
Must Have Guitar Equipment During Lockdown
During lockdown, many of us have decided to take up something new with the free time we find ourselves with, one of the instruments that is always popular is the guitar and here are some of the must have guitars and equipment that I think everyone should be trying to get their hands on during lockdown. There have been some fantastic guitars released in the last year or so as well as some amazing advances in gear as well.
Spark Amp
As far as practice amps go I think that the spark amp is one of the best amps around. It’s an amazing amp made by Positive Grid. This is the amp that is leading the way for “smart” amps. As well as having a huge tone bank, the spark allows you to connect to your phone and add effects/change tones from an application on your phone. You can also play jam tracks. There is also a smart feature where the amp will track what you are playing and then create a backing track to fit your piece. It currently retails at around the £250 mark but there are always a wide range of details. You can currently only buy them directly from Positive Grid.
Ibanez RG1121PB – Carribean Islet
This guitar is one of the new Ibanez’s that were released in 2020. I think the main reason I wanted to include this is because of the colour scheme. With lockdown happening again, I want to remember the good times when I could travel and a guitar that resembles the ocean or a beach does exactly that. The guitar boasts a neck made of Maple, Walnut & Purpleheart. This means that the guitar has an amazing sustain. It also has Dimarzio pickups which allows the guitar to reach both metal tones and more mellow options. This guitar retails around the £1000 mark and can be bought at PMT with next day delivery.
Fender Toublemaker Tele
I’ve never been a huge fan of Fenders. When they released a Telecaster/Stratocaster Hybrid made in Japan my head turned. This guitar comes in a few colours but sounds and looks fantastic. It’s also really easy to play in comparison to most telecasters. It has a mahogany neck and two humbuckers for a great tone and great bite which can put EMG’s to shame at times. This guitar is available at GuitarGuitar For £1000 at the moment. This is an absolute steal in my opinion given the quality of the guitar.
Jackson Rhodes – rr24 – Lightening Crackle
This is the guitar for those metalheads who are looking for something new during lockdown. I had never been a huge fan of jackson due to the shape but the finish on this guitar is fantastic. The guitar looks like you’ve got yourself caught up in a lightning storm. This guitar comes with a floyd rose bridge which is fantastic for those who want to release their inner Van Halen. The guitar is available for around £1200 from PMT Online & comes with a case.
Fender Tom Morelo Strat
Fender only recently started selling this model. Sadly it doesn’t come with all the effects pedals you’d need to recreate Morello’s sound. Despite that, This guitar boasts an amazing sound and a floyd rose bridge & is generally miles apart from most other fenders. It boasts a seymour duncan hot rails bridge pickup which allows you to recreate some really killer tones. The guitar is also very versatile so can be used for all genres. You can pick one up from Andertons for Around the £1000 mark