***The Official Guitar Thread***

Figure some of you may be able to advise on this one,

I want to play my electric plugged in so I can practice properly.

I live in a studio though so Amp's really aren't an option.

I already have a fag packet amp and its no good really either.

I was thinking what options there would be for playing electric through headphones.

As I understand plugging headphones into an amp itself generally isn't very advisable.

Are there other options.

I'd like to play around with effects as well if that can be done.

I suppose the ideal would be that I could built an effects board up which would be good to go when I do move to a bigger place and can plug in properly but would also work with some kind of headphone system now.

Although I gather that might be pretty expensive and right now i'm pretty skint.

I have also heard about stuff like iRig but I have an android phone and i'm also not sure if that will do what I want.
 
There are 100s of multi effect boards out there that will do what you want but we need to know your price range.
Some amps are very capable of driving headphones like my Blackstar ID.
In fact on stage I go out of the headphone output into a 3000 watt PA and it sounds awesome.
A self made effects board is not really a good solution unless you have some kind of amp pedal to drive the headphones.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Pedalboards are fun, satisfying to put together, but god damn expensive.

Even the cheapest delay will cost you £50, they can go up to £600-700. Patch cables also cost money, and Power supply to power them. It can quickly get out of hand.
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It's weird sometimes.
My lead guitarist has always lived in the past: Strat > Pedal Board > Valve amps and he has one of the best guitar sounds in Stoke however he's never been happy with his pedals especially his delays.
He has bought many £1000s of pedals over the years but because of illness he has been ordered by Clinicians not to carry heavy equipment.
After 35 years of 'proper' gear he gave in and bought a Blackstar ID:60 which he can pickup with two fingers but the bonus is all the effects are exactly what he's been looking for all these years : Clean delays, clean chorus,clean reverb etc.
His sound is even awsomer-er recurring.
 
I'm pretty close to getting my first electric guitar. I have a budget of around £350 for the guitar, and I want a Tele, which leaves me with the Squier Classic Vibe as the main choice (I'd love to be able to find a second hand American standard, but the going rate seems to be at least £400).

Anyway, I was thinking of getting one of those Vox Amplugs to get me started, but would a proper amp be a better option? Being able to play through headphones is mandatory, and the budget would probably be around £75-100. The Amplug is only around £30, which is a huge plus.
 
SexyGreyFox said:
It's weird sometimes.
My lead guitarist has always lived in the past: Strat > Pedal Board > Valve amps and he has one of the best guitar sounds in Stoke however he's never been happy with his pedals especially his delays.
He has bought many £1000s of pedals over the years but because of illness he has been ordered by Clinicians not to carry heavy equipment.
After 35 years of 'proper' gear he gave in and bought a Blackstar ID:60 which he can pickup with two fingers but the bonus is all the effects are exactly what he's been looking for all these years : Clean delays, clean chorus,clean reverb etc.
His sound is even awsomer-er recurring.
Click to expand...

As they say, tone is in the fingers.


The elephant in the room is that the fact is the 99% of the audience can't tell what kind of pedals you are using, analogue, digital, rack, boutique or Boss. In a band context especially it just gets lost in the mix. Getting a new pedal more often or not is a self indulgence.

That said, I am guilty as charged as GAS has got me more than once, or 4 times rather, I have 5 delay pedals....but I've promised I'd stop now and not bought anymore pedals for 4 months and counting ! Need to concentrate on the playing than gear.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
As they say, tone is in the fingers.
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Absolutely but you can't make a clean delay with your fingers (unless you're Les Paul).
My lead guitarist is one of those annoying people who can plug the most cheapish guitar into the most cheapish amp and still make it sound good.

Raymond Lin said:
The elephant in the room is that the fact is the 99% of the audience can't tell what kind of pedals you are using, analogue, digital, rack, boutique or Boss. In a band context especially it just gets lost in the mix. Getting a new pedal more often or not is a self indulgence.
Click to expand...

