I havenāt touched the knobs on either of my amps (Fender Champion 20 and Fender Acoustisonic 40) in years. I spent a little time dialing in a sound I liked on both, then left them alone. When playing the electric guitar, Iāll use the pickup selector to change the tone for different songs.
I donāt see why anyone would be messing with the amp settings every time they sit down to practice.
Wow this is such a dismissive comment! How about they play a wide variety of different songs from different genres? Even as a fairly recent beginner, Iām playing songs from Neil Young, CCR, Johnny Cash, Nirvana etc which definitely warrant exploring what my amp can do
You could learn to play the Neil Young and Nirvana songs with a basic crunch tone and the Johnny Cash and CCR with a clean tone, if you wanted. And like @alexisduprey above, once you get competent in playing those songs, then you could invest some time in refining the tone, if you wanted.
I didnāt mean to be dismissive. I play lots of different songs from different genres as well. I just donāt concern myself with trying to achieve the same tone as the guitarists on the recording for each song. Iām working on playing them well with the tone I have dialed in (not that Iāve accomplished playing them well, either!)
You know: smooth, correct chord changes; currently working on being able to do small lead fills at appropriate times and then transitioning back to rhythm. Iām concerned with whether what Iām doing works, not if my tone is the same. Iām guess Iām not good enough to concern myself with sounding like the recording artists, and I donāt want to spend a bunch of my practice time fiddling with the amp to change the way my guitar sounds for every song. I just want to be playing.
Sorry, but I agree with @markr31 here. Note that he said āevery time they sit down to practiceā.
He wasnāt dismissing that there are occasions where one should explore their amp settings, or that some may want to.
Nor is he suggesting that you shouldnāt touch your amp at all.
But, once you have your amp set up, you shouldnāt need to spend more than 30 seconds to a minute messing with your amp before starting on a typical practice session. Most of that will be selecting a channel/patch and tweaking the volume or gain.
If, as a beginner, you are spending much more time than this every time you turn on your amp to do some practice, then I would question your time management.
By āpracticeā, here I am referring to technique practice such as scales, strumming patterns, chord changes, etc. which, as a beginner, you should be doing. You might chose to switch between channels/patches for some of these (e.g. you might want to practice scales with higher gain than for strumming) but none of these require that you ādial in a toneā. If you donāt have a quick way to set your amp up for this sort of practice then you are, IMO, doing something wrong.
And, as has been pointed out, even for songs it should be possible to have a set of 3 or 4 main patches that you can easily select for song practice which cover a wide range of genres.
Iām not saying you shouldnāt learn and explore your amp, but it shouldnāt be a distraction from practice.
Cheers,
Keith
Absolutely and thatās why I would usually suggest something like an Orange crush 20 or 35 RT, nothing much to mess with but some great easily done tones.
I was watching this video (The Best "Beginner Guitar" is... - YouTube)
and he mentions how anything below around 250 for an electric guitar is not worth it and that 400-600 is the golden range.
Well a) this is in the united states where price values are lower compared to Canada and 2) this was 3 years ago. So my question is do I truly have to spend more than 450$ (probably more since i am in canada and 3 years have passed) to fee like I got a guitar that was āworth itā?
Tyler plays on some of the most exquisite, prestige, expensive guitars. His collection is WOW.
I do think he overstates the need to spend money to get something that is more than adequate and overlooks modest price guitars that actually fall in to the category of being not only good value but good.
There is almost universal consensus that Yamaha Pacifica guitars are fine instruments and many working musicians play on them. They do not cost 400-600.
Yeah i feel as though his ear is just so tuned to certain guitars that he is biased when it comes to his preference for guitars haha. Someone like me who is just learning wouldnāt be as tuned to it, cheers!
I guess on your instruments have a hard life, if a bullet strat is good enough why not
$400 is probably around the price point where most guitars are playable straight from the box, however thatās not to say you canāt get a reasonable guitar for much less money, or that a $400 guitar wonāt be badly setup.
The key thing is buying from a reputable store that will at least check the guitar is reasonably setup without any glaring problems.
I will also suggest having a look on local marketplaces (facebook, gumtree etc) as you might be lucky and find a good deal.
As I said in another thread:
Agreed.
I also said:
This was in response to someone suggesting his $800 model was a ābeginners guitarā 
But it applies as general advice. If you want a great quality instrument and can afford it, something in the $400+ range should get you a really nice instrument.
But you can get a great instrument, which wonāt restrict or compromise your learning and playing, for less than this. In the lower price ranges you need to be a bit more careful, and the guitar may need a good setup but, these days, you can get a decent instrument for $200.
Cheers,
Keith
you can bet these people are not playing a $200 bullet strat in the studioā¦ !
Why not?
Mike Rutherford doesnāt play Bullet Strats because he canāt afford to play something better. He absolutely can afford to fill his touring guitar rack with high-end guitars, and he already has a big collection of guitars he could bring to gigs.
He plays Bullet Strats because he likes them.
If itās the tone and feel he is looking for and the guitar is decent quality, then why wouldnāt he use it?
Cheers,
Keith
Hi Aaron!
I had a look at the store you mentioned. Iām not sure what your budget is but the store has some pretty good options for guitars in the 300-500 CAD range.
All I could say is that Iād prefer a fixed bridge guitar than one with a vibrato bridge.
As for amps, again that depends on your budget. Marshall MG and Orange Crush are decent options. Solid state amps, not to expensive, sound decent, 2 channels footswitchable (not sure if the footswitch is included though). With 3 band EQ, volume, gain controls so nothing overwhelming. The only limitation is the absence of an effects loop but perhaps you can live with that for now.
I donāt know of they do sales there but if thatās an option you could do some research now and buy on sale when you can get more/better for the same money.
I pointed out the Bullet because itās a hard tail no trem to worry about and the pickups are the same as the Affinity, you donāt get better pickups and tuners until you go further up the range. The best of the Bullet series is the Mustang but the Strat and the Telecaster are nowhere near as bad as they used to be,
I bought that bullet from Amazon, knowing zip about guitars other than Fender and Gibson have been around forever. I got the black one as they only had that color and the sunburst. The mustang came in a lovely blue, but it was shorter and I wanted full size, being a tall person.
It seems to be adequate to me for what I know, though the 6th string often has an annoying buzz. (I know, find a luthier or something but I live in the sticks far away from real guitar peeps.)
I am pleased to hear they arenāt as bad as they used to be, being as I never knew theyād gone bad to begin with.
ETA: It cost me $159 US last November, pre tax.
The Orange Crush 35RT does have an FX loop, thatās why I usually recommend them over the 20RT, they also have a bigger speaker!
Itās easy to cure, buzzing is usually easy to stop by adjusting things, there are plenty of YT videos on how to fix it. In your circumstances it would be a good idea to learn, it also saves you lots of money!
Do you have the fixed bridge version or the one with a whammy bar?
I have had a couple of hard tail Squier bullets which suited my needs at the time. The neck of one is now on a Japanese Strat body which I still play.
The good thing about a Strat is that you can upgrade it.
My first electric was an Ibanez semi but I soon bought a Fender Strat. Thus started the gear obsessionā¦