ESP Guitars

Used to play a fair bit in my late teens 25 plus years ago and had a nice Aria guitar with a Peavy Studio Pro50 and a few Boss pedals. Involved in a nasty car accident that bent the passenger seat around my left arm and elbow. Haven’t really picked up a guitar in years apart from the odd acoustic now and then. So I am sat here now waiting for delivery on a Sunday for an ESP EC 401DMZ in lemon drop yellow from GuitarGuitar for £449 inc delivery. Was going to push the button on a Gibson Les Paul Studio T 2016 in Wine Red but tried this and it just felt spot on with my limited ability and for the price really good value. It also knocked the epiphone out of the park. The Gibson will have to wait. It also leaves a bit of cash for a decent little practice amp. I try to play mainly 60 and 70’s rock so Im looking for something like a Vox AC30.
Any opinions or experiences of these guitars most welcome.

Haven’t had an ESP in years. Loved my Tele clone. As for the amp I have admit my Line6 stuff simply works and would recommend a try.

No, never played one, but will be interested to hear yours and what you think of it. I think it’s a good choice, the Epiphones usually need some work to make them play well and I don’t like the sound of the pick ups (which you can upgrade I know). Are the humbuckers in the ESP splitable to get a single-coil sound? (I know I could Google it)

I tried a Vox AC 30 and found it very limited, it does what it does exceedingly well but you need a pile of pedals and even then it’s a heavy, fragile piece of kit. I like the Fender Mustang range which are portable cheap as chips and allow you to make all kinds of sounds. They are mainly limited by the original speakers so I’ve replaced with Vintage 30 and Creamback Celestions. You could fit Alnico Creams to get the AC Alnico sound.

Edit: Current guitars: Squier Classic Vibe thinline Tele, Thomann Tele, Mexican Strat. Junior has three Teles, one with humbuckers.

Interested as well, in a (sort of) similar situation myself. My Les Paul recently came back from a ten year loan, in which time I’ve barely played at all.

“The ESP LTD EC-401FMV electric guitar features a single-cutaway vintage-thickness mahogany body with a spectacular flame maple top for superior resonance and stunning beauty. The mahogany set neck has a thin U-shaped contour with a satin finish and 22 extra jumbo frets resulting in a perfect combination of ultra-comfortable feel, fast playability and outstanding sustain. The open-coil DiMarzio 36th anniversary pickups, which possess a soft magnetic field and sweet tone, forge a perfect balance between warmth and clarity and arm this guitar with the ability to go from clean to distorted by pick attack alone. The split coil feature on both pickups further expands the versatility of this beautiful instrument. The ESP LTD EC-401FMV includes a push/pull tone control for splitting both pickups.”

The above info is from musicians friend website.

My Dad used to rebuild and fix old valve amps and still has an attic full of old valves! The Peavy I had was a great amp but bloody heavy. Not planning on going gigging or anything like that just want a nice sound with a bit of character for home use. Will look into the mustang series. The pick ups are meant to mimic the classic 57 spec gibson humbuckers so hopefully they will have a nice tone. Just hope the sound isn’t to metal if you know what I mean!
Can’t get over the price let’s hope it lives up to my expectations.

Push-pull tone to split, excellent. It doesn’t have to drone like a Les Paul then. 😉

Nice guitar!
Recently got back into playing a bit more myself. From what I know, and have read the AC30 is LOUD. It’s not really a practice amp.
I’m looking at the orange micro terror (I think that’s it) tiny 20w amp and a little cab with an 8in speaker. They sound amazing from the stuff I’ve seen on the web, no inbuilt effects so a reverb pedal would be nice but well worth a look!

Nice guitar that. As Martyn said, an ac30 will be bloody loud. You might want to consider an all-valve amp in the 5w range. They tend to shine when cranked. Apologies if I’m teaching ya granny to suck eggs.

I’m really out of touch with gear so any advice or opinions really appreciated. Ha the most modern stuff I did was Def Lep and GnR’s so that shows how long it is since I’ve picked up an electric guitar. I will see how my elbow holds out.

