Hey guys, I've been interested in surf music for YEARS now and have finally decided to start playing. Unfortunately I'm a broke student so I dont have much money to work with for now, so I'm just looking to get something to start out. I was looking up local want ads and I found this:

"Made in Korea. two single coil pickups one humbucker.5way selector and vintage tremelo. Volume and tone knobs, 5 Setting Switch

it's been well taken care of and is very durable. neck is rosewood. solid top heavy body. this guitar has a nice clean and really good heavy sound.

it comes with a soft nylon case and a hard case worth over $50.
i also have an amp for sale if you are interested in a new amp "

She said that the amp is also capable of reverbage. Does this look okay for a surf starters purchase? Will I be able to get a good surf sound on this bad boy?

hi cashcow, welcome!

personally I don't think that ibanez would make a particular good surf guitar, and for that kind of money, you could do better. it should be a pretty decent guitar though, so I guess it very much depends on what else you want to do with the guitar. Cant comment on theprice cause there's a lot of differnet ex models, at leas that's the impression I got form a quick ebay search. in any case, I'd search ebay and musiciansfriend prices before buying anything.

as for a low budget surfguitar starter kit, I'd advise a squier strat pack of some sort, you really cant go wrong with that. I think they're available for $200 or so. It has a guitar, practice amp, and some goodies (strap, cable). search for a pack that has a practice amp with reveb, or buy a reverb pedal such as a digiverb (I think there's a cheaper one even).

of course, you can also look if you can find these things seperatly, cheaper maybe, in pawn shops and so on, or oline.

unfortunatly, ithat will not make you sound like dick dale, but it's good enough to start up with and get going, and to get a kick out of playing surf music in your bedroom!

good luck and check back if you need to know more!

WR

Rules to live by #314:
"When in Italy, if the menu says something's grilled, don't assume it is."

https://www.facebook.com/The-Malbehavers-286429584796173/

WaimeaBay
Play what you got, practice your licks with whatever gear you got, listen to surf music, and save your cash.

that's actually very sound advice. I was under the impression that you didn 't have anthing yet, in that case better a cheap strat then a cheap ibanez. but if you allready have a guitar, waimea is right

WR

Rules to live by #314:
"When in Italy, if the menu says something's grilled, don't assume it is."

https://www.facebook.com/The-Malbehavers-286429584796173/

cool, congrets, and play the hell out of that thing!

Rules to live by #314:
"When in Italy, if the menu says something's grilled, don't assume it is."

https://www.facebook.com/The-Malbehavers-286429584796173/

moondevil
Epiphone has a Valve Jr combo that goes for about $140.00, pretty loud for 5 watts and it's all tube. No frills though just a volume knob and an 8" speaker, think old Fender Champ.

I have one of these and I'd strongly advise against it. it's actually built after a gibson skylark, a class A EL84 amp.

mini review:

yes tube, but not 'tight fender sound' at all, more of a jazzy sound, clean at least (it does break up halfway) the EQ is midheavy without the possibilty to adjust. it does not have reverb. the speaker is a very good weber built 8", again, breaking up early and giving warm and "slow responselike" tone. also, with 5 tube watts, it's way to friggin loud for decent bed-/livingroom use. like any tube amp, it's louder then the equivelent in ss-watts, and it only starts sounding good when putting out some power. the relation between power and volume being exponential aot lineair, 5 watts should be thought of as 'half as loud as 50watts' .. obviously the small speaker knocks of a little extra, but still, it's a loud mofo.

also, the build is crap in one extent, stock it's very noisy. epiphone has dealt with some of the easy to fix causes (ground loop on the input) , but they still build it (for the techno's: ) with the heaters working on DC, which is sent through the PCB - recipy for disaster, noise wise. fixing this requires soldering and techno skills.

Dont get me wrong, I love this amp (once fixed up) to put out some cool bluesy and jazzy licks on a big hollowbody.

But as a 'this is my only amp' amp, for playing surf at bedroom levels, you've got better chances at good sound by plugging your guitar into a toaster.

my personal opinion only, though. I have not yet hasseled with tube substitutions either yet. in any case, not a beginners amp, for all these reasons.

I'm not doing Epiphone any favors today, am I?

WR

Rules to live by #314:
"When in Italy, if the menu says something's grilled, don't assume it is."

https://www.facebook.com/The-Malbehavers-286429584796173/

"The Fender Frontman 15G amp with 15 watts of power, selectable normal and drive channels, headphone jack, auxilary input for a CD or drum machine, and treble, mid-tone, bass, volume, gain and drive knobs."

This is one of the amps im looking at getting. is there some decent reverb on this? Will I be able to get a good sound out of it? Please excuse my amateur questions but everyone has to start somewhere

practice practice practice practice practice practice practice

You'll get so good that you won't be able to stand your equipment anymore and will find ways to upgrade.

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

cashc0w
Hey guys, thanks alot for your responses. I did some more shopping and managed to acquire myself a Squier Strat and an Amp with reverb for under 300 bucks . Thanks alot for your help im sure ill be seeing you guys around here

Congrats! I think you got the best bang for the buck for under $300.
Before you know it, you'll be upgrading. Enjoy!

Bob S.

Bob

RobbieReverb

cashc0w
hey Danny, serious props to you brother. I just rocked out hard to your Maelstrom track, not to mention that Meshugga Beach Party might just be the best thing ever. I aspire to be like you one day...

"Maelstrom" is incredible! And Danny really backs
it up live, too. With Messhugga Beach party he just gets
better and better. I had the good fortune to jam with him,
and holy crap, Batman, the guy is unbelievable! And a nicer,
more humble guy, you will not meet. Wait till he unleashes
the TomorrowMen. Yikes! They are really gonna turn some
heads. Yeah, I'm gushing, but Danny deserves
the props.

Bob S.

He don't know me vewy well, do he?

No, Seriously. I'm getting all Verklempt...

Now, talk amongst yourselves.....the topic.......Lunar gravity and it's affects on the tides and subsequent negative ion impact on reverberated soundwaves

Thanks Bob - right back at you, and CashcOw too.

And let me take the opportunity to tell everyone to post some demos, let's hear what you've got.

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

I had a Frontman 15R for a while. It's not a bad little amp.