That's true, but cheap guitars these days are pretty decent.

It's more important to spend a lot of money on a guitar if you care about what it sounds like, but for metal it doesn't matter - you won't hear the character of the guitar once you've covered it in distortion and delay anyway.

As for tube heads, tube emulation is pretty good these days, even using analogue circuits. I'd rather just have a pedal in my bag that does a decent approximation of a tube amp rather than break my spine lugging one in and out of venues week in and week out. I spent a summer gigging a Mesa 400 head into an Ampeg 215 reflex cab and it was just horrendous, never again.

My main guitar was a cheapo but it sounds fantastic. Epiphone LP100, which (for those who don't know) is basically just a Les Paul replica without the signature on the head. It's also the narrow-body model, because I find the wide-body ones with the cornered edges very uncomfortable to use.
Got it about 12 years ago and have loved it ever since. Even if I could afford to replace it with a "real" Les Paul I wouldn't because it's just the perfect guitar for me. Obviously I'd take others AS WELL but I wouldn't replace it.

Conversely, our guitarist seems to have magic fingers. I can use the same guitar, the same amp and the same pick as him and I get a totally different sound. When I play it sounds like a person playing a guitar. When he plays it sounds like HIM playing the guitar. The swine

Quote from thisnameistaken :

That's true, but cheap guitars these days are pretty decent.

Might be true, it was 17 years ago when i bought that first guitar. Getting old...

I took guitar lessons for about half a year back then. I had a pretty cool guitar teacher which teached me a lot of swear words in the process of trying to tune that guitar every five minutes during lessons...

I always think its better to save up and spend more, I'm currently struggling with my shit Les Paul replica, the tone isn't awful but the build quality is the it'll never hold in tune for long but then it was only £90. Just never always go for the cheapest deal available unless you really have to.

Quote from jibber :

Might be true, it was 17 years ago when i bought that first guitar. Getting old...

I took guitar lessons for about half a year back then. I had a pretty cool guitar teacher which teached me a lot of swear words in the process of trying to tune that guitar every five minutes during lessons...

Yeah our guitarist has a '70s Antoria Telecaster Thinline copy that he insists on using and it's always going out of tune.

I'm actually gigging a Squier Jazz at the moment that I paid £110 for. I've replaced the tuners and bridge because they were garbage (need to replace the super-microphonic front pickup too but I never get around to it), and the neck suffers from the typical Fender dead spots but it's no worse than any USA Fender I've played.

I've got a much more expensive '91 Warwick sitting behind me that I use a lot for recording, because it has a unique mid-hump tone to it that really stands out, but the Squier does the job live and if it gets jumped on or catches fire or whatever, who cares, it's a £100 guitar.

I guess it's personal preference but I have owned a few (7+) guitars since I began playing but my favourite out of every one I have owned is my Strat. It feels awesome to play, although I play more rhythmic rock/Punk music such as B182, Sum41, Arctic Monkeys ect ect.

Quote from jakeeatworld :

I have owned a few (7+) guitars since I began playing but my favourite out of every one I have owned is my Strat..

Telecaster fail.

I was just about to say...

Maybe not well known, or even frowned upon, because they eliminate the middlemen and their inflated prices by selling direct, thus you won't see many of them in stores, but Carvins are high class instruments. They use their own pickups exclusively, which some like and some don't, but they can be easily replaced. The rest of the build though is quality at its finest. They do custom stuff in half the time and half the cost other makers will charge. No, they don't have a major lineup of pro endorsers but that's mainly because they treat all customers equally and prefer not to kiss the ass of a few. The big turn off is because they are direct sales, you try after you buy, but you can do that for 10 days and then return it if you want.

The DC145: Neck through, 24 fret, with the same HSH pickup arrangement as the Ibanez you linked to. Carvin-Norway pricing: http://www.carvinworld.com/cat ... ars/index.php?model=dc145

3 part vid with honest comparison of many guitars, featuring the Carvin V220.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6liq9e0_eg4

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... 2K1DY&feature=related

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... rD3lQ&feature=related

Thanks for all the kind and information replies people

Currently I am really, really wanting to buy a black Ibanez S-5470 BBK.. After that I will save up and buy a great AMP.. What are prices on those.. same as the guitar, 2-3k?

Quote from The Very End :

Thanks for all the kind and information replies people

Currently I am really, really wanting to buy a black Ibanez S-5470 BBK.. After that I will save up and buy a great AMP.. What are prices on those.. same as the guitar, 2-3k?

Well, I would go for a Orange Tiny Terror, it's pretty expensive especially becouse you have to buy the speaker cabinet too. I believe there's a combo version of it too.

