Music room

[Bradley Young]

So, I'm trying to kit-out a music room. I think I'm good on the PA/mixer/monitor and bass front.


Here's where I don't have experience: guitars, keyboards, etc.


I'm looking to fill out my dance card. What should I get? Broad brush, I'm looking to get some guitars and one or more guitar amps that will cover a decent spectrum for visitors. Something as simple as a Stratocaster + Telecaster + a small-ish guitar amp could work, but I wouldn't know which amp to pick.


Open to suggestions. What would you pick for a small, but quintessential guitar collection?

[Bradley Young]

Not trying to avoid Alembic, either-- but one question I have: are they "too different" from what a typical guitar player would expect? Is there too much of an adjustment?

[gtrguy]

Nord with a Roland keyboard amp, Strat (I like MIJ ones) and a fender guitar amp of some kind. Or MIM strat/tele with better pickups. A good 2 channel amp and maybe a Tube Screamer pedal or a Blues Driver pedal. There are so many good guitar amps out there that don't cost an arm and a leg. I personally like Mesa MKIII combo 60 watters and Zinky Blue Velvets for small size amps with lots of Horsepower.

[gtrguy]

What do you have for drums? What style of music will you be playing?
Yes, I think an Alembic guitar is a bit much for the typical guitar player. I think the Strat pretty much has come out on top of the guitar wars.

[lbpesq]

Bradley, what's your budget?  Specific recommendations depend on how much you want to spend.  Generally, a single coil guitar (fender type), and a humbucker guitar (Gibson type) should cover it for 95% of the guitarists.  But do you really need to supply guitars?  I get plenty of guitarists who come by my studio to jam who appreciate that I have some amps so they don't have to schlepp theirs.  But they virtually all bring their own guitars.  As for amps, a Fender, a Mesa, and a Marshall would, again, cover the bases 95% of the time.   Or a modelling amp could cover all the bases.  I wouldn't bother too much with stomp boxes.  Most guitarists will bring their own.  And I agree that Alembic guitars are probably not the best idea.  It would be akin to supplying a stick shift car to someone who has only driven an automatic.  There is definitely a learning curve to playing an Alembic guitar, more so than I suspect one encounters on the bass side.

Bill, tgo

[Bradley Young]

Maybe you're right, that amps would be more important than guitars per se. A Fender and a Mesa seem like a good idea. Not a huge fan of modeling amps, mainly because there is too much complexity. Looking for a more plug and play operation.

As far as budget, well. A couple guitars, amps, keyboard... It adds up!

[Bradley Young]

David: why nord vs say, Yamaha? Reports are that the action on Yamaha is nice.

Drums: we are going to do a Roland mesh set for the drums, and I think we are going to use the Zildjian gen16 cymbals, but have them sent out to have triggers mounted, rather than using the electronics from the gen16 set, which are pretty universally panned.

Musical style: gospel, the gamut from country to hymnals to spirituals to black gospel.

[gtrguy]

I see a lot more Nords on stage versus other keyboards, and some can do a good B3 sound.

Gospel! The Tele is cool. Of course, a Strat can do a great country sound as well, and often be more versatile overall.

Many drummers still hate 'non-real' drums, but I think they will fill the bill. Of course, they record well.

Do you have any pictures?

[Bradley Young]

I'm likely to get a b3/c3 and a 147 Leslie. So emulating a Hammond isn't super high on the list. Although there is only so much space... and there has been some discussion about getting an acoustic piano.

[gtrguy]

Cool! A B2 with Trek percussion added, sounds just as good and costs way less. Make sure the 6 pin outlet on the Hammond is for a 147 amp  - OR -  a 122 amp. They are not the same wiring and a short will result if the wrong one is plugged in.

[hankster]

I want to go over to Bradley's house!

Seriously - a Fender amp of some kind, a keyboard - even a Roland would do - I'll leave it to others to recommend amp. A start or an epiphone humbucker of some kind. What a great idea.

[keith_h]

How loud do you think you'll be? What type of dollars are you wanting to spend?

I'd consider something like the Fender Champ, Blues Junior, Vox AC15 or other small tube combo. While I haven't heard one Egnater has a small combo with bias settings for British or USA tone. The nice thing about the smaller combos is they can be put at table top height and being closer to ear height don't need to be as loud. All of these would be in $400-$600 range give or take.

Like David I've run across quite a few Nord keyboards running sound. I also see quite a few Yamaha keyboards. I think the Nord is popular as it is fairly easy to program and from my understanding isn't limited to the company provided libraries. I've heard the Roland piano patches are very realistic and their keyboard tends to be the closest to a acoustic piano's weighting. However take all of this with a grain of salt as I am not a keyboard player.