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Finally buying an electric guitar today


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I have been playing guitar for a little over 2 years. I have always played on an acoustic guitar and have wanted an electric guitar for a while. The extent to which i play is in my apartment and occasionally with friends at their houses. I'm finally buying one today and have decided on an Epiphone Les Paul Custom after playing one a few times in store and checking out other guitars. A couple of things:

 

  • Anyone have any feedback on this guitar? Is this a solid choice for my first electric?
  • When looking for an amp, what should i look for/avoid?
  • In regards to pedals, any recommendations?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

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I've always liked Fender for both guitars and basses. A standard Mexican made strat or tele is a great entry level electric and will be reliable for years to come. Also buying used is a great way to save a couple hundred bucks. I've noticed that GuitarCenter.com exaggerates the flaws quite a bit, might be something worth looking into.

You could always get a rondo! They get good YouTube reviews actually. I've considered getting a Les Paul from them just for the hell of it.

http://www.rondomusic.com/electricguitar.html

As far as amps get a nice little combo. I'm currently looking for a 90w combo. I'm leaning towards Peavy or Fender.

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Had one awhile back. Total work horses. As far as pedals, look into earthquaker devices. They have a pretty good variety to choose from.

When it comes to amps, it really depends on how loud you'll be getting with friends. From the looks of it, though, I think a fender deluxe reverb might do the trick for you. Don't go the solid state route unless you're going for a roland jc-120.

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The Epiphone would be a good choice, but if you've been playing for around 2 years and plan to continue I'd see no reason in splurging a little more. I started with an Epiphone Les Paul and recently upgraded to a Fender Mustang and there is a considerable difference. If I am not mistaken, a Les Paul Custom is one of the more expensive models by epiphone and could almost compare price wise to something even better than an entry Fender. Try a couple of different guitars out at a local store to ultimately decide what feels good and sounds best.

 

The best advice is to not rush in to anything and get something you actually want since it seems you'll be getting some fair use from it. 

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First you gotta decide which sound and which feel you like the best. A Les Paul is pretty versatile and if you want to play rock music in general it sure is a good choice. You may want to add something like a Strat or another single coil guitar to your stack later. If you are more experienced you can also consider changing the pickups on the Les Paul as this may be the only weakness and the only thing that separates this guitar from mid priced models!

For your amp choice I can recommend the fender mustangs! I don't know if you live in a flat / condo or in a house. If you have to keep attention to the volume and can't have anything really loud you shouldn't buy a valve powered amp. Those have the best sound in general but they start to sound good at a quite high volume level. They also nearly never have a headphone jack! The mustang is a so called modeler amp which let's you emulate a lot of famous amps. Some modeling amps are shitty and just noisy but I didn't regret changing from my peavey class 30 (valve / tube amp) to a fender mustang when I moved into a flat!

Hope that helps

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Amps: I would recommend an Orange Tiny Terror or similar lunch box head. Pair that with a cheap 1x12 and it would be perfect for apartment playing/bringing over to friends. You could easily put this together for <$500 with some eBaying.

Hit up somewhere and do some demoing though. I just love my rig (tiny terror x orange 2x12) and have to recommend it.

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I own three Epiphone guitars because I've been playing casually for six or seven years. Epiphones are solid guitars that definitely do what I need them to, though I primarily play acoustic as well.

If they are still produced (I don't follow Ggibson/Epiphone anymore), look into an SG model. My very first guitar was an SG G-400 and it's stood up to my playing and accidental abuse for years. In many ways SGs are the same as Les Pauls and will perform the same on most fronts, but they're considerably lighter - Les Pauls weigh some 12 or 14 pounds - so you can play more comfortably.

But you should definitely consider looking into other makes, as well. Fender and Gretsch could also suit your needs, but I'm not knowledgeable on either of those brands.

I don't know a lot about amps - I own a Line 6 and occasionally used to run my SG through a friend's Marshall half-stack. Line 6 is okay.. Marshall is a big investment for serious players. I do know that Orange amps are incredible if you can find one for the right price.

I think BOSS makes nice pedals. Also not my area of expertise.

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Oh boy...I totally forgot about pedals. This is something I could talk about for hours. What stuff are you looking for first of all? Fuzz, overdrive, distortion, delay, reverb, phaser, octaver etc? And what kind of music do you plan to play ?

The decisions about pedals might also influence the amp choice as modeling amps often don't sound that nice with pedals (which is the only reason I regret getting this fender mustang) while tube amps receive most pedals well but especially for fuzz you might want to get a nice (not too cheap) solid state amp! Tell me more about the music you like and want to play!

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