Seeking Advice for a Beginner's Guitar

[halind]

With the Mid - Year sale coming up, I was thinking of taking the opportunity to purchase an electric guitar even though I'm rather new at playing (would mostly be attempting to self-learn).

Now, the thing is that I'm not sure if I should go for those starter packs (if they're included in the sale) or to purchase the guitar, amp and accessories separately, which might be a hassle since I'm unable to tell if the thing is worth buying or not. If possible, I would like constructive advice about which to choose. My budget is around $350 - $500. Many thanks in advance.

 

[Guest]

starter packs are available i'm sure. get the squier starter pack!

 

[friendlyPeter]

dude you could get yourself some good shit man with budget like that for a 50 percent off sale! happy self learning and good luck!

 

[anep]

heh. 50% sale, so u'r $500 is like $1000 sia.
squier starter pack should be ok.
dun forget abt pedals dood. electric guitar without pedals imo, kapok better. :lol:
so aniwae, happy shopping.

 

[halind]

Thanks for the replies!

A few more questions, I've been reading mixed reviews about the Squier pack, does anyone have any personal experience with it or any other packs ? Say I decide to get the guitar, amp and pedal separately, are there any recommendations which would not exceed my budget ? Sorry for all the trouble. ^^

 

[subversion]

i'm not recommending any starter packs- don't quite believe in them, but:

Ibanez GAX-70

Ibanez GSZ120

Ibanez GSA06LTD (limited edition)

Cort M200

some of the guitars above are reviewed in SOFT's review database, do read them 8)

 

[Phil]

Halind,

If you foresee that your playing of the guitar is not just some phase in your life, like Beyblades/Pro-yo/pokemon cards etc, then do yourself a huge favour by getting a good axe and avoiding starter packs.

Should you be truly serious about this entire endeavour, you'd soon come to realise that the starter pack that you spent good money on is genuinely inadequate.
And you'd then seek a better guitar, better amp, among many other things.

 

[Chang]

I dun really trust starter packs either. Cos u cannot see the guitar and feel how it is like. Each guitar has it's own unique feel, and u have to play it urself to really determine if u like it.

Amp wise, the starter pack will give u a pretty small 15watt amp with probably just 1 distortion channel for u to mess ard. And within 6 mths u would want to buy a multi-efx pedal to try out.

What for go thru all these trouble, when u can start off by buying a decent amp complete with effects like the Roland Cube, Vox Valvetronix, Line6 Spider. U can get various types of distortions, allowing to u to play from blues to death metal. Effects are enough for u to have a good idea of how they sound, how they react with the distortion and all that.

Best of all, if u just want a quick jam with yourself, plug in the amp and you're ready to go. Rather than hook up your chain of effects and power supply and then drag out the extra cable blah blah. Not so friendly for a first timer i'd say.

I myself seldom hook up my effects, cos there's really no need to. My cube solves it all when i want a quickie

I'd say the starter packs limit your choices. So buy seperate, and u'll have a better freedom to choose.

 

[halind]

Would the individual pieces be able to fit within the budget ?

 

[Chang]

Like Phil said, unless this is just a short term craze for you, do save up more money to give yourself more options.

What i can recommend is to purchase a good guitar within this $500 budget for this upcoming sale. And then buy the amp later when u save up more.
Do have a good look at the classifieds for great 2nd hand deals as well.

 

[Phil]

Just go down to the showroom, peruse through the axes that are within your budget.
Play around with them, seek out that that appeals the most to you.
Note the model down.
Go grab it during the 50% sale.

As they said, your 500sgd is equivalent to 1000sgd during the sale.
Happy hunting, it should be an unforgettable and throughly enjoyable experience.

 

[subversion]

Ibanez's SA120 will be $300 on the SALE day- it's one good guitar to grab. the remainder of your $500 can be used to fund your amp. that's a fair deal IMO, considering what you get is more worthy than a starter pack offering.

Ibanez SA120

 

[skink83]

I find it quite amazing what you can get for so little money. I remember at least 10 years ago when I first bought my first electric, while you could get US fenders from 1200 upwards, the low end of electrics were really shit. Honestly, when I tried the mexican and korean ones, really crap. Nowadays, for a few hundred you get a pretty decent axe. Just look at what sub had recommended. Haha yeah, for that money, pls get this instead of the starter pack.

 

[Macademia]

Hmmmm, actually. Your amp need not be very good. House amps dunnit to be of high watts with all e cool funky stuff and effects...As in, it's just for practice dude. When u go jamming, i am sure the studio amps would be good. try 4 tones. yup. =) and if u plan to buy your stuff during the oncoming sales, go check out the stuff u want first. test it out. then on tht day. u just chiong to the place and grab it/ it's chaos dude..

 

[halind]

Thanks a lot for all the advice everyone, really appreciate it.

 

[Fumoffu]

If you're a beginner, i think the starter pack is a great deal. I got mine for $250. The squier starter pack includes a Squier Affinity series stratocaster, set of fender strings, a fender frontman 15w amp. Well worth it imo.

 

[yellowStrat]

wooit....

Buy an Epiphone SG.... U wont regret that!!!

For an amp i would just recommend any cheap2 brands.... provided they dun burst in flames or do not provide u with the distortion channels.

Yeah, i believe its true... Dun buy starter packs if u are really serious in playing the guitar as they are usually in the box and furthermore we must have a 'feel' of the guitar b4 purchasing ones..

I will advice u not to buy additional gadgets yet.. eg. Seymour Duncan pick-ups, Boss multi-effects etc etc..... unless u really know hw to use it...

 

[DarknessFury]

Re: wooit....

Dun buy starter packs if u are really serious in playing

Why? As you progress, you can mod that axe until it is the same quality as a branded one mah...

 

[Cloudsky]

I really doubt so. You have to take into account many factors e.g. quality of the wood, construction, etc.

Putting a quality pickup into a cheaply made guitar its not gonna get u the same tone as a more well built/quality guitar with the exact pickup.