What Should I Buy? Baritone Acoustic On A Budget
Having all of my financial ducks in as close to a row as they’re likely to get, I’ve come to the conclusion that I need a baritone acoustic for reasons too obvious to need explaining. A brief perusal of my local guitar shops and some Googling have amounted to not much, however. A solid top is a must, solid throughout is preferable, but a pickup is not really needed. My budget is around £500, but I could push it to £600. If there are any bargains to be had for less than that, so much the better. What do you recommend? Danny Rushton, via email You say the reasons are obvious, Danny, so we’re assuming you want that huge bottom-end massiveness of low tuning, but to maintain some string tension without too much flap… hence the baritone.
For anyone unsure of the sound, baritones have a longer scale length than a regular guitar (typically 27 to 30 inches) and are usually tuned anywhere between C and A for the low string. They’re pretty common as solidbody electrics, but much less so as acoustics; in fact, we could only find one with a solid top under £600.
2. Ibanez AELBT1 c. £459
A great-looking jumbo cutaway offering B to B tuning over a 27-inch (686mm) scale. Laminate mahogany back and sides, and given that Ibanez doesn’t specifically state a solid top, it’s going to be a laminate spruce top. Still worth a try given the rarity of what you’re looking for.
3. Furch Baritone 20 c. £799
Yes, this is above your budget, but it’s just about the best bang-forbuck we could find. Furch is a Czech company with a good reputation, offering this all-solid wood cedar/mahogany baritone with a scale length just shy of 28 inches (710mm). It’s worth every last penny!
1. Alvarez ABT60 c. £359
This great value noncutaway jumbo is sure to sound pretty massive tuned to its factory B to B state. 27.7-inch (704mm) scale length, solid spruce top (according to Alvarez despite the price), laminate mahogany back and sides: has to be worth an audition.
What I don’t understand is how they sound so good in the hands of some people, but whenever I play one, it sounds like a plinkyplonky toy guitar with no fatness or sustain. What am I missing? Steve Green, via email Not all Teles are created equal, and it might be that you’ve played a TSO (TelecasterShaped Object) or two, but to us a great Tele is all about premium woods, quality hardware, as thin a finish as possible (preferably nitro) and high-quality, vintagestyle pickups. If you’re making the transition from a Les Paul, try a rosewood ’board model and an alder body. For context, your ‘classic’ blackguard mapleneck 50s twang monster usually has an ash body, but by the early 60s alder ones were common. Rosewood/alder Teles can sound very different from maple/ash.
We’d recommend trying three guitars: Classic Series ’60s Telecaster (solid finish, from around £700); American Pro (around £1,300); and a Custom Shop ’63 Telecaster (with alder body, around £2,500). They are radically different prices, but it’ll be enlightening to play them all. You could throw in a Tele Deluxe, too, if you really wanted to stay with humbuckers.
Get them into a decent valve amp at reasonable volume, with a decent low/mid-gained overdrive pedal. Knock the tone pot back about a quarter and hit a rock ’n’ roll open G chord (with the D on the B string, too). Then just hand over your cash.
CHAMPAGNE AMP, BEER MONEY?
I’m looking for my holy grail guitar amp. I’ve played with solidstate, modelling (Fender Mustang series) and valve (Blackstar HT5RS). I think I’m after a valve amp – nothing yet has otherwise convinced me that modelling amps can truly replicate the responsiveness and musicality of a decent valve amp.
I need: • A small-ish valve combo: loud enough to gig without a PA, but also at lower volumes; • A great clean tone with plenty of headroom; • A flexible, footswitchable gain channel that sits in territory ranging from 60s Clapton and Peter Green, through early years ZZ Top, to Led Zep and beyond; • Works equally well with single coils and humbuckers; • Plays nicely with fuzz, Uni-Vibe and OD; • Built-in reverb; • A headphone jack; • An Aux in to play my tunes through it.
Something around £500 would be spot on. Does this exist? Matt, via email This would normally fit our Buying Advice section, but the amp you seek really doesn’t exist. Let’s take the headphone jack out of the equation – there are very few mid-power valve amps with one. Again, very few amps have an in-built power attenuator/speaker load box. Smartphone/tablet apps, digital modelling amps and, indeed, your existing HT5RS are much better for the headphone job.
As for the aux in, decent valve amps don’t really have one. First, a valve amp isn’t suited to music playback. It’s a long way from FRFR (Full Range Flat Response), so plugging in your mp3/CD player results in a muffled, midrange-heavy sound with rubbish bass. Acoustic guitar amps and FRFR amps are much better suited for music playback… and consequently tend to sound pretty awful with traditional valve guitar amps!
The rest of it is slightly easier: two channels, reverb, good with humbuckers and singles, etc. If you want lots of clean headroom, you may need to look north of 15 watts. Also, on the drive textures point, your reference points all tend to be Marshall Plexi-derived sounds. Fuzz and Uni-Vibe hints at some Jimi leanings. So here we’d suggest the Victory Sheriff 22. It even has a 0.5-watt mode for great home/bedroom tones. Downsides? It’s £800, doesn’t have a high headroom clean channel or reverb, or a cab.
Moving to the clean side of things with reverb, the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe is the market leader. The gain channel isn’t very Marshall-y, but it does take pedals very well. Again, it’s over budget. You will have to make some compromises here.
Budget-wise, check out the Egnater Tweaker 15 and 40, and the Roland Blues Cube Hot. The latter is not a valve amp, but it ticks many of your other boxes. Add the Blackstar HT20, Laney VC30, Vox AC15C1 (or C2), Marshall DSL40C and Fender Bassbreaker 15 and a few pedals, and you’ll be suitably upgraded.