I Really Want to Make My Electric Guitar Sound Like a Real Lead Guitar and Not Plucky!?
A tough lead guitar question this week. Let’s dive straight in
My amplifier is really clear, too clear, it has treble and bass knobs, volume, and echo knob. I’m leaning towards getting a used distortion pedal.
Thank you all so far, I will get a distortion pedal then. But my sister doesn’t want me on her thing anymore because it fell over once. -.- But that’s fine, I’m getting a job soon and I can go find a decent guitar, red if possible, and buy necessary stuff for it. I’d like reccommendation for an amp under forty bucks, a pedal under thirty, and a (red) guitar under 150 bucks. I have an electric bass I never learned much, maybe I could talk out selling it or something…
Also, I don’t wish to spend boatloads of cash on this. The Internet is my teacher, I can learn by ear better than by note. I learned the jist of Rush’s Tom Sawyer’s solo in a day, just need to speed it up. I learn the song but they sound so bad on my guitar I feel so dissapointed trying to play the solo along with the song because it sounds so unprofessional. So cheap but good is a main term.
Most beginners under estimate the importance of the amp and speakers in how they sound. A great guitar played through a lousy amp or lousy speakers will sound lousy. A mediocre guitar played through a good amp and good speakers will sound decent. You could take my Fender Strat and play it through your amp and it will sound no better than your guitar does. You could take your guitar and play it through my vintage Marshall Lead and it will sound amazingly different. I am not a fan of the small practice amps. The speakers in those always make you sound thin and tinny. I suggest you want for a used 1×12 combo amp when you can afford to upgrade your gear. A combo amp is where the speaker and amplifier is in the same cabinet. 1×12 means it has one 12 inch speaker. I have never heard a lousy speaker in a 1×12 by Fender, Vox, Crate, Peavey, Marshall or Line 6. When ever you can, pick up a better amp and speakers.
Now, what can you do in the mean time? Yes, get a distortion pedal. Boss DS-1 is a good basic distortion pedal that is not too expensive. Danelectro also makes some decent sounding pedals that are not expensive. Take a look at the used pedals on ebay. You may be able to pick up something cheap there. I always watch it for bargains.
Also, if your amp has a line out jack, you can improve your sound by getting an external speaker cab and running the signal through there. External speaker cabs can be pricey. Just not enough used ones on the market to drive the prices down. You want something that will hold a single 12 inch speaker. You might watch yard sales, flea markets and the like for an empty car speaker box that hold one 12 inch speaker. Then get a 30 watt Celection speaker. Sometimes the Rocket 50 is on sale cheaper than the 30s. Running your amp through a better speaker will give you a fuller sound. Do get a distortion pedal first.
Later,
Sounds like you have a really crappy amp, man.
Are you sure it doesn’t have multiple channels? You may have it set to the clean channel, which would definitely be the problem. Or you need to actually turn the Drive dial. It might be set on 2 or something.
If not, you’ll need to get a multieffects processor or a better amp. I suggest a Digitech RP255 or Line 6 POD 2.0. Although, those are a lot more than $25.
@the idiot below: I never said it did have multiple channels, I said it might, and he should be aware of that. And yes, a clean-only amp is completely useless for his/her purposes, so therefore it’s crappy.
And while you can just get a distortion pedal, it would still cost more than $25 for anything that isn’t a piece of junk.
Also, it’s ADeadHeaD. ;D
That’s cute.
Just get a distortion pedal.. Adeadhorse has clearly been driven insane by all the technology in this world and forgot how simple some things are. You don’t need a multi effects processing unit at all.
And not all amps come with drive or dirty channels. This guy really needs to research a little more before he gives out terrible advice! Calling a clean only amp a piece of crap, *sigh* some people are so sad and stupid.
Head, there are plenty of used pedals that are in fine condition for under $25. Google is your friend!
and you can in fact play lead with a clean amp! Just because he hasn’t figured that out doesn’t make it crap, one day he’ll learn and be like "oh I can still sound awesome without a million effects masking my terrible playing, Hmm!"
If your amp only has clean settings, just pick up a Boss DS-1 Distortion pedal. They’re about $35 new but you can find them used for around $15-20. It’s a great entry-level pedal that’s in your price range. It’ll give you the effect you’re looking for and it’s about as simple to operate as anything you’ll ever use; there’s no need to shell out hundreds of dollars on an elaborate effects processor which might be too complicated for a beginner to figure out. Plus it’s made by Boss, so it’s high-quality and virtually indestructible.
Here’s an example of how it sounds…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKFuwErM2ZA&feature=related
I would never, ever strongly recommend a guitar and amp for under $200 collectively. But you could get a Squier guitar and look for a used Line 6 Spider III, which should be in your price range since Line 6 is up the IV series now.
And I would discourage you from choosing a guitar based off its looks (since you keep bringing up that is has to be red). That should be the last thing on your mind when choosing an instrument.
Well First Act doesn’t make real guitars. They make guitar shaped objects.
Well let me throw my opinion in here. First, If Jimmy Page played on your amp, he’d still sound like Jimmy Page. Equiptment does NOT AT ALL make you a better guitarist.
BUT. Your TONE does change, depending on the equiptment you have. First, I say get a new amp. THEN get a distortion pedal, to match your style. And THEN get yourself a new guitar.
Make sure you get things that you want, more than what’s cheap. I learned this the hard way. You may get the cheapest thing you can find, and then hate it.
And that leads me to my last point. There’s basically a rule about buying anything to do with guitars, no matter what anyone else tells you. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. If you buy a cheap amp, it’s going to sound like a cheap amp. Same goes for guitars/pedals/everything.
The best thing for you to do, is save up your money, go to a pawn shop, and getyourself a nice used amp for around 200-300 dollars. TRUST ME it’s more than worth it, if you want your tone to sound good. And most amps will have a GAIN/DRIVE channel built into them, be sure to look for that.
But there you go, Do that! If you have any questions, you can email me @ or3o8@yahoo.com
I’ll be glad to help you out.