reclspeak
Group: Members
Posts: 7
Joined: Oct. 2004 |
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Posted: Oct. 20 2004, 12:32 |
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A good place to visit for user's reviews of electric guitars is;
Harmony Central
I have two electric guitars, one expensive and one rather cheaper. Like many others I can enthuse about the quality and value of Yamaha guitars.
My "expensive" guitar is a hand-made JJ Retro HB, made by JJ Guitars in Warwickshire, England
JJ Guitars
It has a maple cap body on mahogany, rosewood fingerboard, twin humbuckers with a coil split (which means the humbucker/s are split in half to produce a near single-coil output) and sounds absolutely gorgeous - way better than any Les Paul or PRS I've played. With it I can get the Santana (SG2000 days) tone nailed.
However the JJ is not the best "starter" guitar, due to the expense.
My second guitar is a Yamaha Pacifica 412V (the V is for "anniversary"). This is my travelling and stage guitar. It's way cheaper (£249 in the UK) and unbelievable value for that money. It sounds more like a 'Strat than most modern 'Strats do by a clear mile (you have to spend an awful lot more money to get a better-sounding 'Strat).
It has two single coils (neck and middle) and a humbucker in the bridge, plus a "whammy" bar (vibrato to be more accurate) which I don't use and have had blocked. The finish, weight and tone are wonderful. Having both genuine single-coils and a humbucker is useful. However the next models up - the 612 and 812 have coil-splits on the pickups, which would be useful for some MB tones, and I understand are useful for nailing Dave Gilmour tones.
I've owned a Yamaha guitar now for years - whether electric or a 12-string, and the entire range represent super value-for-money. A 412 will easily beat a cost-twice-as-much-or-more Strat for tone, longevity and manufacturing quality.
When you've chosen a guitar, whatever the model, then you have the difficult decision to make about an amplifier. There are 3 types;
* valve types
* solid-state (transistors)
* digital (integrated circuits, but sometimes incorporate valve technology)
Valve amps are best - they produce the best tones. The problem is that the best tones are achieved when the amp is "over-driven" i.e. cranked-up to the point that it is so loud your neighbours are banging on the walls (if you could hear them) and the police are on their way.
The other problem is that you are limited in the sounds (or tone) from a valve amp (generally). A VOX AC30 will sound like an AC30, and a Fender Tweed will sound like a Fender Tweed, a Marshall like a Marshall, an Orange like a...(you get the idea). So if you decide that suddenly you find you want to play jazz guitar and you own a Marshall, you will have to contemplate getting a more appropriate amp - which means more cost and little space if you don't trade-in/sell your current amp.
I've little experience with solid-state amps, but they apparently provide a little more flexbility. I don't know anyone who owns one though.
Digital amps (or "modelling amps") are becoming increasingly popular. They have the ability to model popular valve amplifiers to varying degrees of success. However they can sometimes sound either inaccurate, or lacking in the "warmth" of a valve amp. One huge advantage is that if the amp model is accurate, the digital amp doesn't need to be over-driven to achieve the tone, so yours ears are saved, and your neighbours don't call the police.
A number of companies sell "modelling amps", notably Line 6, Vox (aka Korg) Fender and Roland. I have one, a Vox Valvetronix 60-watt model, and I've been very pleased with it. It comes with a bucket-full of excellent effects (you should buy an add-on pedal-board) modulations, delay's and resonance capabilities, and is simple to use. The AC30 emulation (my favourite valve amp) is perfect at any volume (and I've not had to spend £900 to afford an AC30! At the entry level, the Valvetronix range extends to 15 & 30 watt models, whilst Line 6 sell a popular modelling amp called Spider.
In the end, getting access to a flexible guitar type (i.e humbuckers and single-coils) an amp that doesn't limit you to just a few tones, and a hoot-load of effects should enable you to achieve a least a passable impression of a few of MO's tones. However you must remember that professional guitarists like MO have access to a range of tools and instruments that most fans and "weekend-warrior" guitarists have no chance of matching. In my experience two guitarists in the world are extremely difficult to match exactly for tone and technique - they are Mike Oldfield, and Steve Hackett.
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I found some of them but always something is wrong with them. One is too "hard" for me(if you know what I mean), the sound in other is bad, even if I like guitar it doesn't got the humbucker... 
GRX140 seems to be the best of cheap guitars there... :P I have seen Yamaha with the fisrt pickup which doesn't work...