Friend is looking for a starter guitar and combo amp for his soon to be 15 year old…

[mctallica1]

Hey All.

A very good friend of mine is looking for a starter guitar and combo amp for his soon to be 15 year old son and asked me for help/ suggestions.

Truth be told, I don’t know much about starter level gear these days.

The kid is very into classic rock up to 90’s hard rock. Not really into much metal….yet.

My buddy is hoping to get something for Christmas and is very willing to go the used route. His budget for a combo amp and guitar is around $300. Is that possible?

I’m actually considering giving him one of my guitars, but everything I own is pretty far from beginner gear and I’m not sure that’s the right thing to do for his first guitar.

I guess I am asking two question:

1) What suggestions do you have?
2) Does anyone have some decent gear that would fit the budget?

I have plenty of cables, straps picks, etc I can give them so he would be ready to make noise Christmas morning.

Thanks for your help!
T

 

[phillybhatesme]

Idk about the budget, but I'd skip the kits and go right to a Squier Classic Vibe. It's already over budget, but it's one of the better entry level Gs.
I suppose the Epiphone and Squier kits you see at GC and other places are probably fine, but I think an increased budget would yield better guitars which will be more fun to learn on than something that the kid might not pick up because it doesn't stay in tune.

 

[Geo]

I would suggest the Positive Grid Spark and any Chinese made guitar he likes.

 

[glpg80]

I recommend one of those older peavey 1x8” combo transtube amps for starting out. James brown actually designed them so they actually offer a lot for a little.

Guitar wise? Take him to the nearest pawn shops and him as well as his dad should help him pick a beater out together. It won’t matter much starting out but he has to learn to restring and take care of something cheap before getting bigger more expensive gear. Used will get you something nicer than new right now in this market with tariffs on cheap stuff.

I still have the bridge pickup from my very first Floyd pawn shop Ibanez and I built a pickup using it that’s in my charvel which is in all of my videos. The memories he makes at this stage matter almost as much as the gear. Make it fun.

 

[NorCal_Val]

Katana 100w combo(with the foot controller), and whatever beginner guitar he wants.

 

[311boogieman]

I recommend one of those older peavey 1x8” combo transtube amps for starting out. James brown actually designed them so they actually offer a lot for a little.

Guitar wise? Take him to the nearest pawn shops and him as well as his dad should help him pick a beater out together. It won’t matter much starting out but he has to learn to restring and take care of something cheap before getting bigger more expensive gear. Used will get you something nicer than new right now in this market with tariffs on cheap stuff.

I still have the bridge pickup from my very first Floyd pawn shop Ibanez and I built a pickup using it that’s in my charvel which is in all of my videos. The memories he makes at this stage matter almost as much as the gear. Make it fun.

This is pretty close to what I was going to suggest. Or a Peavy Vypyr - which is the decendant of Transtube.

What about something like this? I searched on general area, amp, and max $250. Take the balance from this amp which only costs $125 and get the best guitar possible. I personally would give him a fun made up "check" and then take him some places and have him get the guitar that feels the best. A Squire is a good idea. The downside to a cheap guitar, as you know, is that it 'can' turn someone off and we don't want that either

https://philadelphia.craigslist.org/msg/d/royersford-peavey-65w-amp/7896075851.html

 

[Smash]

https://share.google/LOsOrxsiAy814cWXx
This is a pretty damned good guitar for the price

 

[DanTravis62]

I would get him something like an Epiphone Les Paul (a lower end one) that way he can handle classic rock and metal as well if he wants to later and a katana

 

[JackBootedThug]

I have a Jackson js32 with dragonfire h90’s and a pv vyper 2 that belongs to my sons buddy he’s wanting to sell for 300….

 

[311boogieman]

I smell an amp fest

 

[CoreyW]

The idea of gifting the boy one of your guitars is pretty awesome, maybe tell him you want to give him one but he has to learn like 20 songs beginning to end and be able to play along with them or something, to incentivize him to stick with it.

Almost all of the beginner kits are vastly improved over what was available to beginners 15-20 years ago. I would find out his favorite guitarist and see if I could find a kit with a similar guitar.

 

[Techdeth]

Make sure you tell him I’ll teach his kid and make him like ynqwie in one month lol jk

 

[LP Freak]

These are great practice amps

https://reverb.com/item/93307411-pe...are&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=93307411

 

[matttornado]

Squier starter pack. They're everywhere and are very affordable. You can have one at your door in a couple days if you order it online. Simple.

 

[NinjaRaf]

My son started playing about 2 years ago. I just took him to GC and let him pick what he wanted. He liked this lower level purple Jackson that was about $350. I had an old Peavey Vypyr that I gave him with it for xmas that year. I think it would be pretty easy to stay within that budget. They have tons of smaller amps for cheap. Any small modeling amp is going to get the job done. My first amp was a 10 watt Fender. They have a few cheaper models of guitars at GC, too. Maybe have him scope out some stores before taking his kid in to make sure they have something within the budget.

Now he has that guitar, one of my cousins old LTDs, an LTD Iron Cross, and one of my custom flying Vs that he always talks about. For his bday I gave him my KSR 212 and EVH 50s. And for xmas this year he is getting a Jackson JL-7. I think I've spent more on gear for him in the last 2 years than myself haha.

 

[Geo]

 

[mctallica1]

Thanks for all the great thoughts guys!

 

[KentC]

Are you cinsidering anything in the used market? Facebook Marketplace has been a good place for me to go lately for stuff.

If he's just starting out, I'd recomend nothing with a floating trem. All of my first guitars had floaters on them and it was very discouraging at first with keeping them in tune. Didn't help they were cheaper guitars with cheap hardware to start with. Somethng stable where he can grab and rip.

I always see some very nice schecters on Marketplace all the time. Great solid guitars, no floating bridges to mess with if you see one with a TOM bridge set up.

 

[andrewd]

Another option is to spend all 300 on the guitar (more options this way) and maybe use plugin for amp.

 

[buddachile]

Make sure the guitar is easy to play. Sometimes a cheap seemingly crappy guitar cab be fixed by a good setup.