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Recommendations

Guitar Setups and Repairs

Colin 07913-797193

Amplifier Repairs

Paul 01473-624517

For Vintage instruments, Kustom amplification, and other JHS goods, check out Paul Bannister's shop in Regent Street, Stowmarket.

For Faith (by Patrick Eggle), Tanglewood and Cort acoustics and electro acoustics visit Sundown Guitars.

My cheap chinese plank came from West End Music in Ipswich (on the Norwich Road).

I usually get sheet music from Music World (on Queen Street, just down from the statue of Grandma). They are also Marshall dealers.

I also rate Yamaha goods quite highly, instruments and electronics, and get them from Jack White Music.

Any of the above shops are worth a look, depending on what you're after.

My take on strings

Electrics

Ernie Balls have the tone and tune up instantly but they’re knackered after a night’s gigging. They’re the ones for you if you’re writing them down against tax and you need to string up every day.

Dean Markley’s have the tone, and last a bit longer, but require a few hours playing in. Fit them on a Sunday evening, they will do you for private practice during the week, a band rehearsal midweek, and a gig on Friday night. They might even last for another on Saturday (if they don’t then you’ll have to put on some Ernie Balls on Saturday morning for the gig in the evening, and then put on some Dean Markley’s on Sunday evening).

If you do less playing then Dean Markley’s will last you a good long time. Recently I've discovered d'Addario are also very playable and toneful strings.

I always carry spare Ernie Balls in case I break one, so I can change it and expect the instrument to be playable again almost instantly. In that case, I would replace the whole set when I get home because if one is old enough to break the others will follow suit shortly.

The secret of longevity in strings is to wipe them with a rag after you’ve finished playing. It reduces the effect of the sweat and dirt off your fingers damaging the strings.

Acoustics

Elixir strings are excellent. Expensive, but they last 4 x longer for 3x the price so they're good value for money.

Hints on choosing guitars

Fixed-bridge types (based on eg Gibson designs) are less hassle to maintain than those with a whammy bar. Locking vibrato mechanisms are maximum hassle, likewise Bigsbys. I tend to be suspicious of bridges that have no adjustable saddles (for adjusting intonation), but the cheaper end of the PRS product range plays in tune even without adjustable bridge saddles.
Natural wood finishes are to be preferred because the makers have to use good wood (so you get better tone); paint jobs can hide any old wood. It would seem that woods with a close even grain produce better sounds than those with coarse or uneven grain.
Humbucking pickups are less prone to mains hum (as their name suggests) than single-coil pickups and give a fatter tone.
The people in music shops usually know a lot more about guitars than assistants in catalogue shops; try before you buy.
The prime requirements for any instrument are that it plays in tune and handles well - decoration on cheap instruments may be indicative of corners cut elsewhere.
Value-for-money recommendations: Vintage, Epiphone.

Expensive dream-toys: Gibson Les Paul Standard, Yamaha SG2000
See the Beginners Guitar Page for an example of a cheap-and-cheerful chinese plank.

Hints on choosing amplifiers

Valves will always give you a better tone than transistors, but digital amplifier modelling and other solid-state techniques have improved over the last few years.
You don’t always need high output power, especially in a valve circuit (too much power and then you can’t crank it to get that sound). Consider the 15W Orange Tiny Terror or the 7W Matamp (if you can afford one). The new Chinese Vox AC30s (especially the CC2X) can produce wonderful sounds even at neighbour-friendly levels. Big Marshalls can be great but you need to be playing large gigs to be able to wind them up. Better a small one you can crank than a big one you can’t.
Warning: I’m a sucker for anything that claims to contain EL84s in Class A. If that means nothing to you, you’re probably not addicted yet.
Think what you’re after: tone for a specific use, or a variety of sounds for a variety of uses? Where will you play? You only need a few watts at home; for band rehearsals and small gigs 30 Watts will be plenty. Maybe more power for bigger gigs but if there’s a PA system your combo can be miked or you can use the DI socket if your combo has one so again its not necessary to buy the highest output power you can find.
Amplifiers with more than one channel have their uses (use one channel for backing your singer, and then switch to the other one when you step forward to take a solo). It is also worth considering one which you can control from the guitar – back off the volume pot to lower the volume and clean the sound up for rhythm work, then wind it up to pile on the volume and overdrive for the solo. The Vintage-Modern Marshalls react well to this usage.
If you use a lot of effects do you need them built in to the amplifier, will you have a chain of them between the guitar and the amplifier or will you want them in an effects-loop?
Can you be bothered with the weight and relative fragility of a valve amp? Would something lightweight that you can carry with one hand and chuck in the car boot suit you better? Some combos (eg AC30) can be very heavy (as well as too big for some car boots) so you may not want everything in one box. Consider the Tiny Terror with a 1 x 12" cab which would deliver a good sound AND you’d be able to get both in even a small car boot.
Value-for-money (solid-state) recommendations: Marshall MG & Valvestate series, Vox Valvetronix, Line 6
Notable exceptions to the "valves are too expensive" rule are the Harley-Benton GA5 available from www.thomann.de, and the Vox AC4TV. The GA5 is a simple product, very attractively priced, and has a lovely retro-esque tone quality. It is a 5 watt EL84-powered practice combo. I've got one and thoroughly recommend it. The AC4TV is a 4 watt practice combo, with a power switch that will get you 4W, 1W or even 1/4W. It too is EL84-powered. It loves single-coil pickups, and tolerates low-output humbuckers quite well, but it won't like high-output humbuckers. Neither has any built-in FX (which at least lets you choose what you front-end it with); the GA5 will give you sounds from clean to a bit crunchy, whereas the AC4TV will give you clean to full-on filth.

Expensive (valve-powered) dream-toys: Marshall Hand-Wired series, Blackstar, Vox AC30, Dr Z

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