Right now I have an Epiphone 400 sg guitar with a shitty amp and a nice Yamaha alto sax.

Things I want:
Some synths
A guitar amp
Ukulele

Anyone have any suggestions?

Get a job?

Look on Craigslist?

I got a Mahalo Ukulele that wasn't too expensive, but I needed to change the pegs on it because the standard ones were crap.

I enjoy having no responsibility.

I'll take it into consideration. Thanks.

get a mandolin over a uke

depending how much cash you got, might wanna choose between synth or amp so you can spend enough to get a decent one

I am going to be choosing between a synth or an amp but I want some suggestions for both so that I can make my decision, if that makes sense.

Also, why a mandolin over a uke?

just personal preference. i don't own a uke so my opinion means nothing

but they seem a little limited to me compared to a mandolin.

this is my current amp and i'd recommend it to anyone . . .



you can get one here

1. Get a good soundcard with inputs(Delta 44, Delta 66, etc)
2. Do some searches for free softsynths(Crystal, etc)
3. Download Audacity(free)
4. Pair of non-bud headphones $30

By getting a good soundcard($150-$600) you open up a door to a ton of great free musical apps that would satisfy anyone.

There are programs out there that will act as Line 6's and so forth so you can get a full sound while practicing guitar.

Check out this kick ass free synth workstation by NI called "Kore 2 Free":

http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/pro...er/kore-player/

I have one of these:



Its a Fender Deluxe Hotrod and its good if your not after a stack or something like that. It was $1300 here in Australia.

Also have one of these:



Its a really good synth, but yeah I would agree with Montana if you don't have much $.

interesting to me that salt-of-the-earth montana would recommend soundcards and softsynths over ukeleles and amplifiers.

it's not the equipment but what you do with it. i've seen amazing musicians play on shitty shitty gear and have it sound amazing. i've seen shit musicians play on super nice equipment and have it sound like a headache. practicing your ass off is more important than buying stuff. too often people treat instruments like toys. good equipment should be a reward for when you finally accomplish something. i would recommend spending 4 or 5 hours a day, if not more, practicing on your shitty epiphone guitar above all else.

Epiphone 400s are not shitty.

Like anything, equipment doesn't matter as much as practice and refining your art. I offered a suggestion that would immediately expand his sound palette for the cheapest amount of $$$$. NI Kore kicks all kinds of ass. You can't beat it for free.

The new Moog simulator is pretty kick ass as well, although not free.

Plus if your looking at putting effects on your guitar for Practice/Studio work, not live play, than you can do that through your computer as well and once again its a cheaper alternative.

That's what I was thinking as well. Lots of cool guitar effects programs to get your rig sounding awesome. Check out Guitar Rig by NI:



What moog sim are you talking about?

I highly approve of this - especially for the home recordist who isn't rich and/or doesn't have all day to mess about with mic placement. Software-based modeling is entirely different from those chintzy sounding pedals, or built-in amp effects.

And speaking as someone who has a few nice vintage tube amps, I find it's preferable sometimes to just plug in direct and dial in the "amp" and "room ambience" later on - during mixing.

i know all about the (software) synthesizer side. check out synplant. that one is sweet. software drum machines too. fxpansion guru is kind of cool, but ultrabeat does the trick.

logic pro is the daddy.

i'm looking to upgrade my eq and compressor (production) software from the generic ones that come with logic. if anyone has any tips about that i'd really appreciate some advice.

Look for the Waves "Diamond" bundle of plugins. It has everything.

It's pricey, but a "demo" can be easily found in torrent land.


Soundwise - absolutely. Tube amp + SM57 (my fave as well) trumps everything. In theory. Some of the shittiest guitar tone I've ever recorded was also done with this method, unfortunately.

Of course, you should never go literally "direct" into a mixer - impedance and gain differences being a major issue. You need to find a good "direct box" - a gain stage that properly suits your instrument. I've had good results with a cheap Danelectro Fish & Chips pedal. It was designed to be a simple EQ pedal, but I use it as a buffer, between guitar and mixer - plus it has a clean gain stage to get the level where it should be.

