if you are looking for a good boutique all tube amp, try www.valvetone.co.za, they may even help with a custom one should you want something else. I do not work with or for them, just a happy customer ?

You say you want a good playing guitar. Consider getting a setup done - on the existing guitar and/or a new guitar.

Often the difference between "plays good" and "meh" is a setup.

With cheaper guitars there have to be savings during manufacture. One saving is to not waste time and resources doing thorough set ups. You buy a Martin - it's probably got a reasonable setup at the factory. You buy a budget Cort.... maybe they didn't spend that much time setting it up (and neither will the shop).

Ask around. Which shops in your area have a good workshop, or which techs in the area (attached to a shop or not) do good work? Get the frets dressed, nut and bridge correctly set, intonation adjusted... it can make a big difference.

I think that quite a lot of new players battle more than they should or just give up when the problem, or the biggest problem, is that they've got a guitar with a too high action and which won't stay in tune.

if you really have to have a tube amp, the pocket pod sounds fantastic with the laney, however there are better things out there nowadays.
the pocket pod is small and infuriating, its light and your cables can drag it quickly from where you have put it onto the floor or rip out the power jack.

Get something that is based in a pedal from zoom/boss digitech so that you rock different sounds with the tap of a foot instead of fluffing about with the tiny little knobs on the pocket pod. Some of these newer things also work as an external sound card of sorts, so that you can record riffs. The pocket pod is incredibly annoying , the more i think about it. It is really made more for headphone jamming and even then it still falls off everything and switching off. Battery life is awful too.

Even better, a fender mustang with a foot switch will do all of this in one, except without tubes.


OH HEY! brainwave!
if you're set on a pocket pod you can gladly buy mine 8)

Thanks all for the valuable input!

@Wormwood - thanks for the offer, but I think a lot of value has been gained in learning from your mistakes - so I don't have to repeat them ? . Lol! No really, thanks for pointing out the reasons why the POD is NOT a good idea ?

I am open to any suggestions, I don't know all the options out there, so I figured a good start will be a tube amp with a modeling "gadget" (be it a POD or one of your other suggestions).

Or maybe it is better to just get a good guitar and a small valve amp and just get (relatively) good at playing guitar before stuffing around with effects and modeled tones etc... Sounds more like I should attack this problem in a phased approach..

Just wanted to check what all the "old hands" would recommend. No need to repeat mistakes others have learned from 8)

If we're talking about learning from mistakes and what not, I will share that one of mine as a junior was always chasing tone through pedals and accessories.
I am firmly firmly firmly of the belief that whilst adding pedals immediately is certainly fun, figuring out your guitar and amp thoroughly first would be of more benefit to you as a guitarist.
tiny knob adjustments and tweaking is almost the tone equivalent to practising your triads and getting to know your fretboard...Not as fun as jamming, but immeasurably beneficial.

X-rated Bob wrote: You buy a budget Cort.... maybe they didn't spend that much time setting it up (and neither will the shop).

Actually cort do quite a good factory set up hey... As of yesterday I now own 4 cort guitars and each of them was playable "out the box" (even though 2 were second hand, the owner of the bass never had it set up)

But i do get your point about most factory finishes not being that great ?

Shibbibilybob wrote: If we're talking about learning from mistakes and what not, I will share that one of mine as a junior was always chasing tone through pedals and accessories.
I am firmly firmly firmly of the belief that whilst adding pedals immediately is certainly fun, figuring out your guitar and amp thoroughly first would be of more benefit to you as a guitarist.
tiny knob adjustments and tweaking is almost the tone equivalent to practising your triads and getting to know your fretboard...Not as fun as jamming, but immeasurably beneficial.

+1

All you need is a good guitar and a good amp (And by good I don't mean expensive)
But also a fuzz pedal, a wah and a tube screamer don't hurt. Anything else is bells and whistles ?

Chocklit_Thunda wrote:

Shibbibilybob wrote: If we're talking about learning from mistakes and what not, I will share that one of mine as a junior was always chasing tone through pedals and accessories.
I am firmly firmly firmly of the belief that whilst adding pedals immediately is certainly fun, figuring out your guitar and amp thoroughly first would be of more benefit to you as a guitarist.
tiny knob adjustments and tweaking is almost the tone equivalent to practising your triads and getting to know your fretboard...Not as fun as jamming, but immeasurably beneficial.

+1

All you need is a good guitar and a good amp (And by good I don't mean expensive)
But also a fuzz pedal, a wah and a tube screamer don't hurt. Anything else is bells and whistles ?

Thanks @bibilybob and @Chocklit_Thunda !

There is a nice Cort M200 for sale for R1500 on Junkmail. Looks pretty OK - guess with a pickup change it could be great. You happy with your Corts Chocklit_Thunda?

Hey Codex,
Not an old hand by any means, just wanted to add my 2cents ?

