Very tight budget, fix up cheap Ibanez or put money towards another guitar and/or amp

T

thrashmonkey

New member
So after a horrible year, brutal winter with no side work and car troubles I had to sell almost all of my gear. I'm left with my acoustic and an cheap Ibanez Gio and amp that came with the starter pack. The guitar isn't very inspiring and the amp is pretty horrible, but at least it gave me something to play around with.

I finally have a little bit of money to spend, 100-175$, and am trying to decide if I should pick up a cheap, but better amp, used Peavey Bandit, Micro Terror..., or new pickups for the Ibanez.

I'm really a fender guy and really want to pick up a used Squier that I can eventually mod, but would still be stuck playing through the crappy Ibanez amp. I'm leaning towards a new amp since even if I swap pickups in the Gio I'm still stuck playing through the Sh***y amp.

If I did go for another guitar I could pickup a cheap interface plug into my macbook, but I really love getting loud and playing through a actual amp.
 
Re: Very tight budget, fix up cheap Ibanez or put money towards another guitar and/or

Hang in there bro. Life sure takes some unexpected turns, doesn't it. I'm in a similar place, so I feel for you. Hope your situation starts to turn for the better.

.
 
Re: Very tight budget, fix up cheap Ibanez or put money towards another guitar and/or

Thanks man! I hope things get better for you too. I've been down before and I always manage to get back up again. Things could be worse and I know plenty of people who aren't doing as well as I am now. Music has always been the one consistent thing that gets me through and as long as I have that I'll be ok. Oddly enough the sludge metal kick I'm on now has cheered me up and made me want to play more. I just want to spend my money wisely. I just want some gear I'm relatively happy with and then spend my time playing/practicing.
 
Re: Very tight budget, fix up cheap Ibanez or put money towards another guitar and/or

I got a Peavey Blazer 158 practice amp recently for $60 on ebay, free shipping. It won't bring tiles off the roof but it sounds good and is nice for a 15W amp with reverb. Something like that would allow you to pick up a used pair of decent pickups, as well.
 
Re: Very tight budget, fix up cheap Ibanez or put money towards another guitar and/or

Start with the Bandit first. You can get just about any tone out of it that you need. (Look for the silver stripe version with the Thrash button. Seriously.) You can usually find them for about $100.

Then figure out what you're missing in the GIO's pickups and go from there.
 
Re: Very tight budget, fix up cheap Ibanez or put money towards another guitar and/or

Guitar center has an old Peavey studio pro for 99$, I'm going to go back and check that out. I was there the other night, but spent the time checking out an Orange Micro Terror. I'm going to pick up a Weller Soldering kit and hopefully a decent used bridge pickup. will be awhile before I can swap the out the old one since I've actually have to learn to solder first, but I don't mind the wait since I've been wanting to learn to solder for a long time. I think I'm going to hit up a few pawn shops tomorrow if I can
 
Re: Very tight budget, fix up cheap Ibanez or put money towards another guitar and/or

Studio Pro is pretty much the same thing as a Bandit, so you'd be good to go on that. (Make sure it's a Transtube model.)
 
Re: Very tight budget, fix up cheap Ibanez or put money towards another guitar and/or

If you're a Fender guy, get a used Peavey Predator for about $100. It's an MIA Strat copy with a very good body and neck, and OK pickups. Much better modding platform than a squier for the same money.
 
Re: Very tight budget, fix up cheap Ibanez or put money towards another guitar and/or

+1
on the Bandit

the amp is the foundation of the tone

the guitar is the feel

the Persian Rug is the Floor
 
Re: Very tight budget, fix up cheap Ibanez or put money towards another guitar and/or

I would start with the amp. And I recommend being a bit patient, with that and dont compromise on that, in favor for pickups on the GIO. A good amp can make even an OK guitar sound good. And then later you could save up and get squire or something what the others have recommended.
 
Re: Very tight budget, fix up cheap Ibanez or put money towards another guitar and/or

Whilst it would be possible to make hardware and electronics upgrades to the Ibanez GiO electric guitar, you will eventually run up against the Cheepnis of the wooden parts.

Amp soon. Save for better guitar.
 
Re: Very tight budget, fix up cheap Ibanez or put money towards another guitar and/or

Amp will surely be a more drastic change to your tone than pickups.

I can also recommend a couple of my favorite combos with good, crunchy distortion: Randall RG75 G2 (or any from the G series, really) and the ValveKing 112. The Randall does extreme gain pretty well AND a more Marshall-type really well red/green modes) and the VK112 can do sludgy, middy metal as well as anything out there while staying fairly tight.

