5 Guitar Starter Packs to Learn Electric Guitar

Choosing your first electric guitar can be a challenge, especially with so many different options available on the market. Fortunately, there are a few starter packs available that come with everything you need to start learning how to play the guitar. These packs typically include a guitar, amp, and cable as well as a few other accessories.

Rogue Rocketeer Electric Guitar Pack

The Rogue Rocketeer Electric Guitar Pack is one of the most budget-friendly starter kits. It features a solid body electric guitar with a bolt on thin maple neck and a 22 fret rosewood fretboard. The guitar has a tremolo system with a whammy bar included, but keep in mind that these systems can cause tuning instability on lower end guitars. It also features a humbucker and two single coil pickups that can be selected with a 5 way switch for very versatile combinations of tones.

This kit includes the Rogue G10 solid state amplifier, which provides 10 watts of power. This amp isn’t loud enough for live performances, but it will work well for practicing. The amp has controls for volume, gain, treble, and bass, as well as a headphone output for practicing when you don’t want to disturb others.

There are also a few accessories included. There is a gig bag to protect the guitar, 3 picks, a chord to connect the guitar to the amp, and a strap for playing standing up. These accessories aren’t always the highest quality, but they’ll be alright to get you started.

Squier by Fender Affinity Tele Pack

The Telecaster is a guitar used is many genres of music, but is notably known for its twangy sound in country. The Squier Affinity Telecaster is a budget guitar built similarly to the Fender Telecaster. This guitar features a solid alder body that comes in brown sunburst or butterscotch blonde. There are two single coil pickups with a volume and tone knob. The guitar also has a bolt on maple neck with a 22 fret maple fretboard.

This starter pack includes the Fender Frontman 15G amp. This amp has normal and drive channels with controls for gain, volume, treble, middle, and bass. The amp has a headphone output for quiet practice, as well as an auxiliary input for connecting music to play along with.

The Squier Affinity Telecaster starter kit also includes a Fender gig bag, strap, guitar picks, instrument cable and instructional DVD.

Ibanez IJRG220Z Jumpstart Electric Guitar Pack

The Ibanez IJRG220Z Jumpstart Electric Guitar Pack includes a guitar with a black or silver poplar body. The guitar has a bolt on maple neck and 24 fret rosewood fretboard. It features 2 Infinity R humbucker pickups with volume and tone control. There is also a 6-point tremolo system with a whammy bar. With the two humbucker pickups, this package is going to be great for someone interested in playing metal and rock songs on guitar.

The Ibanez Jumpstart pack has a 10-watt guitar amp with headphone output, strap, accessory bag, picks, gig bag and tuner. The tuner is a great feature, since many new guitar players will struggle to tune by ear.

Fender Strat Pack Bundle

If your goal when playing guitar is to play a Stratocaster like some of the greats such as Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton, the Fender Strat Pack Bundle might be the way to go. This package features a solid body Stratocaster that comes in either black or brown sunburst. The neck is a bolt on made of maple with a 12-fret rosewood fretboard. Like most Stratocasters, there are 3 single coil pickups with a 5-way pickup selector switch. The guitar also has a tremolo system.

The amp included is a Fender Frontman 10G 10-watt solid state amp. The has a clean and overdrive channel, as well as gain, volume, treble, and bass controls. There is an auxiliary input for playing along with music and a headphone output for quiet practice.

This package also comes with a strap, gig bag, tuner, picks, cable and instructional DVD.

Epiphone Slash "AFD" Les Paul Electric Guitar Performance Package

At the higher end of the guitar starter packs there’s the Epiphone Slash "AFD" Les Paul Electric Guitar Performance Package. The guitar is an Epiphone Les Paul with a Mahogany body and flamed maple top. The neck is also made of mahogany with a 22-fret rosewood fingerboard, however unlike most high-end Les Pauls, the neck is a bolt on. The guitar has a 3-way pickup switch with one volume and one tone knob.

The Epiphone package comes with a 15-watt Slash “Snakepit-15” amp. The Amp has 2 separate channels, and headphone output, and eq settings. The package also comes with a strap, picks, and an instrument cable.


Overall, guitar starter packs are a fantastic way to start learning how to play the electric guitar. There are many different packs available, and which one you choose will depend a lot on what style of music you like to play.

