Personally, I have never owned a brand new LP.
All my Epi LPs, a Custom and a Classic, are bought second hand for a total of less than $1200. And they are fairly new and hardly used by their previous owners who bought them on impulse and later realised that the guitars don't suit them.
The point is, you can get a decent guitar at a fairly decent price from the second hand market. This is all the more important as you start learning to play an electric and you would want one that encourages and not discourages your learning.
If you still want to go on the new guitar route, I would recommend, for starters, an Epi LP Standard, costing about $600 and an Ibanez TB25 Tone Blaster at $120 and its accompanying footswitch for $23. Forget about effects until you have reach some level of playing competence.
The footswitch is more than enough for your distortion needs. The Tone Blaster has a full and rich sound and doesn't sound thin like some of the 15 Watters.
An alternative to the Epi LP would be a reasonably priced Strat copy of similar pricing, such as a Squier or an Ibanez, that has a S-S-H configuration for wider playing possibilities.
Putting aside about another $100 for some basic accessories and you still have plenty of change left over from your $1500 to save for an upgrade when the time comes.
The above is from my personal experience of experimenting with various guitar-amp combinations to arrive at one or two that complements my style of playing, mainly rock, blues-rock, folk-rock and pop. The guitar should be versatile enough to switch between the various genre and I find the Epi LP, despite its many detractors, a pretty reliable instrument. The shorter scale length also helps as I am not much of a soloist and hence don't need all those extra frets.
Do remember that good playing can help compensate for a lesser instrument but not the other way round. And always keep your guitar in tune because nothing sounds worst than an out-of-tune guitar. So get that all-important guitar tuner.
All my Epi LPs, a Custom and a Classic, are bought second hand for a total of less than $1200. And they are fairly new and hardly used by their previous owners who bought them on impulse and later realised that the guitars don't suit them.
The point is, you can get a decent guitar at a fairly decent price from the second hand market. This is all the more important as you start learning to play an electric and you would want one that encourages and not discourages your learning.
If you still want to go on the new guitar route, I would recommend, for starters, an Epi LP Standard, costing about $600 and an Ibanez TB25 Tone Blaster at $120 and its accompanying footswitch for $23. Forget about effects until you have reach some level of playing competence.
The footswitch is more than enough for your distortion needs. The Tone Blaster has a full and rich sound and doesn't sound thin like some of the 15 Watters.
An alternative to the Epi LP would be a reasonably priced Strat copy of similar pricing, such as a Squier or an Ibanez, that has a S-S-H configuration for wider playing possibilities.
Putting aside about another $100 for some basic accessories and you still have plenty of change left over from your $1500 to save for an upgrade when the time comes.
The above is from my personal experience of experimenting with various guitar-amp combinations to arrive at one or two that complements my style of playing, mainly rock, blues-rock, folk-rock and pop. The guitar should be versatile enough to switch between the various genre and I find the Epi LP, despite its many detractors, a pretty reliable instrument. The shorter scale length also helps as I am not much of a soloist and hence don't need all those extra frets.
Do remember that good playing can help compensate for a lesser instrument but not the other way round. And always keep your guitar in tune because nothing sounds worst than an out-of-tune guitar. So get that all-important guitar tuner.
