Thinking about getting another guitar... What's your input?

[Dkr84]

I'm either buying another Epiphone guitar, starting a pedal board, or upgrading my Les Paul Standard and G-400.

Here's the guitars i've been looking at:
SG Custom
3 Pickup SG
Les Paul Tribute ('57 Classic Pickups)
Les Paul Ultra II
Les Paul 1959 Standard Special Run (BurstBuckers)
'58 Korina Explorer
Les Paul Black Beauty
Les Paul Custom
Les Paul Ultra
Les Paul '56 Goldtop (P-90 pickups)
Firebird Studio
Slash Signature (Alnico Pro II pickups)
Les Paul Traditional Pro (Alnico Classic and ProBucker 3 w/ coil tapping)

Upgrade guitars:
Les Paul:
Alnico Pro II pickups
SG:
Gibson BurstBuckers or '57 Classics

Start a pedalboard:
Slash Crybaby Wah
An actual board to put it and future pedals on

 

[diceman]

What kind of amp do you have?

 

[needlespauls]

What kind of amp do you have?

Ha, shit you beat me to it!!!

 

[Dkr84]

Hahaha, I knew that was coming. I have an Epiphone Studio 15R hooked up to a Peavey Rage 258. If you don't know what they are, here's explanations:

Epiphone amp- it has okay tone I guess, and reverb effect is really nice.
Peavey- I don't use it for tone, I hook the Epiphone amp to it via aux input. All that does is makes it an external speaker. It does okay, but it can get a little overloaded when I roll my neck pickup tone knob down.

I probably should get a new amp I guess. Any suggestions? I'm not really on a budget, but want to keep it under $1,000. I play Guns N' Roses mostly, otherwise it's ACDC, Ozzy, Aerosmith, Motley Crue, etc. I love the Les Paul into a Marshall tone.

 

[needlespauls]

What's your living situation like (house,apartment, noise issues?). Are you just playing in your room/living room, or jamming/gigging out? There are TONS of pretty nice amps in your budget and you'd be amazed by the amount of upgrade in your sound and tone by upgrading your amp situation (no offense).

 

[diceman]

It is definitely new amp time, good sir!

 

[Dkr84]

Sure is diceman!

I'm playing in my room for now, but i'm starting a band and we're getting really good. If we get lucky, we're getting a bar-sized gig soon.

 

[diceman]

Here is my "generic" suggestion. Find a used Peavey Classic 30. I use mine daily for home jams, and it has been through a good 150 full volume rehearsals and 50 gigs in the past 2.5 years... all I've done to it is replace the tubes twice.

The 30w tube power and 12" speaker can go quiet enough for home use and loud enough for small venues (easily). I never run mine past 5 on the volume. I've had stacks and larger combos, but the C30 went with me 90+% of the time.

Here is mine - we were running through house sound, but the amp would fill that venue w/ no problems. I've used it unmic'ed at a couple of small venues as well.

In fact, this venue did not have house sound - the amp had no problems keeping up w/ the full volume of the band at around 4 on the volume.

 

[needlespauls]

Peavey Classic 30 or 50
Crate Vintage Club 50 (don't let the Crate name scare you, what a versatile beast these are!!!)
Blackstar HT series
Marshall Vintage Modern or JCM 800
Phaez 18 watt Daisycutter chassis, have a 2x12 combo cab with your choice of speakers (what a rig!!!!)
REEVES Custom 12 combo with power-scaling (absolute nicest amp on this list, very versatile rock amp, use a nice OD/boost pedal of your choice for the heavier stuff and you have a virtual multi-channel amp between the amp, pedal, and your guitar controls)
There are many other great amps to choose from, just trying to guide you in a good direction.
Oh, maybe a used Orange Rocker 30 combo would work too....
You just won't believe the staggering upgrade in overall sound and tone you'll hear when you start trying these amps.
The Reeves and Phaez amps are built to order so you won't be able to try before you buy, but you won't be dissapointed in any case. Well, the Reeves is a very mature type of amp. Not calling you immature amp-wise, but its more of an amp to savor, or become part of, if that makes any sense. Its a family heir-loom almost, has chimey beautiful swirling 3d class A cleans, great low-gain blues-ish tones, and killer rock tone. NOT a high-gain amp, but with a good OD/Boost pedal you will have THE perfect tone, and the REEVES line takes VERY well to pedals. If you had more of a Marsall inspired boost, you have Marshall tones. If you wanted more of a modern Bogner/Mesa/Deizel type of tone, pedal to sculpt your tone. If you want a classic Reeves/Hiwatt/Vox/Marshall tone, just plug right in and enjoy, dial in your settings.
The Phaez is really really nice too, but is a gain monster typically. If thats what you want then you can't go wrong.

