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I've picked my Les Paul, now I have no money for an amp but...


wannabe~RokZtar

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I've picked my Les Paul, now I have no money for an amp. I can use my daughters Roland KC500 keyboard amp. Honestly I probably wouldn't know the difference (unlike all the skilled musicians on this forum). I was thinking I'd buy an efffect or effect pedal to get those crunchy tones. I'm looking for that "Boston Lead guitar" sound or just some good ole fashion Rock'in Roll distortion. Anybody have any ideas on good effects? Thanks in advance for the input!!!

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If your are playing at home, you can use almost anything with your guitar as long as it doesnt give you a distoted sound... you can sure use a keyboard amp as they are designed to handle most frecuencies, it is kind of a dumb example but the guy that records the keyboards for my band usualy plays guitar in his keyboard (the emulated guitar sounds that are more real with every update of the midi library) and it sounds just fine comming from his kb amp. For a pedal, yo can buy an electro harmonix or a boss, they arent expensive and have quite a variety of models and effects. I would recommend the big muff (nano version sound ok and is cheap) from EH and the super overdrive (sd1) and distortion (ds1) from boss (maybe the bkues driver also, they all are very cheap but good quality pedals).

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We had a discussion about getting that Boston tone. Buy a lot of used Rockman equipment. For an amp, you can get a nice little tube practice amp for about $150. The Epiphone Valve Jr. I have one for around the house and it is a great little tube amp. I have the plain one with no effects and when you overdrive the tubes it breaks up nicely giving good crunch. You can also get them with some basic built in effects. just something to keep an eye on.

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I have been using a Korg PD4X (Pandora's Box). This thing is really great, you can achieve damn near any sound you can think of. I bring this thing with me when I go to class and plug it in-line with the piece of junk amp the school has and it really makes the difference. It is about the size a transistor radio (or the original Walkman but now I'm dating myself). The best thing about the PD4X is that you can output to headphones with a 1/4" adapter (about $2). You can achieve a whole lot of effects without having to sink big bucks into amps and pedals.

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If you have some money, buy a Roland Cube! Gr8 amp!

 

T-rex engineering have VERY good overdirve pedals, and, if you are into Ac/Dc, Queen, Deep Purple and that stuff, the Marshall Jackhammer could be recommended.

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I'd advise against running your guitar into a home stereo system (incl. boom boxes). It's the speakers.

 

Normal stereo speakers are designed to handle clean signals with relatively limited dynamic range (CD's, MP3 files). Your guitar will generate signals with extreme dynamic range (think big signal spikes). Sooner or later your stereo speakers will go 'poof.' Even cheap guitar speakers are designed to take hot guitar signals.

 

 

Another idea would be to try a 'headphone amp.' (you'd save the family while you're at it!) Here's an example from evil-bay. (it's VOX branded, but I wouldn't expect that Brian May sound for $40!).

 

http://cgi.ebay.ca/NEW-IN-PACKAGE-Vox-Amplug-AC30-Personal-Headphone-Amp_W0QQitemZ160217647750QQihZ006QQcategoryZ38075QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

 

I use a little box from Tascam they call the 'guitar trainer' when I'm travelling that serves the same function, but much more. It's essentially a small computer, an MP3 player, and headphone amp in one. And it includes effects ...again, we're not talking boutique pedal quality here, but you can dial in some interesting tone:

 

http://cgi.ebay.ca/TASCAM-MP-GT1-Guitar-Trainer-NEW_W0QQitemZ300204119932QQihZ020QQcategoryZ41780QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

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