I had a ltd ec 1000 with emgs in it. It was a lovely guitar. Sounded and felt nothing like a Gibson LP (it’s not intended to). The thin U neck is very comfortable and quick as well. A different feel to a LP. Nicer in a way.
Looking at the spec you get dimarzio pups in the one you’re buying. I think this will help bring it closer to sounding like a les Paul and it will be fantastic for classic rock tones. Depending on what neck profiles you like, you may well forget about buying a Gibson later. I really rate the LTD range for quality and like the neck profile.

Be excited. Be very excited, you’ve got a corker there 🙂

Amp wise you’re spoilt for choice theses days. Depending on budget there’s a ton of excellent options.

Edit – as you’re getting amp advice, don’t get too hung up on amp wattage. Its relevant if you want to drive the output section or for clean headroom
You don’t need to drive output valves hard to get great tone so I’d recommend you focus more on getting an amp with a decent volume circuit.
Edit2 – and don’t shy away from the digital stuff. Amplifire, line 6 helix, kemper etc all sound amazing.

Prepare to be skint. It really is worse than bikes.

Some sound bites to demonstrate how versatile modelling amps have become.

A clean setting sounds folky
90s stack sounds
Jangly 60s Fender amp sound for the Pretenders
Slade overdriven Bassman
Brad Paisley overdriven 60s note that rolling the volume off on the guitar cleans it up just like a tube amp;
Sweethome 60s Fender sound
Dépeche Mode Blues sounding British
Chuck 57 Fender
Echo beach 60s fender with a flanger then overdrive
Messing about on a “guitar hero” setting
Pitch shifter set to an octave lower (the fingers normally play that on a bass and get lost on a guitar).

The sound of the Tele comes through on all the settings but it gives you an idea. The playing ain’t great but it’s the first take without a warm up or a click (everyone needs excuses) and I just played the first thing I could think of when I got to a setting.

slight tangent: I have the same guitar as in edukator’s video. It is just stupidly good for the money and the name/country of manufacture on the headstock. Treble bleed and compensated saddles ftw.

OP yours looks lush too.

Been looking at the new range of Vox Valvetronix myself recently. Only thing putting me off getting one is the lack of an fx loop

Compenstated saddles yup, Gotoh vintage tuners, but what’s a Treble bleed? A 22uF capacitor (done) or somthing more sophisticated?

A 22uF capacitor

yep. Some people also add a resistor (i forget which value) parallel to it as well, but yeah it keeps the treble up as you roll off the volume. Curious, as my much older much cheaper plywood, toploading 90’s japanese squier tele with ceramics and tiny pots even had one from new.

I’d recommend the Blackstar HT-5R as an amp. I’ve had one for just over a year and love it. Very versatile and has great clean and over driven sounds.

That’s a nice looking guitar you’ve got coming.

Prepare to be skint. It really is worse than bikes.

It really is.. I’ve had my very old originals worked on (2 strat copy’s, 2 les Paul copy’s) and somehow managed to buy a tele copy (it’s brilliant) and an ibanez locking trem 80s throwback super strat thing.
I can reccomend not going on eBay after a couple of beers.

Nice looking guitar their Inbred.
As you’ve just come back to the game, I would recommend getting a Korg Pandora on that there eBay.
I have a Marshall AVT50 that just sits there beside the sofa, unused for years, ( not allowed to play it apparently would upset neighbours etc) a Line 6 GX that is absolutely fantastic when can be bothered to be tied to the Mac, an amplitude gizmo and associated App Store downloads for the iPhone ( which truly is pants) , I’ve not got a bad word to say about the Pandora.
Plug in guitar, plug in headphones, and it just works.
As per my guitar, ( which will stay with me for life) one thing I would never sell.

I have managed to appropriate a Peavy Audition Trans-Tube 15W practice amp and a Boss ME25 that looks far to complicated for it’s own good. All I need now is a Guitar! Will look into the Korg. Hated to sell my stuff first time round got next to nothing for it.

Apologies for their/ there

But you correctly used “there” in both places.

I want one like this

Have a mooch about Bumtree for second hand amps and stuff. I got a 90s Peavey Bandit 110 Transtube in awesome condition for £35! Thirty five pounds, that’s just under 44p per Watt 😀

I have a mate who has a line-6 pocket pod for practice use that he never uses. May have to borrow that and give it a go.

Look again EduKator, I’m miffed

Ah yes, the first one.