As you know I've been gigging for 45 years and I'm well aware that 99% of the audience don't know what they're listening to or if you played all the wrong chords however the guitarist knows what he wants to hear coming out.
I'm exactly the same and now on stage with a 3rd band I'm playing guitar with GK3 pickup > Roland GR55 guitar synth > full range Mackie SRM450 PA speaker - it is a sound to die for.
 
Smeghead said:
I'm pretty close to getting my first electric guitar. I have a budget of around £350 for the guitar, and I want a Tele, which leaves me with the Squier Classic Vibe as the main choice (I'd love to be able to find a second hand American standard, but the going rate seems to be at least £400).

Anyway, I was thinking of getting one of those Vox Amplugs to get me started, but would a proper amp be a better option? Being able to play through headphones is mandatory, and the budget would probably be around £75-100. The Amplug is only around £30, which is a huge plus.
Click to expand...

Get a used Baja Tele.

SexyGreyFox said:
Absolutely but you can't make a clean delay with your fingers (unless you're Les Paul).
My lead guitarist is one of those annoying people who can plug the most cheapish guitar into the most cheapish amp and still make it sound good.



As you know I've been gigging for 45 years and I'm well aware that 99% of the audience don't know what they're listening to or if you played all the wrong chords however the guitarist knows what he wants to hear coming out.
I'm exactly the same and now on stage with a 3rd band I'm playing guitar with GK3 pickup > Roland GR55 guitar synth > full range Mackie SRM450 PA speaker - it is a sound to die for.
Click to expand...

Re Delay, it's why I bought a Timeline, knowing now I can do all of the delay I ever wanted and put a stop to the madness as the board was getting silly, Kevin Shields silly.
 
I accidentally ordered 11s for my Mustang and fitted them this weekend. Until now I thought the line "played it 'til my fingers bleed" was just a turn of phrase.

Should I persevere? Other than the blood they are nice and shiny.
 
Lopéz said:
I accidentally ordered 11s for my Mustang and fitted them this weekend. Until now I thought the line "played it 'til my fingers bleed" was just a turn of phrase.

Should I persevere? Other than the blood they are nice and shiny.
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If you play regularly, persevere. It'll strengthen your fingers and bend technique. But if you only play occasionally it'll probably feel like playing cheese wire until you get used to them.

That said, 11s aren't that heavy really, I have 12s on my acoustic and find they are still quite easy to bend. But it does depend what sort of style you want to play.
 
Historically I've only ever played sporadically, hence I'm still not very good. However I'm going through a bout of enthusiasm and am now practicing daily. I've never played anything more than 9s before so these were a bit of a surprise at first.
I think I'll plough on for now, my ring finger which was cut is already healed and feeling more calloused.
 
Lopéz said:
Historically I've only ever played sporadically, hence I'm still not very good. However I'm going through a bout of enthusiasm and am now practicing daily. I've never played anything more than 9s before so these were a bit of a surprise at first.
I think I'll plough on for now, my ring finger which was cut is already healed and feeling more calloused.
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Try and play regularly if you can, it helps maintain tough fingers which makes playing a lot more pleasurable. Doesn't have to be daily, but at least every few days. I know if I leave it for more than a week my fingertips soon go soft again and it's back to the pain.
 
Well as this is a stupidly quiet thread (which I find kinda shocking) I thought I would bump it up to say that I got a Mini Dunlop Crybaby and OMG it's so awesome. Once you get used to the size difference it's really no hassle and it bypasses and it fits onto a pedalboard!
 
Xordium said:
Well as this is a stupidly quiet thread (which I find kinda shocking) I thought I would bump it up to say that I got a Mini Dunlop Crybaby and OMG it's so awesome. Once you get used to the size difference it's really no hassle and it bypasses and it fits onto a pedalboard!
Click to expand...

I really wish my lead guitarist would get one because he uses an Auto Wah and it's never set right eg the opening to Enter Sandman.
 
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