What would you do with Guitar Guitar vouchers

AndylikesNOFX

I’ve recently been gifted a few hundred quid of Guitar Guitar vouchers by some folks who don’t play instruments. I play guitar but I don’t need any more guitars, amps or pedals so I thought I might get a bass to accompany myself although I can’t think I’ve ever held one. A few hundred quid won’t buy much bass and amp (especially at Guitar Guitar - they seem very expensive)  though so I was thinking an acoustic bass with a piezo pickup and then get an amp if I take to it. 

If the vouchers would run to it I’d have a Hofner ignition bass and a 15w amp but that combo is way more than the vouchers run to and I can’t see a 50% sale any time soon. 

Is there anything else you think I could do?

Winny_Pooh

How much? Buy a bass at GG and a used practice amp elsewhere.

Also. C'mon, there's always space for nicer pedals. High end mods, delays, reverbs are usually better than budgets models.

AndylikesNOFX

I play a lot of punk in its broadest sense from REM to SLF using  a Les Paul and a Tele Thinline - bit of the push or crunch on the Katana and I’m good. 

As the vouchers were an unexpected gift I am trying to spend them but nothing more. I’ve looked at the cheap bass amps but having had a really really cheap guitar amp in the past I’m reluctant. I quite like the look of the Vox 10 or fender rumble 15 (based on knowing nothing about bass guitars whatsoever). If I got the vox or fender my guitar budget would be £150 which is the cheapest precision bass copy but I don’t know if that is any use at all. My first guitar was the cheapest squire strat they did in 1992 which I learnt to hate. Put my playing back 20 years. 

Rowby1

Strings? Keep you stocked up with strings for a good while. 

Jonathangus

A quick trawl of GG's pre-owned section finds an Ibanez Talman short-scale for £169 - which might work if you're a guitarist new to bass.

fretmeister

Spend it all on a bass and then use a dirt cheap modeller for now. Or a free plugin for your PC.

Funkfingers

It seems to me that you are only contemplating buying a bass guitar because you happen to have vouchers. There is no pressing need to own a bass. 

"A couple of hundred quid" ought to buy a professional quality flight case for one of your guitars. As already suggested, any balance left over could go on strings.

crunchman

Jonathangus said:

A quick trawl of GG's pre-owned section finds an Ibanez Talman short-scale for £169 - which might work if you're a guitarist new to bass.

I picked up one of those a while back.  My daughter is using it now.  It's quite a good bass.

theatreanchor

Wait until something you want comes up?

Dave_Mc

theatreanchor said:

Wait until something you want comes up?

I'm not sure that's a good idea- if a retailer goes down and you're still holding vouchers, you're in a very bad position! You usually want to spend vouchers as quickly as possible. Within reason obviously- you don't need to be queuing outside the door for hours before it opens the next day, lol, and you don't need to panic and immediately buy something you really don't even want*... but you do want to have an eye on getting rid of the vouchers in the near future. Just in case.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying GG is in difficulties or anything like that, I don't have any industry contacts or anything like that, this is just good practice which applies to any gift voucher for any retailer for any type of goods, basically.



*Although having something you don't want which you can sell for at least some money is preferable to holding worthless gift vouchers if a retailer goes bust...

LionAquaLooper

Spend it now before Guitar Guitar go down like PMT. 

Bork

Buy the best bass you can afford.  Use whatever is left over on strings.  Forget about an amp for now, if you have enough guitar kit you can probably save up for a second hand amp.

Whitecat

You could always try to sell them for 80% of their value? If someone has their eye on something and wants to act now, and you can't/don't want to, could mean a good savings for them, cash in your pocket, and it uses them up so no threat of losing out.

stickyfiddle

Buy a p bass. 

Use a modeller - THR/Katana (because everyone should have one of these), or iPhone app/garageband, or straight to PC with amplitude or whatever. Or any small Fender rumble amp if you really want a “real” amp

or sell them to someone here to spend it all on delay pedals 

GoFish

I would use the cash to buy a POG2 or a discounted HX Stomp and use the features to simulate bass and a looper. Leave Bass playing to the bass players, it's a whole new job that's not worth it unless you're into it.

I'd avoid the Vox bass 10 or whatever it's called (Pathfinder Bsss?) - it's great for bass practice only but not for learning. It's one of those fun things - if you can sound good on that, you'll be able to sound good on anything. The Rumble is meant to be decent.

That or stock up on strings and peripherals. Or keep scanning the Sale and Second Hand sections hoping for inspiration.

REM, NOFX and SLF? Sounds like a blast

thermionic

Winny_Pooh said:

How much? Buy a bass at GG and a used practice amp elsewhere.

This. There are usually a few Fender Rumbles (or something similar from Ampeg or Orange) for £60 or so on Facebook Marketplace or Gumtree.

Jeremiah

You say you want a bass to "accompany yourself" - presumably you mean on recordings as I'm assuming you won't be playing guitar and bass at the same time.

In which case you don't need an amp - just plug directly into your audio interface or whatever you're using to record guitar and use a plugin if you feel you need one. (Though with bass you often don't - it sounds fine going direct with some EQ.)

OilCityPickups

I have a real thig against bass practise amps ... they usually sound absolutely shite even in the comfort of your own home. It's more difficult to make a bass amp sound good in a small/cheap package and if you end up buying a bass new, then either don't buy an amp if you are going to play into an interface - or buy a good second hand bass rig. Old100w plus gigging bass combos or heads and speakers can be had for very little money and even run at bedroom volumes will sound WAY better than some silly arsed practise amp with a tinny little speaker and no headroom.  

LordOxygen

Sell the vouchers for 10% less than face value and spend the money on something you do want. 

Funkfingers

OilCityPickups said:

Old 100w plus gigging bass combos or heads and speakers can be had for very little money and even run at bedroom volumes will sound WAY better than some silly arsed practise amp with a tinny little speaker and no headroom.  

ICBM usually suggests Peavey. TNT 150/160. 

In 2023, I obtained a scruffy Trace-Elliot GP7 2x10 combo for under a ton. (Wot? No built-in compressor?) 

LukeFRC

agree, just get the bass, don't worry about the amp. 

but you would be better off just spending it on pedals or something.