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  • Buying some new gear, advice?

Hi guys, I need some gear and I need some advice on where to get it the cheapest. I'm from Potch, so I will be driving to Gauteng to pick these up, what are the best stores to visit for which gear?

What I need at this stage is:
  • A small practice amp. All valve. (Thinking along the lines of a Laney Cub 12 that is switchable to <1W)
  • Some instrument cables (What make?)
  • A tuner (The Korg Pitchblack looks nice)
  • A guitar stand
  • A decent strap for my Strat
  • *Optional if I have cash left over - Something to record to my Mac
Im not bound to my opinion, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

Secondhand would be first prize for things like the amp, but it doesn't seem like people are selling their small valve amps. I'm not really into the hardcore metal thing, I mostly play around with blues, classic rock and sometimes jazz, no super high gain stuff.

And then a final question, is the R1500 price difference between the cub 12 (R3200 new) and the cub 12r (R4700 new) worth it? Should I look for a decent reverb pedal later on? At this stage my focus is mainly on improving my technique, not having all the coolest effects.

My budget is around the R5k mark, but if I need to I can spend some more to get something of good quality.

So, shoot with your suggestions...

Thanks
    Joe Moore wrote: Head straight for Toms Braamfontein. 8)

    You'll be able to pick up an Ibanez Tubescreamer amp ( for example ) and all the other stuff there well within your budget. Pity you missed their sale this past weekend .
    Twist their arm , tell them you're from outta town and couldn't make the sale :-[

    Edit : they had boxes of Snark tuner pedals for cheep too !
    I wanted to go real bad, but had some other obligations... It sucks not being close to all the major stores. Maybe I should be more patient and wait for a good second hand deal, then I can buy a spalted maple Tokai(I'm in love) in a few months... That is actually what I'm saving up for. Maybe TOMS has some leftover sale stock... Well, no harm in finding out...
      OK, I'll take the trenchant approach.

      Are you looking for a practice amp, or a small stage amp that can also be used for practicing? The Laney 12 is really the latter. It's a high-gain 15W tube amp with a 1W input (that sounds very different, so you can't just translate your bedroom sound to stage). If you want a valve practice amp, I'd go for something in the 5W range. If you want a stage amp, get the one that's right for you and slap a pedal in front of it if you want drive at low volumes. Incidentally, for the sort of music you're playing, you mind the Laney to have too high gain; think of alternatives such as the 15W Fenders (I love the Pro Jnr for your sort if music)... The reverb of the "all tube' 12R is digital so you may as well use a pedal, especially one with controls such as Dwell. If you like the Laney, I'd go for the base model (which is generally the best way to use cheap kit, in my experience!).

      However, your music taste and desire for an all-valve amp suggests that the Laney may not be for you, to be honest. If you want warm sounds then owning a high-gain amp, however civilized, is not a happy experience.

      Why do you need a floor tuner in your signal chain? If you're gigging then they can be handy, but more and more guitarists are using the sort that clip on the headstock and don't get in the chain. If you're not gigging then use an app on your smartphone (or buy a cheap standalone) and put the bucks into getting a better amp!

      If your focus really is on your technique, don't get lots of toys to fiddle with—get a small amp that sounds good with as few knobs as possible (the Fender Champion 600 has one), get a basic audio interface for connecting to your Mac and GarageBand (yes, it's free, but it's a great starting-point), and save the rest of your money for when you know what your technique will be used for.

      Cables? Cheap ones are awful, expensive ones are overpriced and they all break sooner or later. Buy the shortest you can get away with (signal attenuation) and accept that they'll need fixing or replacing sooner or later...

      Guitar stand? I personally hate the ones made up of lots of parts, because I end up leaving part of the stand (always the same part, natch) at a gig...

      Oh, and buy gear with your ears (or, for a strap, your shoulders...), not from reviews. There's some wonderful gear out there that I, personally, detest, and some stuff that most people would put in the "total POS" category that just works for me.

      Yes, it's more nuanced than this, but you didn't need another 3000 words... ?
        Mike wrote: OK, I'll take the trenchant approach.

