What setup did you start out with?

[fender1punk]

I was looking through some old photos of my misspent youth, and I came across some photos of my first rig. It got me thinking, how many people started out on something totally ridiculous, before getting a smarter rig. I went from a plywood strat with 14s and a Brownsville combo, to an entry level Jackson and a Crate Blue Voodoo head and a Peavey 4x12. It took a while before I ended up with my PRS'S and a modified Hot Rod Deluxe/Mesa Boogie mini rectifier setup. I had solid state Marshalls, cheap Fender frontmans, you name it. Just curious to what road everyone went down before they got to where they are now. it's not like everyone started on a custom shop model and a Dumble, right?

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Silvertone Mosrite knockoff (used) and a Montgomery Wards amp with tremolo (bought from Spiegel Outlets).

It sucked, even for that time period, but it was enough to get me psyched.

 

[Screamingdaisy]

Fender H.M. Strat, DOD Grunge, Peavey TKO 75

(The TKO75 was a 1x15 bass combo. I bought it because it was the biggest amp in the pawn shop and I assumed that bigger meant better)

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I assumed that bigger meant better

size queen

 

[Screamingdaisy]

At one point I bought a Tube Screamer because I thought it would make my solid state amp sound more like a tube amp...

...in hindsight, I was pretty stupid.

 

[gasmansteve72]

My first guitar was a second-hand hohner arbour strat copy in black running through a Marshall shred master, arion chorus ,Ibanez ts9 into a Marshall valvestate 10watt amp... Use to borrow a friends Laney linebacker 30watt amp for gigs but hated the tone out of it so did the same as Sreamingdaisy an bought ts9 to make it sound more tube like..
Wish I still had the shred master an arbour strat but they went ages ago though I did blow up the Laney an was so so upset about it...

 

[Birdwatcher]

I started with a Yamaha Pacifica as probably most of the guys who live in Europe. It wasn't exactly what I liked (was more of a heavy fan back then) but I kept it fore a long time as it was a great guitar for the money. Guitars that followed: Ibanez PGM, Gibson SG special, Esp horizon, self made tele and CU24. The last three are still with me.

For amps it started with a crate 15w combo which I still have. Awesome sounding amp for the money. Still today! Then there was a JCM 900 w/ 4 12", an ENGL 620 preamp which I sold and regret. Followed by a Marshall TSL 60 through a 4 12" with greenbacks. This was killer! Should have kept this as well but sold it for a rectifier if he first build year. My guitar teacher sold it to me and I immediately felt like a rockstar stupid me sold this one (but with a huge margin) for an ENGL powerball 1 w/ a crate BV 4 12". This setup was the heaviest metal sound! Sold everything except guitars 12 years ago. Now I feel the GAS again and have an ENGL powerball 2 with lots of pedals. Currently looking for a nice 212 cab. If I read this, I get a little sentimental about the nice gear I sold :/

 

[Basauri]

Gibson Explorer and a little Laney LC15 combo.
The combo sounded good enough, the guitar never sounded the way I expected but, hell, I had Hetfield's guitar!

 

[bodia]

Hondo II strat and a little 5w amp. Don't remember the brand. It didn't have a logo on it. Basically, a black box with a volume knob and a tone knob. Went from that to a blue Arbor Explorer and a 10w Fender amp.

 

[Bill SAS 513]

AAAaaaaaahhhhh...memories...
Red Hagstrom HB II (Swedish made) , and a Peavey Pacer. Parents co-signed on a loan for the guitar, so as a 12 year old, I was learnin' the ropes quick!!!
Had said amplifier taken away a few months later when I was playing with the "reverb" knob one day and said some derogatory stuff to my sister through it with my newly acquired Shure SM 58. Good stuff!!!!

 

[WEDGE]

3/4 size nylon strin Aria when i was four, wouldnt play it because my dad insisted i learn flamenco like he played. At 19 i got a crap Yamaha acoustic and a Memphis Strat copy which was actually decent along with a shitty Sunn 60 watt 1x12 solid state amp. I went down to the local used music shop and bought an Earth 2x15 cabinet and stacked it on top.......sounded like warmed over **** but boy was it loud.......wish i had a mentor on all things electric when i started.

 

[11top]

In 1962, I bugged my parents for an electric guitar. At our local mom and pop music store, I narrowed my choices to 1) a blue metal flake Magnatone Strat clone or 2) a genuine Fender Strat. So which did I choose? The pretty, sparkly blue metal flake Magnatone obviously.

Knowing that I would have traded it somewhere along the line, eases the pain of thinking that I could be the owner of that 62 Strat today.

My next electric was a 335-like USA Epiphone; again long gone.

In 1976, I bought a Black Beauty Les Paul, and I still own it to this day.

 

[dkilpatrick]

In 1962, I bugged my parents for an electric guitar. At our local mom and pop music store, I narrowed my choices to 1) a blue metal flake Magnatone Strat clone or 2) a genuine Fender Strat. So which did I choose? The pretty, sparkly blue metal flake Magnatone obviously.

Knowing that I would have traded it somewhere along the line, eases the pain of thinking that I could be the owner of that 62 Strat today.

My next electric was a 335-like USA Epiphone; again long gone.

In 1976, I bought a Black Beauty Les Paul, and I still own it to this day.

Hey! I have it's Red Headed sister. She's a year younger though.

 

[jay]

Danelectro Danoblaster black sparkle, which I repainted and then lost, and Fender Frontman Reverb.

 

[Boogie]

It was 3rd or 4th grade when I first heard a guitar solo in a Deodato tune (Also Sprach Zarathustra) that made my Hendrix-wanna be dreams kick into reality. And seeing my first real guitar in the wild (as opposed to on TV) at a school music production (a real SG and Les Paul), my sights were set. But it wasn't until I was 14 that I started guitar lessons on a crap-tastic nylon stringed acoustic. After playing my friends' Hondo LPs and knock-off Strats, I decided to wait and save up for the real thing...a new '79 Les Paul Deluxe. Dad bought me a Yamaha Thirty 112 solid state amp that I still have, too. But since that sounded like scalded cats in a cesspool, I bought an MXR Distortion+, thinking it would magically make me sound like Tom Sholz. That made it sound like scalded cats in a cesspool full of hornets. Why I stuck with it, I'll never know.

 

[swede71]

First rig was a strat copy called Legend and a battery driven amp called Smash.The icing of the cake was a MXR distortion + that I still own.

 

[Chuckblues]

I started off with a one pickup Pyramid guitar . Horrible action and a Trend amp with an eight inch speaker !

 

[Funkbear311]

Started out back in '96 with a squier strat, Crate practice amp and two pedals a Tube distortion and crybaby wah (which just died)

 

[Lee B.]

A day-glo orange Mako Strat copy and a Peavey 10-watt 2x8" stereo chorus practice amp in 1987.

 

[DogPhishHead]

1979 Hondo II Les Paul copy into a solid state Univox 50w 1x12 amp with a MXR Phase 45. Didn't know much then (I was 15), but I got enough sounds to make me what to practice.