I recently got one of these to play around with, and it's pretty handy:



It's just a cheap (under $50) tube mic preamp, but it does a nice job as a direct box for guitar. Unlike the Dano pedal, I can dial in a little grit with this one.

I am very content with my Epiphone to be honest. I definitely need to upgrade my amp but I don't know if I want to spend $600 on a new one.

I don't really want to spend too much time on any one instrument in particular. I want to be able to pick up a guitar and play, pick up a sax and play, pick up a uke and play, etc.

Thanks for this idea. I really need a good cheap preamp for mic-ing vocals and guitar for my 8track. Lining in just doesn't pick up shit, and that's using an SM-57

If it's just for recording, this might work for you:

http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=2330100000

$150. My son bought one of them recently, and just raves about the sound. Very true to the original '50s model, or so I am told.

I think I've mentioned this before on this board, but my son and I both are both pretty geeked with guitars: building them, customizing, etc.
Anyway, he has an Epiphone 400 like yours - had it since he was in High School. Of all the guitars he's worked on, customized etc... he's never changed anything on that one. And every time I drop by to see him, that's the guitar that's usually out, and plugged in.

I've thought about this mobile pre, but I don't need my music hobby to be mobile so it's overkill at this time. But for those looking for a pre/soundcard solution who have a decent laptop or home pc, ditch your 4 track:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackPro.html


If my internal PCI card ever dies I will absolutely be jumping on that. I bought my Delta 66 in 2000, and 10 years later M-Audio is still supporting it with drivers for Win 7. That is some great support, which is why I will always stick with these guys.

I am definitely going to consider this. I can definitely afford it and I wasn't looking for something overly powerful anyway. Thanks.

i use an apogee duet to record my guitar and vocals, and it sounds great. i don't have many pedals and my amp isn't that great, so i really get better sounds from plugging my guitar straight into my apogee unit than recording with a mic. if you know your software and are smart with the eq, i don't think the guitar will sound thin at all.

i know that apogee recently released an apogee one for around $250, so if you're looking for an external soundcard i highly recommend it. i've used m-audio units in the past, and apogee sounds a whole lot better, imo.

soft synths can be had for cheap or free, but i still find that they're a bitch to program.

Moog Modular is the software, I saw it on CoolTools, which is an awesome blog:
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/004169.php

I'd also re-suggest trolling Craiglist for deals on Fender Champs and the like, you can usually get them for 1/2 of what they are online for. I got a sweet VOX practice amp that way.

those Fender Champion amps sound great for the price...

i have one of these and love it:



Fender Blues Junior

you can get them for about 300 or 400 bucks.

Oh yeah. Arturia makes good shit. They have a nice balance between GUI and sound, whereas NI seems to be all about sound. I had that Moog demo for quite some time. Honestly, there's so much killer software these days that a laptop, external soundcard solution, a guitar and a 25 key synth with lots of knobs will give you endless possibilities.

We sold a bunch of equipment that we weren't using and we got enough cash back to get a Presonus Firestudio Tube and brand spanking new computer. Broke it in last night and damn does it sound good. We had a Fostex 16 track standalone recorder and it can't hold a candle to our new setup. Highly recommend the Presonus unit, the two tube inputs sound so damn good, we were very happy with the outcome, smiles all around while we were mixing.

Presonus Firestudio Tube



It's got 16 inputs, you can record on all of them simultaneously (8 XLR, 6 Line Inputs, 2 Tube Inputs with those TRS/XLR connectors.) If you do a lot of digital transfer (SPDIF or Lightpipe) this is not the unit for you, it doesn't have them, but for our band, it's perfect. It does have MIDI, so that's a plus, I guess. They just came out with drivers for Windows 7 (perfect timing).

New PC is a Lenovo bought at the TigerDirect (now CompUSA) in Naperville:
Windows 7
6 GB of RAM (DDR 3)
650 GB HDD
DVD Burner
And a PCI slot for my Firewire card, which was a huge plus, as Presonus does not recommend using onboard Firewire. (The card was $10 on Amazon, so it's not like it broke the bank).