Why Does My $100 Electric Guitar Sound Like a Kids Toy

highon2str on 23/11/2020 - 23:48

Ok so maybe it's a little bit more than $100 - I got this set a couple months ago to learn to play all the rock songs I grew up with as a kid. Only casually played an acoustic before all this, looking at tabs on the internet - so I'm still quite new to all the terminology and technicalities.

2 mths into my electric guitar playing and I'm kind of wondering why the output doesn't sound… chunky, for want of a better word. I realise this guy's guitar is probably in another dimension all together but when I play the same chords, they don't sound chunky and solid. Sort of like the amplification is just really weak, hope that makes sense.

Question is, what is the problem here (apart from the fact it's a $100 guitar and $20 amp) and what can I do to improve on the sound? Does it not sound good because of the pickups, electronics or is it just a crappy amp? Is it possible and worth changing anything on this guitar or should I be looking to trade up?

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Comments

  • jesterx on 23/11/2020 - 23:53
    +4

    1) That dude isn't playing an entry level monterey 2) he is using an effects pedal with distortion.

    edit: here's a video by the same guy you linked that walks you through entry level effects pedals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHZLJoHo1vg

    • Franc-T on 29/12/2020 - 17:34

      I have an entry level guitar (Artist LP60) and their 10W practise Amp.

      https://www.artistguitars.com.au/buy/Artist-LP60-Black-Elect…

      They are an Australian company though the guitars are made in Aus, they have their own QA people over there and the guitar feels and looks the goods as for music guitar is brilliant for the cash, not perfect but sounds very decent - but the Amp is pretty meh and it looks like the same amp same as yours.

      I bought a $300 Blackstar ID Core V2 modelling practise amp (40W) and it really brings the guitar to life.I would get that over a Cube or something as it has effects and so you dont need the pedals (At least as a beginner) though as soon as I get good, im buying a wah pedal!

      Whatever you do, get a locking strap if you dont wan to drop it.

  • jono1971 on 24/11/2020 - 00:14

    You gotta trade up unfortunately! Minimum spend to get anywhere close to a professional sound would be 4 to 500 on a guitar with high quality pickups, possibly humbuckers if you want a hard rock/metal driving tone. Then you’d need to buy a small entry level multi-effects unit for distortion, delay and reverb effects etc. You could bypass the amp completely and just practice with headphones and save up for a decent amp around $500.

    • AustriaBargain on 24/11/2020 - 02:33
      +3

      I wish every musician would practice with headphones.

  • highon2str on 24/11/2020 - 00:22

    Thanks for the replies guys. Yes I'm into heavy rock/metal sounding tones. Metallica, Green Day, Disturbed, System of a Down, If I were to do upgrade in steps, leaving the amp for last, in what order would I be upgrading or buying new gear?

    Is this effects pedal any good? Is it worth buying 2nd hand?

    • 1st-Amendment on 24/11/2020 - 08:27
      +1

      A good amp should be first on the list. A common mistake is to use distortion to get the 'chunkiness', but that usually comes from volume and gain on a big and expensive tube amp. There is no other way to get it which is why all rock/metal guitarists have them.

  • whitelie on 24/11/2020 - 03:26
    +2

    You'll probably get better bang for your buck with the old faithful Boss Metal Zone or the MT2W if you feel like splurging a little more.
    Some quick settings I found here - Note I haven't tried these personally.

    If you're going to spend $350+, you may as well get an amp like the Boss Katana

    If you want a better sound, you're going to have to stop buying your gear from JB and go to a proper music/guitar shop.

  • skrot on 24/11/2020 - 07:42
    +1

    The more important thing is almost certainly the amp/speaker, rather than the guitar. The most expensive guitar through that amp would very likely only sound subtly better, but not fundamentally change anything.

    On top of that single coil guitars will usually not be great for metal, but given the right amp and perhaps distortion/boost/compression pedals they could be used for it.

    I have an Axe FX 3 (https://shop.independentmusic.com.au/fractal-audio-axe-fx-ii…), so haven't looked too much into cheaper guitar amps, but definitely look into the amp as the primary concern.