        Are you looking for a practice amp, or a small stage amp that can also be used for practicing? The Laney 12 is really the latter. It's a high-gain 15W tube amp with a 1W input (that sounds very different, so you can't just translate your bedroom sound to stage). If you want a valve practice amp, I'd go for something in the 5W range. If you want a stage amp, get the one that's right for you and slap a pedal in front of it if you want drive at low volumes. Incidentally, for the sort of music you're playing, you mind the Laney to have too high gain; think of alternatives such as the 15W Fenders (I love the Pro Jnr for your sort if music)... The reverb of the "all tube' 12R is digital so you may as well use a pedal, especially one with controls such as Dwell. If you like the Laney, I'd go for the base model (which is generally the best way to use cheap kit, in my experience!).

        However, your music taste and desire for an all-valve amp suggests that the Laney may not be for you, to be honest. If you want warm sounds then owning a high-gain amp, however civilized, is not a happy experience.

        Why do you need a floor tuner in your signal chain? If you're gigging then they can be handy, but more and more guitarists are using the sort that clip on the headstock and don't get in the chain. If you're not gigging then use an app on your smartphone (or buy a cheap standalone) and put the bucks into getting a better amp!

        If your focus really is on your technique, don't get lots of toys to fiddle with—get a small amp that sounds good with as few knobs as possible (the Fender Champion 600 has one), get a basic audio interface for connecting to your Mac and GarageBand (yes, it's free, but it's a great starting-point), and save the rest of your money for when you know what your technique will be used for.

        Cables? Cheap ones are awful, expensive ones are overpriced and they all break sooner or later. Buy the shortest you can get away with (signal attenuation) and accept that they'll need fixing or replacing sooner or later...

        Guitar stand? I personally hate the ones made up of lots of parts, because I end up leaving part of the stand (always the same part, natch) at a gig...

        Oh, and buy gear with your ears (or, for a strap, your shoulders...), not from reviews. There's some wonderful gear out there that I, personally, detest, and some stuff that most people would put in the "total POS" category that just works for me.

        Yes, it's more nuanced than this, but you didn't need another 3000 words... ?
        Thanks for all the advice, its really appreciated. I think I should take a day and visit all the music stores I can in gauteng and try out as much stuff as possible.

        After I feel that I made suitable progress with my technique, and after I built up a strong back and shoulder(heavy Tokai LP) I plan on gigging. So I want to start getting gear together for that day, probably in about a years time(Only have about 1 -2 hours a day for practice if things go well).

        But, the important thing I want now is something that can sound nice at low volume(Although I have access to a warehouse where volume doesn't matter ?). I usually get up at 3-4 in the mornings in order to have time for practising piano and guitar.

        I'm already awake for 19 hours, with 4 hours of sleep, excuse my rambling... :dance:
          Tired rambling is always forgivable... ?

          I hope this doesn't sound rude, but you don't know what kit you'll need for gigging until you know what the gig is. As a non-working musician your two greatest assets are time and cash. Don't squander the latter in things that might be useful in the future, because there's a huge chance they won't be. Marshall your cash and use your time wisely. Honestly.

          The world is full of guitarists with lots of debt who've never played a gig, but have two full stacks in their bedrooms because they figured a stereo rig would be essential to them getting the gig. It isn't (and never has been—well, if you're over 17, anyway: I got lots of gigs as a teenager just because I owned an amp...). But as an adult, if you can play, you'll get the gig, and the rest will sort itself out one way or the other.

          Focus on the "now". Honest.
            Some great advice by Mike there....Thanked!

              High gain? Seriously? Not in my experience. I've heard people do full on Stevie-Ray grit with just a cub for drive. It certainly didn't sound like no Iron Maiden. And who cares if the tone in the bedroom is identical? The 1W mode allows you to play the thing and get an approximate sound without having to have two amps. My amp doesn't sound as good when I've powered it down to like, .5W (as opposed to about 8W when playing live - at a full 18W it was too loud to play a dance hall unmiked) to play in the living room but it sure sounds better than a clean amp with a pedal.

              Yes he could get a Fender, at much higher cost. If he's got the money then fine. Otherwise I'd skip the tubescreamer (which is a very clean amp with a tubescreamer pedal built in), and consider the Orange tiny terror or the Vox Nighttrain. There are a lot of great little Fenders, but you pay for them.