But ORANGE Tiny Terror would be my choice and it can't be the one for everyones tastes.

Hmmm.. I must think on it

Does metal pretty good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MpZoWsFlJQ

But again, it's a matter of taste and you shouldn't buy a amp some random finnish wnb guitarist is recommendin to you.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Telecaster fail.

Hehe yeah, confused myself in the big paragraph I was gunna write but then I deleted it. What I meant was I currently have a Telecaster but I'm after a Strat but atm I need to spend the money on other things.

Well for the Amp as Uke said, is basicly the same thing than the guitar, go out and try some till you find one that you like. BTW are you the MultiFX (The KORG) to get distortion? if you only use the amp for, well, amplify the sound then get a pretty clean sounding amp (think about Fender and the like) BUT if you want some Metal tones and you use the Korg for only effects, then My bet is in one of these (of course, if you can get one):

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Pe ... Amp-105612089-i1445921.gc

Peavey 6505+ 112 Combo (that's a single 12' speaker if you dodn't know), That amp is as Metal as the whole eiffel tower xD, Pure Metal tone, More gain that you would need, deffinitively Amazing have to say , the only con of this amp is that the Clean channel is not something from annother world, but is great anyway, and if you'r getting one of these is for playing metal, no? .

I saw the Orange tiny Terror suggestion up there, That's a Good Amp, But I Doubt it has the enough Gain for your music style, And you'll have to crank it to get a good distortion coming out of it becasue is a single channel amp.

Btw You still Have Tons of options, go 'n try as many amps as you can on your musical store, btw if you want, give us you amp budget and we could give you some suggestion, so you won't have to try That many amps out there xD!.

Quote from Uke :

Does metal pretty good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MpZoWsFlJQ

But again, it's a matter of taste and you shouldn't buy a amp some random finnish wnb guitarist is recommendin to you.

Haha, box of love!

Quote from ADOLF1612 :

Well for the Amp as Uke said, is basicly the same thing than the guitar, go out and try some till you find one that you like. BTW are you the MultiFX (The KORG) to get distortion? if you only use the amp for, well, amplify the sound then get a pretty clean sounding amp (think about Fender and the like) BUT if you want some Metal tones and you use the Korg for only effects, then My bet is in one of these (of course, if you can get one):

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Pe ... Amp-105612089-i1445921.gc

Peavey 6505+ 112 Combo (that's a single 12' speaker if you dodn't know), That amp is as Metal as the whole eiffel tower xD, Pure Metal tone, More gain that you would need, deffinitively Amazing have to say , the only con of this amp is that the Clean channel is not something from annother world, but is great anyway, and if you'r getting one of these is for playing metal, no? .

I saw the Orange tiny Terror suggestion up there, That's a Good Amp, But I Doubt it has the enough Gain for your music style, And you'll have to crank it to get a good distortion coming out of it becasue is a single channel amp.

Btw You still Have Tons of options, go 'n try as many amps as you can on your musical store, btw if you want, give us you amp budget and we could give you some suggestion, so you won't have to try That many amps out there xD!.

Well, at the moment I am using some distortion on the AMP, then some on the effect box aswell, sounds great tbh. The guitar is only O.K, and that is were it needs a change, first guitar, then AMP.

Earlier I used an distortion-box-thingy between the effect box and AMP, sounded great, but lost it

Damn local shops sucks balls, and allways closes before I am finnished on work.. what kind of messed up shit is that? It means normal humans that have a work canot go to the shop...bullshit tbh..

The guitar centre page.. is it something that can deliver guitars to norway safe?

I have been playing on and off for a few years. Don't have much talent nor experience (result is no skill).

However, I would never buy a guitar which I have never had in my hands. I think these are the things that should matter when buying a guitar:

• Does it suit you? (ergonomics, weight)
  
• Does the tone suit you in all grades of gain you want to use it for.
  
• versatility (if required)
  
• Does it hold it's tuning well
  

Offcourse budget and esthetics matter aswell.

As for an amp, it's very important to know what you will be using it for. Most tube amps are quite useless for home (or small room) use and need periodic maintenance (tube replacements and biassing).

Quote from HEAVYSET :

carvin

Good guitars indeed. Played one of them in a shop once, really amazing guitars, built very well and the one i've tried had a really nice sound.

They make some nice little tube amps aswell.

You need a replica of Nigel Tufnels 'Attackometer'-equipped 4 humbucker guitar which is custom build by Music Man.
The fretboard-inlays are priceless

Quote from ADOLF1612 :

I saw the Orange tiny Terror suggestion up there, That's a Good Amp, But I Doubt it has the enough Gain for your music style, And you'll have to crank it to get a good distortion coming out of it becasue is a single channel amp.

