in the back of a van??