are there any tweaks i can make with pickup height, string gauge etc that will help?
(Ive done amp settings, makes it a little better, but i think the issue is the guitar now)

Cheers

Thicker gauge strings will accentuate the bass. Thinner strings will have less boom. As far as settings, obviously the bridge pickup has more twang than the neck pickup. The closer the pickup is to the strings, the stronger signal it will produce. If you want more or less bass response, move that side of the pickup up or down accordingly. You can also move the individual pole screws on the pickup in or out. Take care not to adjust the pickup too close…the magnetic field of the pickup can damp the sustain of the string. When you press the strings on the highest frets, the closest distance should be the thickness of a coin.

If that doesn’t do it for you, you could always consider a phase/polarity switch.

Nice guitar BTW

Also any suggestions on pick up brands to get for metal?

Wearing the guitar with a strap around your shoulders and looking down at the pick-ups, you’d want to keep the pickups on the right (closest to the bridge) and use the one pickup on the left to replace with your choice of pickup.

Ask you local music dealer what he recommends (and has in stock) for pickups ideally suited to metal playing.

If you had $1000-1200 to spend on guitar/case a good amp and maybe a stomp box or two – you would have a lot of choices for gear that is plenty good enough to play gigs with. Hope that helps

I even used one when recording, pluging into the DI box and then plugging the box into the computer. Initially I’d plugged the head directly into a mixer that fed into the computer that was doing the recording but a buzz was unmistakenably present. We switched to the DI-box-to-mixer setup & presto! the buzz was gone

thanks!

Hello there,

That could be a pretty good rig. I like the Fender Standard Strat. The HSS does give you a little more flexibility. Line 6 Spider amps come in several different sizes. I don’t care for the little 15 watt one. It has the same fault as most other small practice amps, an 8 inch speaker that makes you sound thin and tinny. The 30 watt 1×12 is a much better sounding version and makes a really good beginner amp. The Fender Mustang II 40 watt 1×12 is about the same price with a little more power and more features. You might want to check it out before you buy. It is not that the Spider is a bad amp. I like the Spider and have a 2×12 version. But I think the Mustang II is a little better than the Spider 30 watt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOui83Gh9zs

Later,

I was told that this guitar would have to be set up before i play it. What does this set up include? Strings? Pickups? Wiring? How should i get it set up? Thankyou for your answers! =]

All guitars should be set up when you buy them.

A setup changes the string height (action) so that it’s comfortable to play, changes the length of the string via the bridge tuners to make sure that it is in tune with itself all the way up the neck (intonation), and may involve adjusting the truss rod if necessary to keep the neck itself straight.

A setup does not necessarily have to include new strings or changing pickups or even changing pickup height – although I prefer to get new strings, surely. New strings do change tension over time, so if your strings start buzzing a few days after a setup, then bend them out a little more… or ask the tech while you’re there how you should maintain your strings, that’s probably the best way to go.

I recommend GHS Fast Fret, its a string lubricant that helps your fingers slide along the strings a lot easier – helps get rid of string squeak, and seems to keep strings living longer, too. Good stuff. Other string lubes include Guitar Honey and some other stuff I can’t remember.

I would swap your pickups out until you know what you want, just guessing can be bad times. Get used to how your guitar sounds, so you can make an educated guess, or go to your tech and say "my guitar plays well, but I’d like some more bass" or "I want better distortion" or something like that. If your guitar naturally doesn’t have a lot of bass, for instance, you’d want to get a pickup that has more bass (technically, has more bass response, since pickups are basically filters, so a pickup that filters out less bass) to balance that out. For better distortion, usually you want a hotter pickup. Your tech should be able to suggest something for you… don’t just ask the guy at the Guitar Center counter, he may not know what he’s talking about, and don’t just get the pickups that your favorite guitar player uses, your guitar/amp/signal chain is probably nothing like theirs, so it really won’t help you all that much.

You can learn how to do your own setup, but I strongly strongly strongly! urge you to have it done professionally the first few times so you know what it feels like and how it sounds, that way you know what to expect when you do it.

And yes, Epiphone is a great brand, I think they’re very good quality. Try to play two or three different models, though, I’ve heard the Les Pauls and SGs are different, and you may prefer how one feels (I think one has a heavier neck) versus the other one.

Saul