[Closed] what guitar would you choose for rock/metal up to £500?

I've got one of the older Valvtronix modelling amps - the range of sounds you can get is unbelievable, everything from clean jazzy tones to pure filth, highly recommended!

As for the guitar, have a look at the PRS SE range which feel like much pricier guitars.
You could get a basic Gibson for £500, but the quality
can be a bit variable.
You could get a basic Gordon-Smith for that too, they look a bit basic but are great to play.

Have a look on the HarmonyCentral website for some interesting user reviews of your favourites too.

It's a lovely problem to have, enjoy trying them all out!

I don't play guitar but surely for Rock/Metal it's got to be a Flying V or an Explorer.

Spend as much as you can on the amp and maybe a bit less on the geetar... My favourite guitar's an old Squier that cost me £90 (OK, needed all the electronics hoovered out and binned but all in, under £200) and my next is an old Fender HRR strat that was £250. Went to Denmark Street one day with a grand and a half to buy something new, found nothing that I liked more so bought some pickups for the Fender and a prettier strap 😉

You can play rock and metal on pretty much anything, but, if you want to really use the trem then you should probably consider something with a floyd rose, which does narrow the options. Ibanez are the obvious choice really, remember some cheaper locking tremelos are a bit crap.

Otherwise, something solid and humbucker- equipped... I've a real soft spot for these:

[url= http://www.gak.co.uk/en/squier-tele-custom-black-maple/6508 ]http://www.gak.co.uk/en/squier-tele-custom-black-maple/6508[/url]

Well equipped, mostly play well and a wee bit more distinctive than the usual black SG/flying V/Ibanez/Les Paul.

The PRS SEs that Rusty mentioned can be good too, the quality of the fretwork used to be incredibly random though, but maybe that's improved. Otherwise very good. Epiphone do some decent models though they get sneered at a bit, but you tend to pay over the odds. I'm pretty out of touch though, fell out of playing a bit... Used to be Vintage were the kings of the £300-mark, not sure that's still true.

Do consider something used, guitars tend to get better with age after all. My SG that I used to have cost me something like £300, would have been £900 new at the time, it wasn't worth £900 mind 😉 But having a proper Gibson SG felt a bit special.

I don't know the newer Vox stuff but like Rusty I've got an older one, a blue AD60VTX and it's a great bit of kit. See if you can budget for the floorboard, I sold off almost all my FX after I got the Vox. Pedals are a lot of fun.

I've got the P90 version of that Squire tele - it' s great, so versatile.
I'm really impressed by the newer Squire stuff.

thanks everyone 🙂 actually have just been looking at these [img] [/img] squier classic vibe tele (around £300) and [img] [/img] squier vintage modern tele (around £330). i did have one of the squier tele customs (the humbucker one) and was pleasantly surprised by it. choices choices 😀

Ive got a squier that i picked up for 50 quid waiting for the electrics to get binned and then its going to be a nice little project.

yamaha pacifica

would be my first choice, they are ****ing lush

I thought you said rock/metal not Dire Straits or Chris Rea.

Does it matter what it sounds like?

[img] [/img]

Three of the most ugly guitars i have ever seen there.

teles don't have the right tone for rock/metal, IMO.
2nd hand gibson SG, PRS SE or 2nd hand ESP or ESP LTD.

I had one of these for a while, METAAAAAAL

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

Unlike most BC Riches you could pick it up without injuring yourself, and it'd stand up in a guitar stand Also hung right on a strap, the Warlock I played was so head-heavy, horrible. Was quite a nice bit of kit.

in fact, you'll struggle to find a better deal than this:

[url= http://www.gak.co.uk/en/esp-ltd-kh-202-kirk-hammett-signature/2078 ]ESP KH-202[/url]

one of these:
[img] [/img]

or maybe one of these:
[img] [/img]

or at a pinch, perhaps one of these:
[img] [/img]

NB they don't have to be Epiphone, but I was thinking of the budget...

i must admit that those teles aren't rock guitars as such (i do love teles though) am torn between one of the vintage guitars,prs se custom 24,epiphone explorer (must admit only recently after seeing some pics on musicradar.the raw wood and humbuckers 😀 am going to leave the rock/metal axes (with floyd roses.just stick to ht or prs type whammy bar).my god where will it end (too much choice 😉

Jackson DK2
[img] [/img]
Or Ibanez S570DXQM
[img] [/img]
So much prettier than that old crap 😉

Doh, may have just spent £538
[img] [/img]

Prs se

ooh i've just seen this video.what an axe 😀 (epiphone explorer korina 58 re issue around £360)

For rock and metal I wouldn't get a tele unless you like unconventional sounds! Singlecoils with high gain can sound good but it's not the typical metal tone and it'll also be quite noisy.. if you like the tele shape those Jim Root teles do look very nice 🙂

I would say go for either a Les Paul or SG style. Classic and always a good bet! Vintage are really quite good for the money, Epiphone are also fine but maybe not worth the extra money, and the headstock isn't very nice.

Have a look at the twin humbuckered blacktop tele's.

IIRC available for £456 which is in your price range 😀

The Vinatge vibe teles are absolutely superb for the money. Getting an appropriate rock sound out of them is a peice of cake. They can be a little noisy, simply screen the body cavity and underside of the scratch plate with copper foil, you may well get a 60hz mains hum, but that'll not be noticeable when you're actually playing.