  • 1st-Amendment on 24/11/2020 - 07:42

    Why doesn't my $500 car perform like Lewis Hamilton's? Should I use better oil? :P
    Sorry for that but you get what you pay for, and the reason that good musicians sound good, is a combo of equipment and ability, and you need both.
    The 'chunkiness' you refer to is called tone, and even pro guitarists will spend thousands of dollars and years chasing it.

    To answer your question, the two biggest contributors to good tone (other than the player) are the pickups and the amp, and there's no getting around the cost of these.
    Personally I wouldn't waste my time with any guitar that costs under $800 new. This is the level where they start to get usable. Look for second hand to save a few dollars.
    Amps are probably about the same, although you can get some decent practice amps for closer to $500 these days.

    There's tonnes of YT channels devoted to this, but be aware that even pro guitarist have the same problem. You can never quite get the right tone, so you're constantly buying more and more (expensive) gear to chase it. :)

    Also be aware that most of those YT guitarist are pros, so there is an illusion that if you just play the same notes you will sound the same. But there is a reason why famous guitarists are famous, and it's not just the instrument :)

    • Franc-T on 29/12/2020 - 17:36

      One thing when comparing guitars, its diminishing returns - if you spend wisely youll get almost as good sound as a expensive guitar

      Personally I looked into this and the only real things I am missing on my cheapie (at my current skill level) is locking tuners and better pickups but its not a pressing need.

  • newjerseydamo on 24/11/2020 - 07:52
    +7

    Because at that price, it is a kid's toy.

  • slow on 24/11/2020 - 08:27
    +1

    If you want to get a variety of sounds on a budget you could go for a small amp with built in effect, like a Vox DA5 or Roland Cube for around $250 (or second hand for half that)

    I have a DA5 and it has a huge range of sounds and effects built in to experiment and play with and find what you like

    Or you could go for something like an irig (or fake irig off ebay), which turn your phone and tablet into an amplifier with effects

    https://www.musicradar.com/reviews/guitars/vox-da5-25789

    This will give far more bang for your buck than a new guitar. Most p[people would struggle to tell the difference between a cheap guitar with single coil pickups and a $5,000 Gibson when played with lots of effects.

    Playability on the other hand is another story. Your cheap guitar probably has a horrible setup and action

  • highon2str on 24/11/2020 - 10:44

    Thanks I'm learning a fair bit from all this! I'm no where near good enough to justify the more expensive gear, but as some of you have suggested, I think a budget amp with built-in effects may be what I need at this moment in time!

    @slow the DA5 looks good to me! Might have to hunt around for one.

  • 0riole on 24/11/2020 - 17:38
    +3

    This guitar is not too bad, I've had a bit of a look at them in store, I've built and modified a number of guitars and have close to 30 kicking around the house with costs ranging from $80 up to $50K, so I'm coming at it with some knowledge and experience. This is a single coil pickup guitar with ceramic magnets, well voiced for classic rock, country, blues and jazz, not ideal for heavier tones, but Iron Maiden and Jimmy Page used Strats with singles. The best advice I could give is to get a setup from a guitar tech, it will make the guitar easier to play and sound at its best. If you're looking to play metal or heavy rock, humbuckers are the go to there, and active ones if you can find them at a good price.

    As for the amp, I use a similar one on my test bench to make sure I'm getting a sound out of a guitar after I do work on it, and that's all it's good for, as for a tone that's not going to happen with this amp. Look at the Katana amps, they are well priced and sound good for a digital amp, the mark II has recently come out, so look at the second hand market. The Blackstar HR1 is a good low powered amp that will give you a useable tone, but it's not as versatile as the Katana, but have been around awhile, so they pop up a bit more on the second hand market.

    At the end of the day, the tone comes from your hands, use what you have and get your skills up a bit before splashing out on gear, it's an endless trap once you start, just have fun.

    • Franc-T on 29/12/2020 - 17:39

      You recommend the HR1 - why would you get that over a Cheaper core V2? Genuinely curious.

  • highon2str on 25/11/2020 - 00:05

    Lol when you said you had a similar amp that you used to see if a guitar made a sound..

