This is gonna be a long one... Awww here goes... I'm in an odd situation right now. I'm in a boarding school is the US right now. I have myself an ibanez iceman and a 20 W Roland Cube. I'm in a small band here with some of my school mates, and it's perfect for band practices. For actual shows we use the array of amps my school already has set up for the open mic nights we play in. But now here's the problem... i've been saving up for quite some time and i've finally got myself a good 1500$. I'm gonna be coming back to India over summer and going to start jamming and quite possibly gigging with a band that I formed in December. I'm pretty sure my Roland Cube wont suffice for gigging esp. at large venues such as schools. The artists that I play are on the heavy side... stuff like Disturbed, Rage Against the Machine, Papa Roach, quite a bit of Punk (Blink 182, GC, FOB etc), and some classic rock (GNR, Zeppelin to name a few), so i'm definitely looking for a tube amp and no solid state bullshit. So the confusion is 1. Can I really get an amp that will a) Last me for the next few years b) Give me sound loud enough for gigging c) Sustain travel b/w indian and the US, twice a year d) Give me the tone I desire 2. Can I even take an amp in a plane. I guess I should be able to check it in? Has anyone ever done this? I'm flying continental 3. Should I buy a new guitar now, or wait and lay in a nice pair of seymore duncans. It's been 1.5 half years since i've been playing and the iceman is my 2nd electric and third guitar. I really wanna venture into the realms of feedback manipulation and high pitched squeals with a floyd rose tremolo. I'm already having a blast messing around with my whammy pedal. 4. I have a line 6 tone port UX2 that I use for recording guitar and bass for my band, I wanted to buy a nice mic + whatever I need to get decent vocals down. Thanks in advance! Cheers!
i would suggest, go for a nice tube amp because your sound largly depends on your amp.... you can buy an orange from there.. ive heard they are great
Yeah I am well aware of that fact. I've already looked into some Orange heads and cabs. Anyways, another piece of info that'd help you guys answer my question would be that i'm looking for an amp that's loud enough for small gigs and jamming and could be miked easily for a larger performance.
Solid State bullshit??.....well...just buy an amp head and buy the cab here. You will be able to get a head through easily.
Thanks for the replies, but by my third point wasn't suppost to mean if I want to buy a guitar there or here, but whether I should buy a new one now or consider upgrading my current iceman and getting a new one in the near future. I'm well aware of the fact that i'll get desi/joogad shiz in india lol
Buy an amp... Forget the guitar for now, just upgrade the pups if u want. The main issue u will have with a tube amp is transporting it. Tube amps, combos/heads, arent exactly known for being very rugged. Since u are in gear land, u should have no problem trying out different amps so I suggest u just try out all the amps u can find and then decide which one u like. There arent many ppl on IGT who have played tube amps.. The RSJ forum may be of more use to u. Dont worry bout wattage, tube amps are a LOT louder than their solid state equivalents... Anything from 20w onwards should be sufficient. As for mics, u could try the Shure mics, or if u have the cash splurge on a sennheiser
solid state bullshit ... huh? :RollLol: Many of the heavy bands actually prefer the tone of SS distortion, than tube. Anyway, since you are on the move, and you wanna address large venues as well, the best solution is something (preamp) like POD, Sansamp, JMP, Triaxis, Voodoo etc. In a large venue, you would definitely have a PA system, plug your preamp straight into the PA. If at later stage, you buy a guitar amp (say Diezel), then you can use this preamp plugged into the effects loop. And you can use your amp as well (Diezel) as direct plug-in. (Hence, you can get a wider variety of tones)
"desi/joogad shiz" ....We do get Ibanez , some crappy LTDs and some other stuff....we arent that backward.. .!.
You'll need 2 amps. For your gigging out there a small all tube amp of 15W or so will be enough for small gigs, and can be miced for larger ones. For your Indian needs you can buy a Laney 65W amp and use a modeller before it (Sansamp, etc.) That's the best thing to do, because there is no way you will carry a tube amp/head twice a year from the US to India. a) customs b) voltage c) damage d) idiots in India (no warranty for damage)
That makes a lot of sense. I already have an RP300 multi effects pedal (yeah it's kinda crappy, but it does it's job). So basically when I get back to India during summer I should buy a nice laney amp of some sort. How much would one of these things set me back by? Question 1 is answered... On to the other questions Thanks a lot everyone! Cheers!
2. Don't bother. You can but it's not safe. 3. Don't upgrade the guitar for now. The one you have is pretty decent. You could change the pups if the ones you have are stock. Most of the music you play does not require a trem, and also varies in the tunings used. FR is a no-no for varied tunings. 4. No idea. Shure is the only name I've heard.
Yeah I know, but I wanted a nice FR guitar so I could start playing genres that require a significant amount of whammy abuse. And with regards to songs that require alt tuning, I will always have my iceman to do the job. I guess I should just wait for now.
The laneys are really good. But nothing as good as the stuff you get there. They should be less than 20k over here. You could probably get a Solid-State half stack for about 24k I still think you should bring in a head. Worth it.
No point to a half stack. None at all. They're a pain to drag along everywhere, and just overkill because most gigs have a PA. An SS 35+ W with 1x10" or 1x12" should do the trick IMO. And taking the head up and down 2 times a year is dangerous because of the reasons I mentioned. If he's going to leave the head here then that should be alright.
2.you can check in your amp but i strictly forbid it., unless its totally protected, even the fragile stickers don help, nd besides, i dun think the ppl in india would be able to read them, i carried my 20watt amp wid me nd just put it on the top, . it depends largely on the size and weight of what ur carrying.