Recording Bass Guitar Using a Direct Box or Microphone

Though many musicians and listeners tend to play down the importance of the bass guitar, it is undoubtedly one of the most important instruments to get right when recording music. Bass guitar forms an important foundation on which all the other instruments in the mix build upon.

Next time you're recording a song, try muting the bass. It will feel like the whole floor just got pulled out from under you. If everyone could experience this maybe they would soon start to realize just how important a good bass line is to a song.

The first step to recording a good bass track is getting a good performance from the musician. When recording a bass line, it is important the musician plays very consistently. The bass guitar is very sensitive to how hard they hit the strings and it is important that the notes are consistent in volume.

There are two main ways in which a bass guitar is typically recorded. The bass guitar can either be recorded directly, usually by using a direct box, or through an amp.

By far the simplest way to record the bass guitar is with a direct box. In this case, the bass guitar will be plugged directly into the direct box, and then into the audio interface. Some audio interfaces even offer an instrument input that avoids the need for a direct box all together. Recording bass direct is easy, but can offer limited control over the sound. At this point, your only controls over the tone before recording are the instrument itself and the tone knob. There are many different direct boxes available that are either active or passive, but we recommend you consider the BEHRINGER ULTRA-DI DI400P.

Bass guitar can also be recorded using an amp. This can allow for greater variation in tone than with a direct box, however it adds a new level of complexity to recording that instrument that can make things more difficult, or even cause problems if done incorrectly.

The first step in recording a bass amp would be to find the perfect tone you are trying to capture. Experiment with volume, tone and EQ settings, and even try a different instrument if it's not working for you. If you can’t get a good tone in the room, it’s unlikely any recording technique is going to produce a useable bass track. If you’re looking for an amp that’s good for both recording and practicing, consider the Fender Rumble 25 v3 Bass Combo Amplifier. This is a small 25 watt combo amp that is easily portable, has great features for practicing, and has enough power for smaller performances.

Next you have to choose a good microphone. This is not as straightforward as it would seem, since many microphones aren't designed to capture the low frequencies produced by the bass guitar. You might find that the same microphone used for recording electric guitars is absolutely useless on a bass amp. Instead, maybe try choosing a microphone used on kick drums, such as the Shure BETA 52A. Though they don't necessarily have a flat frequency response, they do tend to emphasize the bass frequencies, which may be exactly what you're looking for.

Of course there is always one more option. Some recording engineers may even decide they want to record both the bass amp as well as a direct signal. This gives more control when it comes down to mixing, especially if you're not completely sure what you want the bass to sound like early in the session. The direct recording of the bass will also save you if a problem occurs that makes the bass amp recording unusable.

Finally, after the bass guitar is recorded, it is important to check how well the bass track and drums complement each other. Since the bass guitar and drums make up the main rhythm component of a song, it is important that they lock together tightly. Any slight variation in timing between these two instruments will be immediately evident to the listener, and can potentially ruin the entire song.

When recording bass, always remember you are forming the rhythmic foundation of the song. Keep this in mind, and you will be able to produce quality songs with great sounding bass lines.

3 Drum Microphone Kits for Recording and Live Sound Reinforcement

One of the most complex instruments to record in the home studio is a full drum kit. Recording drums requires proper technique to allow for the best overall tone as well as separation between the different drums. Not only is recording drums difficult, but it also requires a lot of equipment. Fortunately, there are many drum microphone packages available that provide all the microphones necessary to record a drum kit like a professional.

Drum microphones kits can be used for both studio recording and live sound reinforcement. Many of the microphones in these kits can also be used for different purposes. For example; some small diaphragm condenser microphones normally used as drum overheads also work great for stereo acoustic guitar recording.

Neewer NW-7A

The Neewer NW-7Ais a budget drum microphone kit that includes 7 microphones. There are two condenser microphones with windscreens which are used as overheads to capture sound from the entire drum kit and cymbals. Keep in mind if you’re recording with these microphones, you will require a mixing board or audio interface that is capable of supplying 48 V phantom power. There are also a 5 dynamic microphones included. There is a large dynamic microphone used for recording the low frequencies of the kick drum as well as 4 smaller dynamic microphones that are used for reinforcing the snare drum and toms.

Each of the dynamic microphones includes a clip to attach to the rim of the drum, so there’s no need to use additional microphone stands in the already crowded area around the drum kit. There is also a hard aluminum carry case to protect the microphones if they are being transported.

