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Posted by: djohnneay Aug 15 2009, 05:01 PM

Hey guys,

Since I'm checking for new gear at the moment, and I don't think I know enough about guitar to be comprehensive of all the elements that apply to playing and adjusting your guitar, I would like to have some help around this subject.

I am currently looking for a somewhat versatile guitar, with a GOOD tremolo (my current tremolo causes my guitar to go out of tune almost instantly), a smooth neck pickup for slow rock solo's (kind of an Sweet Child 'o Mine sound) and bit of an metal edge in the bridge pickup (i.e. Master Of Puppets, Metallica's kinda sound). The clean sound doesn't have to be that good, just not rubbish. The guitar I was thinking of was this one :
http://www.ibanez.com/ElectricGuitars/model-SV5470F

The SV5470F prestige from Ibanez. I think this guitar will be very versatile because of the hybrid pickups, but I don't know how the sound is compared to traditional ones. In my country this guitar will go for about € 1200,- which is quite expensive, but I'd rather buy a guitar that I don't regret buying for about 5 years.
What I'd like to know is if there are comparable guitars, or guitars that I should check out before trying this one. Don't get me wrong, I will try other guitars, it's just that this is the only one I see online at the moment that I really like and is in my price-range.

As for an amp, I was looking for one with 2 channels, with a good clean sound. The distortion doesn't have to be that good, because I will use a distortion pedal, most likely the Jemini. The Bandmaster set from Fender seemed pretty nice, and I didn't intent to pay over € 1000,- for an amp. The amp will be used for small gigs (hopefully), rehearsing with the band, and getting the neighbors angry.

Here is a link : http://feedback.nl/?b=2220206000&a=46

I hope you guys can help me out here, I will surely try other combinations of guitars and amps, and other guitars and amps, but just as some guideline to what I should check out or not, I'd really like some of your feedback.

Thanks in advance,

djohnneay

Posted by: MickeM Aug 15 2009, 05:43 PM

A rather cheap amp that can dish out 30/60/50 or 100W is the big head from blackheart. Looks to me like an amp that should cost almost the double.

Posted by: ZakkWylde Aug 15 2009, 11:28 PM

You can't go wrong with a Prestige Ibanez!
Great woods, great craftsmanship, great hardware and tremolo, included case and the big letdown for such an expensive guitar: only *decent* pickups -.-
A pickup swap and you have a professional guitar that can serve you a livetime! (if you take care of it ofc^^)

Ampwise I would try to aim at a tube combo for below 1000, but if necessary I would rather pay more on an amp than less... A bad amp will only frustrate you while a great amp can make your playing better!

My advice would be an amp with a great clean channel (to use your distortion pedal over) AND a great OD channel too, for a vaster variety of sounds and because a good amps distortion is always better than a pedal distortion!!!
This one is pretty nice for below 1k:

http://www.thomann.de/de/engl_thunder_50_e322_roehrencombo.htm

Posted by: djohnneay Aug 16 2009, 01:47 PM

Thanks for the replies !

MickeM, did you mean this head ?
http://www.blackhearteng.com/bh100h.html

If so, what kind of cabinet would you advise with this ? Should I try the little giant half stack combination ?
Also I haven't got a clue if this amp will even be available in my country, but I'll try and find it somewhere.

ZakkWylde, when you say *decent* pickups, do you mean a little bad, or just not too good ? When I swap them, what kind of pickups do you think would I need to get the sound I want ? Could I get the shop to do the pickup swap for me in advance, or would I have to do it myself ?

Posted by: ZakkWylde Aug 16 2009, 04:26 PM

Decent as in not so bad that you can't get a good sound with them but not good enough to do the guitar justice. Let's say that a good set of pickups will improve the sound of the guitar!
The pickups in the Sv570 are designed to cover a hughe range of guitar sounds so you can get the sounds you want but with a metal bridge humbucker and a bluesy neck humbucker you will get far better results for the tone you want!

Usually the shop will install you new pickups for free if you buy the guitar and the pickups at the same shop but it's diffrent from store to store - better ask the store before you buy anything. You can always try to talk them into some customer support like offering: *I will buy this Prestige Ibanez AND some new pickups BUT ONLY if you install them for free...*

That usually works^^

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Aug 16 2009, 05:52 PM

If you need 1000e combo amp with good clean and two channels, check the Fender 212 Hot Rod Deville. Great amp, great price, works great with pedals. It's not for heavy metal tho, but then again, neither is Fender VM.

Prestige is a great guitar. I also recommend pups swap, possibly Dimarzios, Air Norton or Tone Zone for neck, and possibly D activator for the bridge.

Posted by: MickeM Aug 16 2009, 06:06 PM

QUOTE (djohnneay @ Aug 16 2009, 02:47 PM)

Posted by: djohnneay Aug 17 2009, 10:21 PM

Thanks guys, I'll check them out, and let you know when I get back from the shop

Posted by: wrk Aug 18 2009, 12:27 AM

The SV is a great guitar .. i don't regret to have bought mine. The trem/tuner setup is simply awesome !!

As Zakk said .. the pickups allows you to cover a wide range of different sounds and this they do really well. They maybe miss a bit of "character", but they react very nice to volume pot adjustments and can sound completely different with volume on 50%, 75% or 100%. I sometimes think the neck and bridge pickups could be more balanced to each other when switching back and forth. This on the other hand adds again more versatility to your sound options.

Overall the pickups are really good in my opinion. I would advise you keep them in for a while.