 

[Dkr84]

I know everyone says these suck, but what about the MG series (Marshall)? They don't look that bad...

 

[diceman]

I know everyone says these suck, but what about the MG series (Marshall)? They don't look that bad...

They suck.

See that "Marshall" on stage w/ me there in the first picture? It is a MG. And, the 2x12 just could not keep up w/ my Classic - despite being 120 solid state watts through two 12s compared to my 30/tube and single 12.

Seriously... the Classic 30 is ten times the amp that the fake Marshalls are. That is, unless you don't care about "tone" and the ability to keep up with a band.

 

[needlespauls]

I know everyone says these suck, but what about the MG series (Marshall)? They don't look that bad...

A good upgrade of a practice amp from what you have now, but only for the house or recording (in certain apps.)
DONT get sucked into the Marshall "cool factor" if you are going to be buying an MG and expecting to gig with it. Not even in the same universe as the amps I mentioned above. MAYBE the 40 watt Marshall Haze combo, thats not a bad sounding amp. I absolutely hated the new MA Marshall combo I tried, and for the money you could just about get a used JCM 800 combo. Trust me, MG"s and gigs don't go together well. Your tone will mush out in the overall mix of the band.

 

[jon1]

If you want marshall go for a Class5, DSL201/401, or a JCM800 with a master volume.

 

[Dkr84]

Okay, cool. thanks guys, I'm going to my local guitar shop tomorrow anyway, i'm just gonna try out some there

 

[diceman]

Look at tube combos, 18-50 watts, 10", 12", 2x10 or 2x12 speakers...

 

[Damien"special II"Neadle]

or to answer your question i would say a black beauty or a custom in white all very nice guitars and my amp a peavy bandit is surprisingly versatile and outstandingly reliable

 

[Thanos]

I tried an Epiphone Traditional today that was great. I wound up taking home a Gibson Satin Ebony, but that Trad wasn't far behind. I liked the lighter finish on the neck.

 

[Eggy]

Please do not be entrapped by propaganda and get sucked into buying a fake Marshall. Many people do and are in denial when telling others they're happy with it. The truth is they're all experiencing buyers remorse.

The info Dice has given you about those little Peavy amps is correct. Recently there's been one or two support bands turning up with those and they've performed well for what they are. The only drawback I've noticed is that when you mic them up for bigger venue's the on stage tone is a little thin. In fairness though it sounded fine out front.

 

[davies]

Just took delivery of a used ('05) white Custom and have to say not only is it very nice aesthetically but plays really well too. Only had to change strings, lem-oil the fret board and lower the action a little - no need to even take it to my luthier.

You could do a lot worse.

 

[Mantis]

of most of the amps mentioned, the peavy classic would be an excellent choice, great sounding amp,the clean tone is really good, vintage looks, doesn't really need pedals, but they sound great through this,i recently picked up a fulltone fat boost and it just really defines tone through this amp, i got my 30 for about $400.oo used, listen to a few demos on youtube . the classic should be just fine for the kind of ground your covering band wise.
you already have three guitars, so i would look into upgrading the amp first, when i had less experience i always thought the guitar was the tone issue, but it was my amp choices, do some research keep asking the members here for advice, and enjoy!