Playing guitar is certainly one of the more expensive past times. There is no guitarist living who is ever totally satisfied with their tone and to change that tone, sadly, it involves buying something new. So what if your a little short of money? Well I'm not going to deny you will have to spend at least a bit of money but there are a few things you can do to save some.
Ebay and Auctions. Second hand gear is always a good move in my opinion. It's so much cheaper and the great thing is (and a point that is vastly overlooked) it generally doesn't loose its quality. Cosmetic damage will probably be in an issue, but do you really mind that when you've found that killer tone? Gear goes unbelievably cheap on Ebay. Head over to a local guitar shop and casually say to the owner 'may I try this?' and spend a good while testing a pedal. Then, if you like it, get onto Ebay and I can guarantee there will be one on there. You've just saved yourself a fortune!
Cheaper gear from the smaller brands. Everyones tone is different. If they weren't, there would only be one pedal, one guitar, one amp. Fortunately, every one likes things a little different. As a result there is a huge range of gear to get your teeth into. Something I highly recommend is buying cheaper and less well known brands. BOSS, Marshall, Fender, Gibson, - they're all the BIG BIG names and as a result they can wack up the prices and people will still buy them. You are paying for the name. Don't get me wrong, they make the highest quality of gear but you can always get a great compromise from the smaller names. Take the Belcat DLY - 503 Delay Pedal we reviewed. £30 for a great delay pedal when you could easily have paid far far more for a better known brand.
Don't over spend. This may seem very obvious but I can speak from experience (and I imagine we've all done the same) where you've seen something and thought 'I NEED THAT'. Well, the chances are you're going to get it home and cue the giant face palm because its awful and you really didn't need it. Especially when we're talking here about guitar gear which generally costs a fair bit. So, think it through properly before buying it. I highly recommend going to a local guitar shop (like I said earlier) and trying out gear before buying it. Even if that means getting a ride to a bigger store that stocks what you're after. When you don't have a huge amount of money to be throwing around buying sensibly is an important thing to keep in mind.
Buying what you need. Not always what you think would be 'awesome to have'. If you're a beginner who is just looking into getting past that starter guitar pack this is worth thinking about. Talk to some guys who know a lot about guitar rigs and gear. In other words, don't go heading straight for those ridiculous sounds you get from a flanger pedal or a harmonist pedal because you're only going to need it every so often. A decent combo amp, overdrive/distortion pedal, maybe some reverb or delay and thats it really (oh and a guitar). At some point I'm going to blog a list of the essentials for the basic guitar rig so keep an eye out for that if you're interested.
Its all about being sensible really and thinking a purchase through. It might well seem like common sense to the more experienced but as a beginner which we all were at some point, it can be easy to overspend on expensive and unnecessary gear.
Thanks for reading as ever! Please leave a comment or any questions and i'll be more than happy to answer. Peace, Linus
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