It shouldn’t cost much to build a yellow ESP Strat like Anderson’s. Any 400 series Strat with a maple neck, paint the body yellow and make up a custom pick guard with a humbucker and two single coils (with black covers). Just volume and one tone wired like a tele with a five-position switch. Imitating Anderson’s playing may prove harder.

Edit: listening to his Strat has encouraged me to rewire mine with just one tone control. I can then move the volume control out of the way of my little finger.

Adamson.

Amp-wise, you might want to check out one of these, the Vox Lil’ Night Train amp and cap:
http://www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-amp-heads/pid19411/cid689/vox-lil-night-train-head-and-cab-set.asp
I have heard one of these being played by a very good guitarist, Dearbhla Minogue of The Drink, she was playing a rather unusual Tele, all black, no scratch-plate, black humbuckers and a small bridge, no ‘ashtray’ tailpiece.
Very loud for such a tiny amp, when she wanted it; I asked her about it and she loves it, it’s quiet and subtle when she wants it to be, then loud when she winds it up.

That Line 6 Pocket Pod looks awesome.
Guitars for me are worse than bikes, money pits the both of them….

.

It has arrived and it’s lovely apart from some heavy handed nugget ( not me this time ) has stripped the threads on the toggle switch. So I’ll have to source one from the Internet probably cheaper and faster. It’s a 3.5mm cream or ivory knob (does any body know a good supplier of bits?) No fret buzz, action is not to high. It’s a full thickness body but I think it’s been pocketed because the weight feels fine. The neck is fantastic slightly flatter than a Gibson and So helps with bending. It’s got some D’Addario XL strings on it, needed a quick tune and a bit of time to settle down. It’s a far better guitar than I am a player at the moment. For £449 I am amazed at the quality. There has never been a better time to get a bargain guitar.

I’ve used these guys before

http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/parts-c4/selector-switches-c112/allparts-sk-0710-025-toggle-switch-tips-usa-stratocaster-white-2-pack-p5562

Not sure if that’s a match for yours though

EDIT:

Just found this

http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/hardware-parts-c1/knobs-c39/gibson-replacement-knobs-c137/metric-les-paul-toggle-switch-tip-cream-p412

Haven’t used this lot before, but it’s only 89p

Or you could use some glue?

I’ll not worry to much at the moment about the toggle switch. I’d rather get a good strap with some lockable clips. The pocket pod is an awesome little bit of kit what a laugh. So many tones and effects, welcome to the jungle is my favourite so far. This hobby could end up costing me a little bit of money.

And a lot of time.

Locking straps, I’ve got Planet Waves, Planet Lock straps on mine. All stayed very secure

http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/search/planet-lock

I use Jamup Pro on my iPhone as a practice amp. If you read the stuff online people are using them for lots of things (practice, gigging, recording etc). Sound quality is fantastic with decent headphones.

I also own a POD which I’ve used for many years and is fine but it’s just a heavier / less versatile version of the season thing. Ditto pocketPOD.

My Fender Champ rarely gets USED these days.

TLDR; Do you actually need an amp? Even if you do, it’s worth investing in a Jamup setup for the signal processing.

I’ve seen pocket pod mentioned a few times now.

If you already own an iPad, bias with jam up has more functionality, better tones and is easier to use. Pocket pod is outdated now and it hasn’t aged like a vintage valve amp 😉
Bias can be bought for the PC too but is a bit steep IMO.

If I was looking for a digital solution now though, in price order it’d be Amplifire, helix and kemper. I’ve committed a few acts of false economy (like the pocket pod) that just sit in a draw unused, so would spend more on the above.

Don’t shy away from spending 🙂 you wouldn’t by a cheap bike if you could find a better bike through bargain hunting or second hand. At least if you buy second hand you’ll lose less when you sell it on.

Like bikes, a lot of second-hand stuff is being sold for reasons that make a bad buy. My Mexican Strat is second hand but a few months old and no marks on the pick guard – the guy simply didn’t play, a good reason to sell. I tried two 70s Strats but one had a twisted neck and the other was just old and tired. Strange shaped necks, warped wood, worn frets, bodged repairs and old electrics make old guitars a poor buy unless you want a classic to hang on the wall. I’d rather play something new/nearly new even if it’s a replica of something made in the 50s.

Things have obviously moved on a lot digitally since I played. The Boss Me25 and a laptop and you have a home studio nearly. Will look into some software and see what’s about.