I’ve been thinking about purchasing a new guitar. I’ve had my Kramer Focus 2000 for 23 Years now :eek4: and would like to upgrade. I haven’t kept up with what’s out there lately, but was thinking maybe an Ibanez or BC Rich. I play (and I use that term loosely) mostly metal - Metallica, Slayer, classic metal, hard rock, some classic rock, etc.
Humbucker pickup(s) are a given, and maybe a tremolo. Maybe my Kramer just needs some adjustments, like dyingwish offered once, but I’d something with better fret action and strings that lay more even and closer.
I play through a Marshall micro stack using it’s overdrive, although I’ve also always wanted one of the Digitech multi-effects units too.
I’m open to all suggestions. Any things to look for like neck & body woods, etc?
Price range? As long time player…it’s all in the shape of your hands IMO. I play a Jackson 24 fret reverse, and love it…it’s neck is similar to the Ibanex Wizard II neck. Those necks are thin flat and a hair wider than say, a Strat…and lend themselves well to economy picking and sweeping. You are welcome to try my Jackson if you’d like… If you do a lot of chugging to fast picking…look for something that places the master volume far away from the trailing edge of the tremolo. As for tremolo choice…I’m a die hard Floyd Rose fan. Nothing else keeps things in check after wailing on it like a Rose. The newer Ibanez S- series are pretty nice, same with the newest Jacksons, Schecters, ESP (all with necks getting fatter and more C-shaped) As always neck-through designs will be at the upper tier levels, bolt on works fine if it doesn’t impede access to the upper frets…even nicer if it’s been scalloped on the joint. Hot, heavy-wound pick-ups are always great…I personally use George Lynch “Screamin Demons” in my jackson…due to the clarity at faster speeds.
There are a lot of options out there. I have smaller hands, but there are very few guitars that I thought were too large for me to play. I agree with steve, the Kramer might just need a fret job and setup… if you like how it hangs, strums, etc.
I first had an ibanez talman that i put a screamin demon in! Awesome pickup! I like schecters for a compact type feeling… i had a C-1 Classic. I sold that, bought a epiphone SG that I fully custom built. That played nice, but im not a big gibson/epiphone neck fan. after that i had an ibanez SZ520QM which i realy liked. flatter, more accessable feeling neck. I never played it though b/c i was getting more into acoustic, so i sold that for my acoustic Gibson LC-1 Cascade.
Now though, I have a Gibson Ephiphone Les Paul Baritone. I put a DiMarzio DP207 Drop Sonic Pickup in it with pots and it is king shred on metal island! Its your traditional fat neck, but raising the dead is NO problem at all :tounge:
I dont have a wood preference. I’m more worried about how it is setup and plays, like the knob placement… very important when your thrashing.
OH snap, those pickups are really heavy! Nothing like a good power chord that makes the walls shake! Jeff: Fret size is pretty important too…for example gearhead’s guitar has “Jumbo” frets on it…you feel them more when moving around, and they also let you run a fatter string without buzzing, and you can strum harder without ill effects. I actually prefer Jumbo fret with no more than an .011 stringset…because speed picking and longer multi-string runs seem easier, and require less finger pressure to sustain better. If your Kramer is what I think it is, it most likely has “large” frets which are thinner and protrude less from the fretboard and wear down faster. If you guitar is buzzing now, and the fretboard is smoothing out, and simple re-fret (or even a blingin new Floyd trem) will have you shredding in no time.
I was going to sell my Digitech RP200 unit, you are welcome to try it too, to see if that type of modulation is what you really want.
I say go Ibanez rg series. I have an rgt42 and love it. I also have an sz320 that I just can’t bring myself to get rid of, im so used to it and have had it for awhile. The nicest guitar I’ve owned was my ibanez rg 7620 7 string acouple years ago. Man I wish I still had all my gear. I also had an old 90 rg 570 and used my buddies 89 rg 550 for awhile. The pre 98 rg 5xx or 7xx’s are great if your looking to spend about $350 on a decent guitar. Jacksons are also pretty sweet. I’ve played a couple jdr-94’s I really liked and also acouple other dinky models. Definetly sucks where the volume knob is though. Schecters are decent as well. My buddy has a c1 exotic that it pretty sweet.
If I where you I would probably just try and find an ibanez rg 350/370 used for like $200-250.
I was thinking around $300 to spend without really looking yet. I guess I need to go try some out and see how they feel. I’m also curious if I can tell a noticeable difference in the sound between different guitars/pickups.
And I wouldn’t mind a hand with a tuneup of the Kramer/Floyd Rose sometime too.
Those Digitech effect sets are nice. My buddy had one and it gave my Strat a beautiful sound on all levels. I mostly play grunge/ alt. stuff so it’s mostly moderate distortion for me, but my buddy had a BC Rich Warlock and it sounds wicked with heavy distortion. That guitar has a wicked sound for a damn good price. It has a nice look too, though I haven’t seen any of the recent models.
im a bit of a gibson guy i bought an old SG off of my guitar teacher and love it! i have also played a les paul it was very nice(said like borat). i also have 2 fender guitars as well and they just cant stack up to my sg. ive gotton the chance to play many guitars friends, relatives, and floor models and i have to say i like gibson the best
are you refering to the ones with the 3 pedals and wah on the side that has like 190 presets?
if you are i had 2. they are cool to play around with when your practicing, but i prefer indevidual pedals for band/regular play. its hard to find what your looking for on that monsterous digi
So it would be good for my upcoming performance to the basement walls?