As an entry level drum microphone kit, there are a few issues that could be problematic in professional applications. First the kick drum microphone does not have a great frequency response, since it only covers down to 50 Hz. Some of the very low frequency sound you would expect to be picked up by a kick drum microphone may not be captured. Also, the microphone clips are made of cheap plastic and don’t hold onto the drums very well. This can be problematic in live environments if a microphone falls off. Over time, some of the microphone clips may also break, so these microphones may not be a great choice for some using them all the time.

Overall, the Neewer NW-7A is a great starting point for recording drums and is best suited for occasional live use or light home studio use.

CAD Audio Stage 7 Premium

Similar to the Neewer NW-7A, the CAD Audio Stage 7 Premium comes with 2 condenser microphones for overheads and 5 dynamic microphones for kick, toms, and snare. The tom and kick mics are cardioid, and the snare mic is supercardioid for superior off-axis sound rejection.

The CAD PRO-7 comes in a soft carrying case, which has plenty of padding and provides decent protection to the microphones, though it wouldn’t be sufficient for constant road use.

Compared to the Neewer NW-7A kit, the CAD PRO-7 kit has much more durable clamps for the tom and snare microphones that are unlikely to break even under rough conditions. One disadvantage of these microphone clips is that they can’t easily be replaced in they break, whereas many other drum microphones have removable mic clips. These microphones would be well suited for both live sound and studio applications.

Audix 4-Piece Drum Pack

 

The Audix 4-Piece Drum Pack is a professional quality drum microphone kit. It includes two condenser microphones for overheads, one cardioid dynamic microphone for the snare and one dynamic microphone for the kick drum. The overhead and snare microphones are tuned to produce a smooth frequency response, while the kick drum microphone is optimized for low frequency response.

These microphones are intended for use in a 4 microphone drum setup. If done properly, this technique can create a well-balanced natural drum recording, but it doesn’t allow much control of the levels of individual drums after the recording has been made. These microphones will provide a clearer, more professional sounding recording than some of the other options, but we don’t recommend them for live use. Instead, these microphones are well suited for the studio environment.

4 Budget Preamps to Expand Your Home Studio

In any recording situation, you’ll need to bring a microphone up to a useable recording level, without increasing the noise. Microphone preamps are used to increase the gain of the signal, but can also provide phantom power and influence the tone. They’re included on all audio interfaces, but there are also standalone preamps available at budget and professional price points.

ART TubeMP

If you’re looking for an inexpensive tube preamp to increase the number of useable inputs on your audio interface, the ART TubeMP is a good place to start. This preamp is a standalone unit that is not rack mountable. It features separate input and output gain as well as other features such as a gain boost, phantom power, and phase reverse. Though this preamp works great in most circumstances, we’ve found the +20 dB gain boost can add a considerable amount of noise to the signal and is basically unusable at best.

Behringer Tube Ultragain MIC200

The Behringer Tube Ultragain MIC200is also a 1 channel tube preamp. It features separate input and output gain, a 20 dB pad, 48 V phantom power, low cut and phase reverse. This preamp can also be used to tweak your tone. The Behringer MIC200 has a preamp voice control that can be set to different instruments such as voice guitar, bass, etc.

Nady PRA-8

If you’re not too concerned about perfect quality but you need to boost the signal of a lot of microphones at once, the Nady PRA-8 might be the solution for you. This unit features 8 individual preamps with separate gain control and phantom power, as well as a peak gain indicator for each channel. The unit is rackmountable, which is helpful as you expand your studio and purchase more gear.

Though this unit’s sound quality might not be as good as some of the others, it will be able to cleanly boost 8 microphones signals and is likely one of the cheapest options available. The Nady PRA-8 Mic Preamp is great if you have an audio interface with more inputs than outputs, but it doesn’t feature an optical out, so it relies on other line inputs to be picked up by the audio interface.

Presonus TubePre v2

The Presonus TubePre v2 provides professional quality processing at the price of a single preamp. With separate Drive and Gain controls, you can easily adjust your levels without increasing the noise.

The PreSonus TubePre V2 also features polarity reverse and phantom power. A high pass filter can also be enabled, which cuts out frequencies below 80 Hz. This is great when recording an electric guitar, since these frequencies typically interfere with the bass and cause low end problems during mixing.

This preamp features both XLR and ¼” inputs on the back, so it can be used with either a microphone or directly with a guitar or bass. There is an instrument switch on the front that allows the PreSonus preamp to also act as a direct box.