A Yamaha Pacifica of any model number is massively overrated for the money, the neck on them is really nice but all the hardware and electrics are really cheap and nasty,and the pegboard is about the ugliest money can buy.

Vintage guitars are again, really great for the money.

Epiphone are massively overrated,buy a Vintage instead.

Have a look at Jay Turser (which are generally a bit less than your budget, I've got one of their semis and it's brilliant for the money) As others have said Gordon Smith and PRS

At the end of the day, try one you like the look of, don't bother listening through an amp. Buy the one that feels best playing the sort of stuff you think you'll be playing.

Then try some amps to fit the guitar. The vox vt 40 is a nice little amp, but again once you've got the guitar, try it through a range of different amps then buy the one you like the sound of the most with the minimum of knob twiddling.

As a session player, there's few things as annoying as sitting in a studio waiting for a guitarist to finishing spending an hour dicking around with amp and pedal settings to get "the sound just right" So buy an amp that you can just plug in and go, and play the guitar, don't spend your life fiddling around with pedals and knobs.

😥 All this talk of instruments of doom is reminding me of my Kramer Nightswan, with its Floyd-Rose. I owned it for three happy, noisy years.

Then the straplock failed, it hit a monitor and the headstock snapped off. Got it repaired but it was never the same and it got traded in 😥

How about an Ibanez Iceman?
[img] [/img]
there are different versions, they were first introduced in the 70's, discontinued in the 80's, I think, then re-introduced, and are still available. New, they're around £700, but I found one on eBay in the States for around £280 with around £70 postage. As a rock guitar they've long been a favourite shape of mine, much more stylish than a Flying V or Explorer, and apparently a really good instrument to play.

there's few things as annoying as sitting in a studio waiting for a guitarist to finishing spending an hour dicking around with amp and pedal settings to get "the sound just right" So buy an amp that you can just plug in and go, and play the guitar, don't spend your life fiddling around with pedals and knobs.

Agreed! When I play the occasional gig with my old cover band, the other guitarist is forever faffing with his settings, and it never ends up sounding that great. My settings always stay pretty much the same and I just roll my guitars volume knob down for cleans - single channel valve amps ftw 😀

ha am not good enough to play live in front of people (i only play at home) well i did (sold my guitar amp to pay bills 🙁 am playing a borrowed ibanez ergodyne at the moment (un amped) if you want to see how bad i am clicky http://www.youtube.com/user/racefaceec90?feature=mhum. am currently learning to play the spirit of radio by rush (hopefully will be able to play/attempt it by the time i get my new axe/amp 😉 am also just starting to learn the deer hunter theme (john williams) is very difficult though (well for me anyways 🙂

tadeuszkrieger - Member

Epiphone are massively overrated,buy a Vintage instead.

Aye, my brother has an Epi Les Paul, if it said Vintage on the end it'd have cost £200, it's not a bad guitar but it's got some very cheap touches and it really doesn't punch its weight. Very ordinary pickups, wee bit of fret sprout from new...

I had an iceman, great guitar:
[img] [/img]
Sold it to fund my S7320 though:
[img] [/img]
Ibanez make great rock / metal guitars 🙂

That S7320 is a nice looking guitar, but it's a bit too much like many other instruments out there, Strat, PRS, Peavey, with that asymetric double cutaway. It's the uniqueness of the Iceman that I love, although there are copies, they still only look like an Iceman. I can never look at a B C Rich without wanting to do the 'horned fist' salute and yell 'METAAAAAAAAAAALLLLL! in a falsetto. 😆

\m/ Indeed

The Iceman was a great guitar, I didn't really want to sell, but I had to make up the shortfall on the 7 string. I have a JEM 77FP and they compliment each other nicely. I still can't really do the 7 string justice yet though, still trying to get my head round it!

Found these as well:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PARKER-P36-P-36-FLY-ELECTRIC-GUITAR-TELE-EX-COND-/320677920141?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item4aa9e4bd8d#ht_3106wt_922
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Parker-Fly-Electric-Guitar-EURO-RED-799-w-Buy-Now-/280653054171?pt=Guitar&hash=item415839c0db#ht_500wt_922
Love these guitars, like the Iceman, a unique shape, instantly recognisable. That Tele one is lovely.

Slightly over budget, by £12:
http://www.petercooksguitars.co.uk/catalog/parker-tele-style-p-367.html
I love this guitar.

That Parker 'tele' is ****in 'orrible. (IMO, no offence CountZero)
Might be a slightly risky option, but in the 2nd hand market, £500 buys you a lot of guitar.
A bit over your budget, but last month I procured this........
[IMG] [/IMG]
on ebay for £600. The equivalent model today would cost at least £1600 new.
It may be 15 years old, but was almost totally mint.
Unlike bikes, guitar only improve with age, if well looked after.

Ooh PGM lushness

Prs se torero

Now, see, that, whateveritis you've posted up, guitar hero, just blows goats! I mean, WTF are those truly ugly pseudo f-hole things all about? That's just shocking, it looks like a naff 60's copy of something like a Strat gone horribly wrong. You have f-holes on a hollow body, not plastic crap stuck on a solid. I've seen better looking guitars for fifty quid in a second-hand shop. A mate of mine has a beautiful sunburst PRS, I'll have to show him that, I think he'll have a stroke.

you may well get a 60hz mains hum,

I doubt it, in this country. 🙂

Ok, 50 HZ then.I don't just play in this country 🙂 it's still mains hum either way.