    I managed to get a 2nd hand DA5 amp for $140 delivered so I'm looking forward to giving that a go when it arrives. Definitely need to keep practicing before I commit any more financially. It's only been 2 mths and the main song which I'm learning to play is probably not the most beginner friendly (Metallica's Master of Puppets) but hey it's keeping me going and I'm having fun which is the main thing I reckon!

    • slow on 25/11/2020 - 08:17

      That's a lot of fun to play. The key is to start slow and accurate, without worrying about the speed - that will come. If you start fast and sloppy the accuracy won't necessarily come.

      And of course if you really want to play it properly it is all downpicks, but I don't bother about that!

  • highon2str on 25/11/2020 - 16:59

    So! I got back home to the DA5 waiting for me. It didn't come with a power supply so I found an old 12v power adaptor for it and powered it up. What a difference! Loving the effects!!!

    The only thing is that it buzzes big time unless I put my hand on the guitar strings or touch the bare metal input plug that goes into the amp. Is this a grounding issue and can this be easily fixed? The power adaptor is 2 pin with no earth pin if that makes a difference?

    • slow on 26/11/2020 - 10:47
      +1

      yes, definitely grounding, a common problem (esp with single coil pickups)

      There are lots of articles on the net about things you can do to try to alleviate this, a better cable for starters. If you want to go further you can get some some copper or aluminum tape ($10 for a roll) and shield and ground all the cavities.

      Suggest do a bit of reading eg

      https://www.fralinpickups.com/2018/11/12/understanding-guita…

      • highon2str on 14/12/2020 - 10:56

        Thanks that was a good read! I've noticed that the buzzing can be eliminated by cranking up the vol knob on the guitar to max and selecting certain pickups only. I'm thinking this suggests an issue with grounding and might be worth looking inside the guitar at some stage.

        In the meantime for casual practice it's not giving me too much grief and the DA5 amp has been awesome fun to play around with the effects!

        • dubroutine on 23/12/2020 - 16:33

          That's normal for an electric guitar, your body is part of the grounding so you will have buzzing unless touching the strings. This shouldn't be much of a problem as you will generally be touching the strings whilst playing guitar…!

          Guitar volume on max means you're getting the best signal to noise ratio.

          On your Stratocaster style guitar, you are using Single Coil pickups, which are inherently noisy. You will notice there are 5 positions on the selector switch, the "in-between" positions 2 and 4 have both pickups on at once and thus will cancel some hum.

          Naturally having higher gain/overdrive/distortion sounds will also increase the noise in your system, as cranking up the guitar signal until it distorts results in cranking up the noise floor as well.

          If you want a "chunkier" tone and less noise, you can get a guitar with humbuckers, which is the preferred style of pickup for hard rock and metal. Apart from having a fuller, smoother, louder tone than single-coils, humbuckers are made with a noise-cancelling design using dual coils, so will be as quiet as your guitar in the 2 and 4 positions all the time.

          • highon2str on 24/12/2020 - 09:47

            @dubroutine: Ah yes I have noticed certain pick up positions are quieter! Thanks for some good info.

            Will look into the humbucker guitars as a future upgrade :)

  • highon2str on 22/03/2021 - 09:53

    I'm back! 4 mths on and I'm still enjoying it. Is anyone able to tell if this guitar has humbucker pick ups? Visually I see 2 in the close-up photo but I'm not sure and the specs don't say?

    • highon2str on 22/03/2021 - 09:54

      worth considering this guitar for about $400 shipped?

    • Baysew on 22/03/2021 - 10:35

      It has a Humbucker in the bridge and single coils in the middle and neck. Seems like JB is quitting their music stock? Half Price Guitars and Accessories @ JB Hi-Fi Even some chat about the LTD.

      • highon2str on 22/03/2021 - 10:41

        Hey! AWESOME! That's good to know, thanks for the reply and yes that's how I stumbled upon the LTD!

        This would be a decent upgrade from a kit guitar you reckon?

        • Baysew on 22/03/2021 - 11:03
          +1

          Seems like at good price . LTD's is ESP's entry level brand, popular with 'Metallica' style music. No real idea about this exact model. (Note: the Manny's guitar not strictly comparable as has a Floyd Rose, (Which you don't need anyway) but actually mark down seems genuine.)

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