Sweetwater is one of my favorite purveyors of musical gear.
Rock on, bro!
Rock on, bro!
Metalheads! Confess & Brag
- Thread starter Dannyalcatraz
- Start date
Leif
Adventurer
Indeed, that's the plan. I have been briefly tempted by ads from Zzzounds recently, but whenever I compare one of their deals to Sweetwater's price for the same gear, they fail to exceed Sweetwater's value. And I already know and trust Sweetwater and they have given me my very own sales consultant who gave me invaluable assistance with a recent purchase. I just told him I needed a mic, and I'd prefer if there was a way to plug it into a spare guitar amp. Two or three days later, I had my Shure mic and a quarter-inch adapter plug.
Don't be afraid to buy quality used gear, either- often, it is the best deal around.
Leif
Adventurer
Of course, the downside to this deal is that now, with my shiny new Les Paul, my 40W Peavey amp, my Shure mic, and a 15W Marshall to power the mic, I am fresh out of excuses as to why I'm not gigging at local clubs. All I really need now is to get some good practice time in the ol' woodshed, and work up a 40-50 minute set, and throw my butt out there on a stage. I don't want to have to depend on other people, so I'm thinking about concentrating on songs that I can pull-off without a band. That makes me want to concentrate on doing electrified blues. Most rock songs require at least a bass, but Black Sabbath songs have the bass almost playing in unison with Iommi's rhythm riff, so that's a possibility, too. Black Sabbath's music is only about an inch-and-a-half away from Blues, anyway. Singing Ozzy's lyrics is going to be a problem, however. I have a bass/baritone voice, so I won't be screeching out N.I.B. or Iron Man. On the other hand, Dio is more of a baritone, but I can't do much of his screaming, either.
Leif
Adventurer
Absolutely! Almost every pawnshop in my hometown, and we've got 8 or 10 of them, has at least one Epiphone guitar available for very little green. Most of them have probably been abused and seen better days for sure, but I bet you could scrape up three or four passable instruments out of all of them, or maybe by combining parts of several of them to make a Frankenstein Epiphone.
I was also thinking of online sites. I've scored a few good deals for myself, but I've been helping people at the sites I frequent find deals as well. In fact, in the past 3 weeks, I helped one guy score two different pro-level Fender Telecasters and another guy snag a Fernandes Retrorocket DG (a Strat-clone).
So, if you haven't found a good online guitar community, you should. And don't be shy to ask me about gear, too!
So, if you haven't found a good online guitar community, you should. And don't be shy to ask me about gear, too!
Used gear is often the only way to fly. I have a top-of-the line kit and cymbals for the price of an intermediate kit just by being patient and shopping around.
Mapex Saturn (Maple/Walnut shells) 10", 12", 14" & 16" toms, 14" snare, 22" kick alonf with a 1965 14" x 5" Slingerland CoB snare.
Paiste Cymbals 14" 2002 Hi Hats, 14" Colorsound 5 (plated 2002) Hi Hats, 20" Black Label (2002) Ride, 16" Innovations Crash, 16" Dimensions Thin Crash, 18" 2002 Crash, 16" Colorsound 5 (plated 2002) Power Crash, 18" Signature China, 20" 3000 Novo China, 10" Signature Splash, 10" Wuhan (trashy effect cymbal) splash.
Roland TD-6 Drum Module w/ Pintech Concert Cast pads, 2 6" DDrum Decaabans (10" and 12" depth, from Carmine Appice's Demo Kit)
Pearl Eliminator Double Pedal, Mapex Hi Hat stand (replacing my old Tama Titan), Yamaha pedal (for e-kick when hybrid set up), Pearl Drum Rack.
What was purchased new? The Colorsound Hi Hats back in the late 80's (my first set), the Wuhan and the kick pedals.
Mapex Saturn (Maple/Walnut shells) 10", 12", 14" & 16" toms, 14" snare, 22" kick alonf with a 1965 14" x 5" Slingerland CoB snare.
Paiste Cymbals 14" 2002 Hi Hats, 14" Colorsound 5 (plated 2002) Hi Hats, 20" Black Label (2002) Ride, 16" Innovations Crash, 16" Dimensions Thin Crash, 18" 2002 Crash, 16" Colorsound 5 (plated 2002) Power Crash, 18" Signature China, 20" 3000 Novo China, 10" Signature Splash, 10" Wuhan (trashy effect cymbal) splash.
Roland TD-6 Drum Module w/ Pintech Concert Cast pads, 2 6" DDrum Decaabans (10" and 12" depth, from Carmine Appice's Demo Kit)
Pearl Eliminator Double Pedal, Mapex Hi Hat stand (replacing my old Tama Titan), Yamaha pedal (for e-kick when hybrid set up), Pearl Drum Rack.
