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Most guitar companies have the budget range of their flagships; Fender has Squier, Gibson has Epiphone, ESP has LTD, Jackson has Charvel, and so on. Your usual suspects for beginners, and also you more classic type of electric guitars are Stratocaster's (Fender/Squier) and Les Paul's (Gibson/Epiphone). Obviously both do the same thing (generally speaking), but the feel is totally different; Les Paul's are heavier and bulkier, while Strat's are smoother and more svelte. It's a personal thing, and as much as I love the look and sound of a Les Paul, I've just never got on with one myself.
Personally, I would be looking at the Yamaha Pacifica range - you'll pay half the price you would for a Squier, but you get way more than half the quality. Personally, I think they're the best non-Fender Fender's out there, and I'd probably have one over a Squier, personally speaking. You're looking at £150-£200 for an 012 model, which has the added advantage of two single coil and a double coil pick-up config, whereas most Squier Strats, and most Fender's, have three single coils. Both have a tremolo bridge (for vibrato and note bending) whereas the Les Paul or SG types from Gibson/Epiphone typically have fixed bridges.
As mentioned, you're gonna need an amp, cables, a stand, and possibly a pedal or two, depending on the type of playing he wants to do (although most amps have an "overdrive" or "distortion" channel built in, so at first the whole pedal thing might not be too important - those can be picked up at later dates as he grows as a player. Me personally, I don't like the overdrive channel on my Marshall amp, so I use a Line 6 distortion pedal, but again it's just personal preference)
Speaking of amps, look at the likes of Marshall, Peavey and Line 6 - both do budget ranges, with either small (15w) or large (50w) models. I have a 30w, fairly old, Marshall Valvestate amp, which means the pre-amp is valve driven, and the main power amplifier is solid-state driven (the first amps that came out were valve driven, and have that classic sound, but just like how cars went from real wood trim to plastic, then wood effect trim to recreate that classic look, amps went from valve to solid-state, then hybrids to try and recreate that classic valve tone, without having to spend a fortune on top of the line valve amps). End of the day, you pay for what you get, and naturally the cheaper ones sound just that - cheaper. But a decent amp company, like Marshall, Peavey or relative newcomer Line 6, will get you a good sounding amp. I'd personally love a Mesa amp, but you're talking a grand plus straightaway! |
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25-11-2019 21:23:48
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