Not enough gain? Stick a Tubescreamer or a DOD 250 infront of it.

As for having to crank it to get distortion, put a power soak between the amp and speaker, you can still have tonnes of valve dirt at low volume.

A band we often play with uses three Tiny Terrors and they are great amps. Very portable for valve amps too.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Not enough gain? Stick a Tubescreamer or a DOD 250 infront of it.

As for having to crank it to get distortion, put a power soak between the amp and speaker, you can still have tonnes of valve dirt at low volume.

A band we often play with uses three Tiny Terrors and they are great amps. Very portable for valve amps too.

Well with a power soak you deffinitively can get cranked tones at low volume (btw has to be a Very good one, because mostly those take some of clarity on the tone too...), but what about if you get a higher gain amp that can do all that gain at low volumes too without a power soak? I think that's a better option, of course, if the case is that you Like TT's tone, then there's no option... (btw beeing cool here man ).

Quote from The Very End :

Haha, box of love!



Well, at the moment I am using some distortion on the AMP, then some on the effect box aswell, sounds great tbh. The guitar is only O.K, and that is were it needs a change, first guitar, then AMP.

Earlier I used an distortion-box-thingy between the effect box and AMP, sounded great, but lost it

Damn local shops sucks balls, and allways closes before I am finnished on work.. what kind of messed up shit is that? It means normal humans that have a work canot go to the shop...bullshit tbh..

The guitar centre page.. is it something that can deliver guitars to norway safe?

Well I'm not that sure about delivering, they ship directly to anywhere on the States, and to canada too, but I think they don't ship directly overseas, you'll have to find one of those shipping couriers on the states that ship to Norway (or europe in general), Make Guitar Center ship to that courier, then make the courier bring it to you on Norway, BTW you'll have to spend Some on shipping to do that, me thinks around 250$-even 300$ to ship in your home from the states...

I've got this:
http://robbiesmusiccity.com/sh ... 20LTD%20EC-50%20Lefty.jpg

And this:
http://www.zikinf.com/_gfx/mat ... z-tb100r-tone-blaster.jpg

Quote from Hoshimodo :

You need a replica of Nigel Tufnels 'Attackometer'-equipped 4 humbucker guitar which is custom build by Music Man.
The fretboard-inlays are priceless

Not sure if I should laugh/cheer or cry on that one!

Quote from ADOLF1612 :

Well with a power soak you deffinitively can get cranked tones at low volume (btw has to be a Very good one, because mostly those take some of clarity on the tone too...), but what about if you get a higher gain amp that can do all that gain at low volumes too without a power soak? I think that's a better option, of course, if the case is that you Like TT's tone, then there's no option... (btw beeing cool here man ).



Well I'm not that sure about delivering, they ship directly to anywhere on the States, and to canada too, but I think they don't ship directly overseas, you'll have to find one of those shipping couriers on the states that ship to Norway (or europe in general), Make Guitar Center ship to that courier, then make the courier bring it to you on Norway, BTW you'll have to spend Some on shipping to do that, me thinks around 250$-even 300$ to ship in your home from the states...

Damn.. what a price..
One thing about Ibanez guitars, are their necks big and chubby, making it hard to play fast on? Saw a picture from one guitar from the side, was not impressed

Quote from SidiousX :

I've got this:
http://robbiesmusiccity.com/sh ... 20LTD%20EC-50%20Lefty.jpg

And this:
http://www.zikinf.com/_gfx/mat ... z-tb100r-tone-blaster.jpg

Not bad, only concern is that the freet is on just 22 in lenghts, should be 24

Quote from ADOLF1612 :

Well with a power soak you deffinitively can get cranked tones at low volume (btw has to be a Very good one, because mostly those take some of clarity on the tone too...), but what about if you get a higher gain amp that can do all that gain at low volumes too without a power soak?

Or you could do that instead, sure. I wouldn't be worried too much about the tonal effect of using a power soak though, you'll only need it at home and the only person there to hear it will be you. Even in the smallest venues you can crank a Tiny Terror, there's a switch on the front to bypass one of the power valves so it only puts out 7W. Still loud, but not take-your-face-off loud.

But yeah the sound isn't for everybody I suppose, I think they sound great.

Quote from The Very End :

One thing about Ibanez guitars, are their necks big and chubby, making it hard to play fast on? Saw a picture from one guitar from the side, was not impressed

Their pointy metal guitars have really thin (front to back) necks and almost flat fingerboards. They do make some guitars with more sensible neck profiles but don't worry about the metal guitars being chunky, unless you have the hands of a five year old girl.

Awesome, thanks for clearing that one out