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  • Taking the Zoom out of the chain has improved my playing? But now I need an amp!

Last month I nearly packed in guitar playing, well at least the electric side of my guitar playing.

I have a decent enough Electric Guitar, a Peavey T-60 but a little 12 Watt Kustom Amp that sounds like Poop on a good day. Between the guitar and amp I used a Zoom G2 that has pretty good tones when recording and using headphones.

Through the Amp though, the distortions all sound like early ZX-Spectrum computer games, some of the effects are decent, Chorus, Flanger etc, but I am after some good distortion tones and clearly Zoom are not up to this.

Unpacked my Line 6 Pocket Pod and I was impressed with the distortion tones I can get out of this tiny unit, but the thing is not practical, especially If I join some Metal Band and my rig looks like this ? :



I borrowed my son's Marshall MG30DFX and just cant seem to get any decent sounds at all?

Are the Cube's any better, or do I pursue the valve amp route, or is there a decent Distortion Pedal where I can Dial in some meaty KSE tones.

But the main reason for my post is that I need to acquire an Amp, something that will be reasonable for noobie electric guitarist, An all round amp that can accomodate Jazz, good clean tones as well as reasonable distortion...
    I can highly recommend the Ibanez TB range, either the TB225, TB50 or the TB65R,,,all have great sound and very cool distortion channels,,and they're reasonably cheap too,,
    I know Jimmy at TOMS was selling a TB65R for R2500 the other day.. go try it out,
      or if you can, the Cubes are amazing...
        +1
        I saw a TB65R at Cash Converters (Park Meadows opposite Eastgate) for around R2200, which I'm sure you can knock down to around R2000,, if you do go, see if the Les Paul Supreme is still there? ?
          Cubes are really good for what they are. I was impressed. I've certainly considered getting one as a practise amp.

          But if it's great tone you're looking for and you don't need to play loud and clean, ezietsman's little blackstar tube amp sounds amazing. It can do loud, it just can't do loud and clean. Jack Flash's little 20 watt tube Fender champ-something-or-other has some effects built in but it's also a sweet sounding tube amp. If sound quality is your main issue, you should really consider a little tube amp.

          Glad you're sticking with it man ?

          Edit: Well done losing the zoom.

          "You've taken your first step into a larger world"
          - Gandalf the Grey
            singemonkey wrote:

            "You've taken your first step into a larger world"
            - Gandalf the Grey
            Don't mean to piss on your parade, but that was Obiwan... ?
              Warren wrote:
              singemonkey wrote:

              "You've taken your first step into a larger world"
              - Gandalf the Grey
              Don't mean to piss on your parade, but that was Obiwan...
              ?
                I recently got a Vox VT100 (used) at a very good price. This is a powerful full sounding 2*12 amp with lots of Fx and about 12 different amp sounds, etc. The onboard reverb and overdrive/distortion are very acceptable and in addition this thing also sounds valvey. The nice thing is that you can actually turn the output wattage down, so it's nice for practicing as well. The clean sounds on this one are VERY good.

                One gets these in 30-and 50 W models too. Google and youtube for more info.

                Otherwise go for a valve Marshall stack and lots of pedals ! just in case you join a metal band...hmmm ...but then you'll have to change to an Ibanez axe as well ?
                  Doesn't the pod into a hi-fi or sound card do the job? Running it into a sound card should certainly make recording easier.
                    singemonkey wrote: "You've taken your first step into a larger world"
                    - Gandalf the Grey
                    Mixing up LOTR with the Galaxy far, far away...thats criminal hey.
                      I would look around for awhile and see about a used tube amp. I picked up a used Hughes & kettner edition tube for 4900 and it blows the socks off of any solid state I've played. My playing has also improved a lot. Now I have a gt8 which is used for switching channels and adding delay. Maybe a bit overkill but hey. ?

                      Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
                        nick_D01 wrote:
                        singemonkey wrote: "You've taken your first step into a larger world"
                        - Gandalf the Grey
                        Mixing up LOTR with the Galaxy far, far away...thats criminal hey.
                        "You've taken your first step into a larger world"
                        - Dr. Spok
                          Donovan Banks wrote:
                          ha ha
                          ROFL ?
                            singemonkey wrote: "You've taken your first step into a larger world"
                            - Dr. Spok
                            Spock

                            You were probably distracted by the beard



                              Your destiny lies along a different path from mine......
                              Use the Force, Luke. Let go, Luke. Luke, trust me


                              You have taken you first step into a larger world......
                              Who is the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?

                              ?
                                X-rated Bob wrote:
                                singemonkey wrote: "You've taken your first step into a larger world"
                                - Dr. Spok
                                Spock

                                You were probably distracted by the beard
                                Yes. Forgot how to spell the name of the popular child-psychologist.
                                  Thanks Guys for all the input.

                                  thanks Aubs, will respond to your PM

                                  Thanks Kalcium, will check up the Vox, cheap at R1500

                                  X-rated Bob wrote: Doesn't the pod into a hi-fi or sound card do the job? Running it into a sound card should certainly make recording easier.
                                  Bob, I will use the Pod for recording along with my Behringer UCA202 Audio Interface USB Card.

                                  But Monitors and Headphones are so limiting and inpractical, I need to have a physical amp that I can just plug in and let rip. Also If I need to Jam with others, I will have something to plug in to.

                                  The Cubes and the Valvetronix look like the best way to go, with their built in effects etc. When I pass the noob stage I will investigate the pedal route.

                                  Now I need some help with a decent DISTORTION PEDAL