              Yes, the 'verb on 12R is dodgy. Not many amps have a spring tank in that price range.
                singemonkey wrote: High gain? Seriously? Not in my experience. I've heard people do full on Stevie-Ray grit with just a cub for drive. It certainly didn't sound like no Iron Maiden.
                +1
                I've heard one used for blues and classic rock stuff. Sounded good...
                  Instead of a 1w approximate sound I would just get a decent modeler to be honest. I'd rather have a lot of tones close to the real deal and have the luxury of using headphones for silent practicing than have only one tone which doesn't quite nail it either.
                    Thanks for all the advice guys, will rember it when Im famous and performing with [insert your favorite guitarist here] :roflmao:.

                    I will keep you updated. Played a tubescreamer, very clean amp, not bad but I couldnt dial in the tone I want at reasonable volume(started stressing that 1W will be too much). No place I spoke to had any cub 12 in stock.

                    Hopefully i get sorted soon, wasting time I could spend practising, looking for gear.

                      Trubore wrote: Thanks for all the advice guys, will rember it when Im famous and performing with [insert your favorite guitarist here] :roflmao:.

                      I will keep you updated. Played a tubescreamer, very clean amp, not bad but I couldnt dial in the tone I want at reasonable volume(started stressing that 1W will be too much). No place I spoke to had any cub 12 in stock.

                      Hopefully i get sorted soon, wasting time I could spend practising, looking for gear.


                      Yeah I'm not surprised you don't get a good sound with just a tubescreamer into a clean amp. It does that one thing and there's little you can do to change that and if you don't like it... It really was always meant to push a driven amp a bit more and it is great for that.

                      Be patient and get something good, once. This way you won't need to always look around for something better.

                        If you are willing to look at solidstate amps, the ZT range might just be up your street. Our famous Keira Witherkay is on her second (I think, upgrade) ZT and she does Jazz, Blues, Acoustic and just about everything on this tiny Lunchbox with a 12" and 200-300 screamers to its throat... Easy to lug anywhere; you can find one in Jozie at a reasonable price. I'd talk to her if it was me buying. I include their web URL for your convenience: http://www.ztamplifiers.com/products/

                        I use Fender Tweed cables 18.6' (5.5m) - very reliable, strong and possibly thicker/diameter quality than most at the price.
                        Also Planet Waves, Shielded End with gold plating are great. Both makes don't kill the pocket and are guarranteed to give you long life, which is what you want.

                        Korg tuners are chromatic and allows higher and lower pitching than say, Seiko.

                        Hope this is of some interest to you.

                        Long May You Run!

                        Liam Lionheart.
                          singemonkey wrote: High gain? Seriously? Not in my experience.
                          It's much higher gain than a classic Fender, say, which is what many people would regard as mainstream for "blues, classic rock and [especially] some jazz". If you've heard SRV tones with no pedals, then it's pretty high-gain, since SRV generally had a Tube Screamer [ancient pedal! not current amp] in the chain. No, it's not metal-head high-gain, but it's a way up the gain scale from old-school tube sounds...

                          (And there's also an auto-correct issue. What I though I typed was "Incidentally, for the sort of music you're playing, you might find the Laney to have too high gain", so I wasn't really trying to say it was a seriously high gain amp, but just one that might be higher gain than required.)

                          And I wasn't suggesting a Fender amp as a price-for-price equivalent, but as a better (but more expensive) option for those kind of classic tones. And then I was merely using another one as an example of extreme simplicity. A second-hand Champion 600 should be in the R1500-2000 area, although that's possibly still overpriced for what it delivers...

                          As far as budget modeling is concerned, a second-hand Sans Amp GT3 can produce an excellent range of classic sounds with a more analogue response than many of the cheaper digital modelers and should cost R1000 or less. You still need an amp, but you gan get the cheapest imaginable solid-state thing. And you can gig with the Sans Amp—just DI it. I've had one in my gig bag for years as cover for a catastrophic amp failure; only had to use it twice, but it did the job just fine.
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