I grabbed an Ibanez catalog yesterday. Being in a music store and seeing all those guitars and Marshall stacks made me feel like a kid again. At least until I got home and the wife playfully commented when she saw the catalog, “What’s this?”
Sweet, tell us what you’re looking at Jeff. As for the multi-effects pedals, I disagree somewhat about their usefulness. If you are a play at the house kind of guitarist, the big multi-boards (Digitech RP series, Boss GT series) are amazing to fiddle with. SUre you may not use all the programs, but they are worth it for the distortion modeling alone…let alone the killer delays they offer. If you play live, they are useless…no one want to hunt for a specific program while playing live. The great thing about the modeling you can do, it is doesn’t matter what axe you’re slinging, you can model the distortion of your favorite player and make it sound amazing on your guitar.
I’ve got a Strat that I mess with when I’m feeling bluesy, but I modeled Van Halen’s 5150 cab so the distortion/delay/chorus setting sounds mind-blowing on the strat, but sounds like shit on the Jackson…I have several distortions I use to overcome the things I don’t like about whatever guitar I’m playing. I used to play Gibson guitars, but I always had a very difficult time modulating out the muddy lows and weak midrange Les/SG’s are known for.
lol, i avoid guitar center for that reason, i want to melt my bank card buying new drum gear. hmm, i could use a new set of drums. No, i really dont, but it couldnt hurt lol. Anyone want to buy a 6pc mapex just the drums lol
After doing a lot of researching over the holiday I determined (assuming new vs. used):
$400 is not a realistic budget to upgrade from my Kramer
neck-through is probably out
most intermediate levels use factory pickups vs. Dimarzio, EMG, Seymour Duncan, etc.
I should probably go fixed bridge to afford the other features that I want
considering Ibanez S470DXQM (or maybe a few of the RG series), Jackson MG Series DKMG Dinky, ESP M-400
I now want to upgrade my amp also
tube amps are out of my budget range
Questions:
any opinions on the EMG 81 active pickups considering I play mostly metal?
thinking Marshall solid state 2-channel (upgrade from my micro stack), but any experience with the Line 6 amps? I actually find the Spider Jam tempting, although “gimmicky”.
i’ve used emg 81’s and like them. Its pretty much industry standard, so i always like to find rouge stuff like that Drop Sonic i put in my baritone. Definitly get the right pots for an 81 and you’ll be shredding in no time.
my gig amp is a 2x12 line6 spider II. I’m pretty happy with it. Its a bright am that has good sounding effects. Usually built in stuff is subpar, but since its line6, everything is quality. i can get a lot of really good sounds quick which i like and you get 4 presets which is enough to gig sometimes, but i still sometimes want more.
Look around some more man, deals are out there. I picked up my ibanez rgt42 which is neckthrough off of craigslist for $200 lol. Its in like new condition too. There are $700 brand new. I also picked up a B-52 AT-212 all tube 2x12 guitar amp used at guitar center for $350. Sounds amazing. 12 freaking tubes and 100 watts woohooo. It sounds like an old fender amp on the clean channel and a mesa recto for this distortion. Im not a big user of fx so I can’t help you there.
my amp is where we practice so when Im home I plug my guitar into my usb interface and slap on the headphones and play through IK Multimedia’s Amplitube 2/Metal. That sounds amazing as well.
i like the line 6 i have the spider 3 it almost has way too much stuff. i bought a vox but the preamp broke in 10 minutes, guitar center replaced it i asked to try it in store to make sure it worked and the replacement was bad out of the box so i got this
Line 6 makes some quality stuff, for sure…but they aren’t necessarily metal oriented…more studio and jazz type sounds. With the proper distortion modeler is doesn’t even matter what you play through. My daily amp is a Trace Elliot “Super Tramp” jazz cabinet with Celestion drivers, and frankly it’s metal as fuck…harmonically through the roof. Nothing like a good solid artificial pinch harmonics to make your hair stand on end… My bigger cabinet is an all original 1976 Fender 1000W PA setup (full tube) with those tall 4 x 6" driver cabinets. Little treble-ended for my taste but modeling corrects it a bit.
Neck-through is great, but only needed if you have difficulty reaching the upper registers. If you have played that Kramer for so long, once you get used to a lower end S-series Ibanez, or even a DKMG Jackson, I think you’d be happy. Another route is to buy a new neck and pickups for your Kramer. Trust your hands, not your budget. You’ll regret not buying a great feeling axe, over saving a few bucks…trust me. I also agree with stinkbox…look for used. You can easily find a higher end neck-through Ibanez or something for cheap in CL/Ebay/whatever
