Hey guys,
Just another newbie looking to get started on this wonderful journey.
I have two questions though, and was wondering if anyone would be kind enough to give me some advice and suggestions.
AMP:
While blues is the primary sound I'm after and definitely the highest in terms of priority, however, being a beginner who has yet to played around with the various tones or discovered his own tone, I'm thinking of finding an amp with some solid good blues tone but one that is versatile and well rounded enough that'll allow me to play music in other genres as well (pretty much anything other than metal). The particular tones i like are: Mateus Asato's, David Gilmour's, Gary Moor's, John Mayer's, SRV's, (clean tone, blues, jazz, classic rock, blues-rock, etc).
How's the Boss katana 100?
I found these youtube videos of someoen using it and I'm quite impressed to be honest:
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Would the Boss katana 100 be a good one to consider? What are some other ones I should perhaps look into or consider? THR10? I've heard a lot of praises on this amp as well, but the volume on it is quite low right as its main purpose is as a quiet practice amp? Can it even play loud enough for me to enjoy and get that full immersion while playing? (I wont be performing live or anything, so the amp will be mainly for home use, but at the same time, I would love for it to be loud enough so I can get that full guitar experience while playing and listening.) And while THR10 does sound pretty good from its direct recording through the USB, i wonder if the actual playing experience will be dramatically less enjoyable than an amp with perhaps a bit more volume?
Anyways, let me know if you have any other suggestions!
Guitar:
Ibanez RG220b (1998)
Got this guitar for free from someone (will be taking it to a guitar shop to make sure everything works and get it re-stringed and setup correctly). This is primarily a metal guitar right? Does anyone by any chance have some experience with it or know if it's capable of at least producing somewhat of an enjoyable blues sound?
Since it's a free guitar, I figured I would use it to learn enough until I am ready for something a little better, but at the same time, I'm somewhat afraid that it's just going to sound like crap and affect my motivations to play - hopefully not.
Here are its specs:
It does have a floyd rose tremolo bridge, these are a pain when it comes to changing strings right?
If anyone have any other recommendations or tips, I'm all ears! Good strings to use, picks, or learning materials (books, youtube) that you would recommend?
Sorry for the lengthy post and thanks in advance!
Comments
You will find in time it’s more the player than the guitar that makes the difference.
But you have great options there, vastly better than what I learned on to start, rest assured your gear is good.
Never owned an Ibanez but regularly used a borrowed one some years ago. My memory is that it was nicely built and had a very fast neck. Maybe a bit too 'metal' for my tastes but nonetheless a good instrument that should serve you well until you find something more 'bluesy'.
I tried a few modelling products around the time the original Line6 Pod came out (early 2000s maybe?) and a few amps with built in fx and was fairly underwhelmed. After that I purely used valve based tanks until I bought my Katana. I can only imagine the quality of high end modelling now when a reasonably inexpensive amp like the Katana sounds like this good.
Watch this youtube video from Dave Simpson if you want to know what tones you can get from the Katana 50 itself, without even using the tone lab app
In the video he suggests amp settings for various tones including Gary Moore, SRV & Peter Green which might interest you.
“Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay
BUT...
Taking up any instrument can be a bit of a slog at the beginning. Working through newbie frustration will be easier if you’re emotionally attached to thing you’re playing. So if the one you have only feels like a generic tool to you, consider getting one you want to just gaze at whenever you’re not able to be playing it.
Its all about the love and nothing much to do with the gear