What was purchased new? The Colorsound Hi Hats back in the late 80's (my first set), the Wuhan and the kick pedals.
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Leif
Adventurer
That is an awesome rig, Herschel! I've not been fortunate enough to play in bands with a drummer who could field a set-up like that. In fact, there's only been one drummer that I've played with, in high school band and two bands of our own creation. There was a third collection of guys that jammed together some, but we were never really a band per se. I resisted because the drummer's older brother was hanging around a lot. He's a pretty fair guitarist, but he has a mild "God-complex" and has to run the show, no matter what. That got old for me really fast.
Danny, I haven't found an online community of guitarists. Heck, I didn't even know there were such things! I'd ask about gear, but I'm afraid my tastes run to the low end of things. I have an Electra Phoenix, circa 1983-4 that I bought new. It's got a three pick-ups, s-h-s, and a strat-style body. It has a tremolo bridge, but just a very basic one. That was my first electric guitar. More recently, I've been buying a few online, some through ebay and two (an acoustic and an electric) from Sweetwater. ALL four of the recent purchases have been Epiphones -- I have an SG Special and a Les Paul Special both that I got for about $100 apiece on ebay. (They're worth what I paid, or the SG may be worth a little more -- its not got that many features, but its got a great sound and it feels excellent when I play it. It looks great, too! Candy-apple red, and not a blemish on it. The two I bought new are an Epi DR-100 acoustic -- kinda sorry, but good enough to plunk around on, and an ebony Epi Les Paul 100 that looks, feels, and sounds like ten times what I paid for it. [See my avatar!] Since I got the LP100, I haven't touched my Phoenix/strat. And I picked up a Peavey Vypyr VIP2 40W amp to go with the LP.
What I'm looking at now is an Epiphone G-400 Pro SG. Seems like I couldn't go wrong for $349.00!
The acoustics I'm looking at are Epis, too, an AJ-220S and an EJ-200CE acoustic/electric.
Also, from what I've seen, used Epiphones go for just about the same price you can get a brand new one from Sweetwater. The new ones come with a guarantee from Sweetwater, too, so that's my option of choice. I can't see me buying anything but an Epi until I get much, much better at playing one. By then, maybe I'll have a record deal and can afford to buy some of Rick Neilsen's used Gibsons, Gretsches, and Hamers.
Danny, I haven't found an online community of guitarists. Heck, I didn't even know there were such things! I'd ask about gear, but I'm afraid my tastes run to the low end of things. I have an Electra Phoenix, circa 1983-4 that I bought new. It's got a three pick-ups, s-h-s, and a strat-style body. It has a tremolo bridge, but just a very basic one. That was my first electric guitar. More recently, I've been buying a few online, some through ebay and two (an acoustic and an electric) from Sweetwater. ALL four of the recent purchases have been Epiphones -- I have an SG Special and a Les Paul Special both that I got for about $100 apiece on ebay. (They're worth what I paid, or the SG may be worth a little more -- its not got that many features, but its got a great sound and it feels excellent when I play it. It looks great, too! Candy-apple red, and not a blemish on it. The two I bought new are an Epi DR-100 acoustic -- kinda sorry, but good enough to plunk around on, and an ebony Epi Les Paul 100 that looks, feels, and sounds like ten times what I paid for it. [See my avatar!] Since I got the LP100, I haven't touched my Phoenix/strat. And I picked up a Peavey Vypyr VIP2 40W amp to go with the LP.
What I'm looking at now is an Epiphone G-400 Pro SG. Seems like I couldn't go wrong for $349.00!
The acoustics I'm looking at are Epis, too, an AJ-220S and an EJ-200CE acoustic/electric.
Also, from what I've seen, used Epiphones go for just about the same price you can get a brand new one from Sweetwater. The new ones come with a guarantee from Sweetwater, too, so that's my option of choice. I can't see me buying anything but an Epi until I get much, much better at playing one. By then, maybe I'll have a record deal and can afford to buy some of Rick Neilsen's used Gibsons, Gretsches, and Hamers.
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Well, GuitarPlayer.com has a forum- to my mind, the players there are older, but full of knowledge. Some do pedal mods and post the how-to. Its slower, but good.
The other one I frequent is Ultimate-guitar.com. A lot of metalheads , punks and proggers, and I think the average age is much lower. Most of the metalheads seem to be teens and young adults. They also have a massive tab section.
The other one I frequent is Ultimate-guitar.com. A lot of metalheads , punks and proggers, and I think the average age is much lower. Most of the metalheads seem to be teens and young adults. They also have a massive tab section.
Leif
Adventurer
Wow, both sound very cool! I'll have to check them out. I could always use more tabs, but I'm not sure I'd have much use for just heavy metal tabs. Okay, okay, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Dio, Ozzy, and Iron Maiden I could use.
Got those 2 sites bookmarked. Thanks!
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