I actually went into Music Connection today, to try out the Cub12 after reading the Singemonkey's guide aswell ?
If you're looking at any of the ESP/LTD's with the active EMG's, the Cub12 might not be the best amp. (I don't know about the other small tube amps, but I can only assume that it'll yield the same result, I played through my EC401).
I think it might have something to do with the higher output, but it didn't sound very tasty at all. That might just be my guitar though, maybe someone else here knows more.

However, if you're looking at a PRS, or something along those lines with passive pickups, the Cub12 sounds amazing, I played it through a Tokai Love Rock LP, and I felt like a rockstar. The 1Watt input is quite cool for playing quiet aswell.
If you're in the CPT region, someone is selling a cub12 on gumtree for around 2k.

I own a Zoom 505II multi effects processor, There are quite a few effects you can get out of it, and you can plug your headphones into it aswell if you get one of those fat jacks, to convert your 3.5mm jack. The sound is OK, It sounds very "processed" to me, and so far, it doesn't seem to milk the batteries (4xAA). But the nice thing about music stores, they let you try everything out before you buy it. Take advantage of this so that you don't get home and facepalm :-\

Oh, 1 last thing, It seems like you've already made your mind up about the tube amp 8) but it couldn't hurt to try out something like the Cube 40/80. It has a lot of effects on it already, aswell as a power suppressor to let you play quieter, and a looper, which could prove hours of fun. On top of that, you'll never have to worry about replacing Valves (which looks to be a pricy affair).
If you wanna try one out, Music Connection in JHB should be getting some in next week. If you're in the JHB region ?

Hope I didn't bore you ? ? ?

PS: I don't work for Music Connection, I just love going there ?

Codex7 wrote: There is a nice Cort M200 for sale for R1500 on Junkmail. Looks pretty OK - guess with a pickup change it could be great. You happy with your Corts Chocklit_Thunda?

I'm very happy with them! All (four now!) of my corts are "stock standard"! (the GB35A bass was tampered with before i bought it > electricals ripped out and replaced....) Say what you want about them, they sure do make some gooood instruments! I love em!
In fact the stock pickups on my X-1 (the lowest of the X series and a lower end model in all) are my favourite! I don't want to change them ? they can go from sparkling cleans to face melting high gain stuff ?
I'm having a problem with my semi hollow right now in that the b string rings out at twice the volume of the other strings... Probably a setup issue because it sounded amazing when I played it first in the shop. With this one I may change the Pickups for a set of pickups with Alnico II mags just for that ultra warm sound but the stock pickups are not bad at all... Based on vintage PAF's and they do it well enough!
If you do want to get it, give the stock pickups a chance first... ? Too many times you see guys buy a guitar with the intention of putting a 1300 ront set of pickups in immediately... That attitude leaves one predisposed to hate the original pups before even giving them a try.

One thing though, ALWAYS try arrange to try out the guitar before buying it! Too many Skebengu's on the internet these days!

Thanks Harlequin and Chocklit_Thunda for the advice!! ?

I will be doing some further reading - I'll compile a list of gear with pro's and cons from all the advice, and when I have the funds - gonna test out some of the recommended gear in-store to see what floats my boat.

I am now more worried about actually being able to play something that sounds almost decent in-store so I don't get laughed out of the store when testing :-[ :-[

I am now more worried about actually being able to play something that sounds almost decent in-store so I don't get laughed out of the store when testing

I have the same issue, see if the guitar store you go to has a sound room you can mess around in.
If you're really worried about it, go to one that does. The guys there shouldn't mind setting you up in one of them, and then you can comfortably play the Theme song of Hannah Montana without anyone knowing the wiser ?

You get the beeeeeeeeeeeeeest of both worlds...

If I really had to give a word of wisdom (or the lack thereof) I would say don't bother with new gear for now, take whatever piece of crap you have and make it sound good! Buy something expensive when you feel that you deserve something that cost that much and that it deserves you!
Everyone starts out with something shitty, that's how the game works!
I started of with a starfire and a fender frontman 15watt amp, horrible to say the least! But the moment you can make that sound good, imagine what you could do to something that's actually a good instrument!

Reinecke wrote: If I really had to give a word of wisdom (or the lack thereof) I would say don't bother with new gear for now, take whatever piece of crap you have and make it sound good! Buy something expensive when you feel that you deserve something that cost that much and that it deserves you!
Everyone starts out with something shitty, that's how the game works!
I started of with a starfire and a fender frontman 15watt amp, horrible to say the least! But the moment you can make that sound good, imagine what you could do to something that's actually a good instrument!

That there's a double-edged sword... the person might get peed off that they sukkel to play and then give up... but then... they should have persevered?
I started on a bullet squire strat and a peavy rage 158 amp... I am now up to a Epiphone les paul... which is decentish...and that's after like 7 years... I guess I haven't really played
many other guitars as I prefer not to do that UNLESS I am shopping for one (I played on ONE tube amp which resulted in such GAS that 2kg of enos couldn't cure... so I bought a tube amp)...

There is definitely an aspect of a journey... but also no sense in buying a cash crusaders six wire that is better used (often) to cut cheese... hehe