Guitar advice for a teenager who likes 70/80's Rock

Hawklan

I can't, it will be installed on his PC in his bedroom

I might just have to buy a guitar and copy of Rocksmith for myself

Hawklan

OK, Rocksmith (almost typed Rock Hero) is being downloaded and he will be ready to go. My boys impatient grumbling about download speeds is quite funny

DemonAV

As with the previous advice. Go to a decent guitar shop that has a large selection and try various makes and models until he finds one that feels comfortable playing and that suits his aesthetic needs. In my experience I've played different guitars of the same type and from the same company and found each one different from the other. A really good series of guitar are the Squire classic vibes. Comes as both Telecasters, Stratocasters and now basses and are rated better in a lot of opinions than the lower end Fenders, priced around the £300-£400 mark. One of these combined with a Fender Mustang modelling amp will work a treat and get his mojo working

Classic Vibe | Series | Squier by Fender®

Mustang Amplifiers | Series | Fender®

Philly112

I think he's already bought the guitar.

DemonAV

Oops, I must say I didn't read all the posts before I posted the above

Hawklan

Thanks Guys

Yep we purchased a 2008 Gibson Les Paul Studio. Looking at the number of times we saw a Gibson Les Pauls on display in the Hard Rock Café by one of his guitar hero's, it seems like a good choice
With only one decent guitar hanging on his wall, he is already looking to give it some company, so the advice it much appreciated. We Xmas coming let's see what Santa can come up with

The Fender Mustang modelling amp looks pretty good, will it partner well with his Gibson?

Many thanks

Ron

slackbladder

Unless you want to get a distortion/overdrive pedal you'll want to get an amp that has a fairly good drive/distortion channel. Dunno you're price range but you could try this Blackstar HT-5R 5w 1x12
£349 Only 5 watts but that's ample for home use. Or try Hughes and Kettner TM18C Tubemeister Combo going cheap at £299. It has a very clean channel if you want to use pedals but a nice drive channel and reverb. It's 18 watts but can be switched down to 5w or even 1w. I have this myself and really like it. Or try Orange Micro Terror Head £99 with a cabinet Orange Micro Terror Head (cabinets can be from other makers like Blackstar etc) and are around £125 upwards.
I would say it's prefferable to get a tube amp, though at low volumes a solid state amp can be just as good though a good tube amp distortion really can't be beat.

GloopyJon

Slackbladder makes some good suggestions although I'd disagree with the recommendation for a tube amp at this stage.  If he's only playing at home and not going out and gigging (probably for a few years), solid state amps have a number of advantages over tube amps:
- They are cheaper
- They are more reliable (tubes deteriorate and need replacing after a while)
- They are more robust (tubes are delicate things)
- They are better for playing at low volumes
- You can use headphones with them
- They usually have some effects built in, which save you buying additional pedals
- They often have connections like USB or an MP3 input which make them more versatile

Against that, here's the list of advantages of tube amps:
- Some people think they sound slightly better, particularly at very high volumes

Hmm...

Having said all of that, my main amp is a tube amp (Victory V40) and I'm just using that at home, but I don't need to worry too much about other people since my music room is tucked away and I don't bother other people as long as I don't play at stupid volumes.  So it's not quite as clear cut as above, but I'd still go solid state for your situation.

From my experience of listening to various amps in shops, I really liked the Roland Cubes (lsuch as the 40GX).  My other tip is to go for as big a speaker as possible - to my ears, anything less than 12" is a compromise on sound quality (and once you get down to less than 8" they really start to sound poor).  But again, there are other considerations, and for price and portability (for example) you might want to stick with something small.  I like the Vox amps at that level (I have a Mini 5 Rhythm, although it's a bit of an older model now), and many people love the Yamaha THR amps (I wasn't that taken by the sound - small speakers!).

Anyway...like guitars, the best thing is to go and listen to them.  In the meantime, I'd suggest a bit of reading  - there are loads of articles on the internet about choosing an amp - and we'll be happy to make suggestions if you give us a budget when the time is ripe.

Hawklan

Thanks Guys

As a starter amp, at this point, we'd rather go for something that is fun and flexible. He won't be gigging for a few years yet and just wants to have an amp that can produce a good, but not plaster cracking loud sound and has a few effects built in that he can play with.

My budget is around £250.

Many thanks

Ron

DemonAV

Fender Mustang I or II.