Neither of them is particularly expensive on the used market but the Randall is a bit harder to find.
 
Re: Very tight budget, fix up cheap Ibanez or put money towards another guitar and/or

Check out the 5 watt amps Bugera makes, or the BC15 WITH tube preamp. They are right at $200 (BC15 is $130, but it's a hybrid) with free shipping from Sweetwater. I have the V22 and I can vouch for it being very solidly built, and sounding wonderful. Ignore people who talk crap about the build quality, they have obviously never been in one. I made the mistake for YEARS of buying better guitars and keeping the same crappy SS practice amp. I wish I would have bought a better amp YEARS ago.
 
Re: Very tight budget, fix up cheap Ibanez or put money towards another guitar and/or

What about a Line6 15watt modeling amp, or one of the new Blackstar modeling amps? I just played through one of the IDCORE series Blackstar amps yesterday and wow, what a cool little amp. So much more bang for the buck that an old Peavey...which I also think are pretty cool amps. The Blackstar's start at $99 for the 10 watt, and $149 for the 20 watt.

The only time I'd choose the Bandit over one of the modeling amps would be if I were playing live with a drummer and needed volume on the cheap.
 
Re: Very tight budget, fix up cheap Ibanez or put money towards another guitar and/or

I've picked up several small modeling amps for my students to use at school. I cruise Ebay and place low bids on a few every 2 days or so. Eventually you win one. I've bought 2 Microcubes, one Peavey Vypyr, one Vox Valvetronix, and 2 Line 6 Spiders. The Vox sounds best to me. I didn't pay over 75 dollars for any of them. You could sell your guitar and amp on Ebay to add to your funds.
 
Re: Very tight budget, fix up cheap Ibanez or put money towards another guitar and/or

The Studio Pro at Guitar Center sold, but I'm I think I am going to try and be a little patient and keep an eye on craiglist. There have been some great deals on amps that I missed because of lack of money in the past.
 
Re: Very tight budget, fix up cheap Ibanez or put money towards another guitar and/or

Mr. B said:
I've picked up several small modeling amps for my students to use at school. I cruise Ebay and place low bids on a few every 2 days or so. Eventually you win one. I've bought 2 Microcubes, one Peavey Vypyr, one Vox Valvetronix, and 2 Line 6 Spiders. The Vox sounds best to me. I didn't pay over 75 dollars for any of them. You could sell your guitar and amp on Ebay to add to your funds.
Click to expand...

Yeah I had a Vox Valvetronix AD15 and loved the amp. I wish I never sold it. There is are several fairly cheap ones on ebay right now so thats definitely something I'm considering. I'd actually prefer the older models since it seems that the last version they put out had a lot of noise/hiss problems.
 
Re: Very tight budget, fix up cheap Ibanez or put money towards another guitar and/or

the Vox Valvetronix VT20 is on GC Used for $99 or less

you can also find a Bandit at the same place for about the same

I like the Valvetronix too just really am overstocked on amps at the moment
 
Re: Very tight budget, fix up cheap Ibanez or put money towards another guitar and/or

My PM aside, when you start looking for a cheap guitar to mod up, I would also suggest looking at the Yamaha Pacifica line - I picked up a 112v in practically new condition, for $120. The neck & middle pickups are reasonable (though I am switching mine out), and the bridge pickup is very workable (plus, the factory tone knob is a push/pull to split the bridge(!)). The guitar itself feels good, and plays well - nice profile on the neck, and you can deck the bridge.
 
Re: Very tight budget, fix up cheap Ibanez or put money towards another guitar and/or

jtougas said:
My PM aside, when you start looking for a cheap guitar to mod up, I would also suggest looking at the Yamaha Pacifica line - I picked up a 112v in practically new condition, for $120. The neck & middle pickups are reasonable (though I am switching mine out), and the bridge pickup is very workable (plus, the factory tone knob is a push/pull to split the bridge(!)). The guitar itself feels good, and plays well - nice profile on the neck, and you can deck the bridge.
Click to expand...

The Yamaha Pacifica's are definitely on my radar also. The only problem I've had, and its not a deal breaker, is most of the pacifica's I find have rosewood fretboards and I prefer maple. Again it's not a deal breaker and the consensus seems to be that they are great guitars for the money. I'm going to continue hitting up GC, Sam Ash, and the local mom and pops as well as craigslist. Amp is top priority, but if I run into a great deal on a guitar I'm digging I'll grab it. Next week my landscaping/odd jobs will start up so if I can be a little more patient my budget will go up a bit. The Gio will come in handy as means to test my soldering skills eventually
 
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