OK hears my deal, I got about 500 bucks on me. I got an ok guitar(eppiphone SG goth) an eh...so so amp(Some modle no one has ever heard before. 120 watt 1x12 amp. RMS or something like that, it has no effects, and its really bassey) and no pedals(I got a Guitar port, but thats not that great).

What I need help with is, I want to play some solos. What is the main thing I need to replace to get "That" sound? I know its a combo of all the things, But I really dont have 6,000 to get a new setup. When I try to play taps/trills/hammers I have to slam my fingers on the fret bord, and I mean SLAM! My fingers bleed sometimes and I break strings I do it so hard to get some kind of sound because it just dosent put out. Do I need a sustain/boost pedal or something? a new amp with all that in it? or a new guitar? Like I said I only have about 500 on me right now I can wait a while and get more, but I don't want to pump out a ton of cash all at once, and I can get other stuff later, so I just want to repace the MAIN point in helping me get the sounds, the taps, the fast stuff. Any sugestions are welcome!

EDIT: I play metal/hardcore(Lots of break downs) stuff, and im trying to the hot licks from people like Michael Angelo Batio(ya I know impossible but I can;t even attempt without the stuff) and anyways its just that kind of solo sound im looking for, and yet its not because the music I play otherwise is hard metal/fast stuff.

Thanks

You just need a decent amp. Since it sounds like there is no/crappy od channel on your amp.

Is that 500 dollars or euros? Either way, you can get yourself a good amp with that.

Get a better amp and upgrade the pickups in your guitar to something hotter like Dimarzio X2N or S&D JB in the bridge.

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$500 is US.

Want to reccomend any amps aound that price range?(A little less than 500 if I should replace the pickups as well)

And do I install the pickups my self? or can I have it done somewhere like a guitar center or something?(I really dont want to mess my guitar up, but if its easy then I can probly do it)

Peavey Triple XXX (Used) or Crate Blue Voodoo (Used)
or a Peavey 5150 (Used). Crate Shockwave's are good as well, talk to DeathCS about them.

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Check out the Peavey Valve king combos, I've heard that they're good.

Don't go for the combo.. It's open back and doesn't stay tight for chugga chugga rhythm work when you turn the volume up above bedroom levels... believe me, I cranked one of those up in the store just to try a noise supressor

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I know exactly what you are talking about.. any amp with a solidstate preamp I've tried has that problem.. Tube amps in particular are pretty easy to do these thrills on, but the easiet piece of equipment to do that on of everything I've tried is an ADA MP-1 preamp! But they lack that modern heavy and brutal rhythm sound

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even if your amp blows you shouldnt have to be slamming down your fingers in order to get some sound. if the amps getting decent input and its turned up you should be fine. check your guitars pickup level and wiring.

It could be that the intonation and action on your guitar is way too high. Get new pickups.

500$? Get a Peavey 5150 combo used... probably for 500-700 on ebay.

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the ada mp-1 is THE shred preamp... for the heavy brutal rythem sound, it can do it, but i'd suggest looking into a modded one, like the 3tm. www.adadepot.com

and they're cheap cheap cheap

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Fucking awesome tight preamps they are.

really if u had to SLAM ur fingers, its most likely the guitar
cause i used to have a shitty washburn, and i had the same problem. i was all confused and asking questions and stuff, and i always thought it was the amp, but when my neighbor brought his guitfiddle over and played on my amp it sounded great. so before fixing ur amp, try a different guitar on it. or you could change the pickups in ur guitfiddle too. just get some emg's or seymour duncans, once you have a pair of those you would be able to do more of what ya want. assuming its ur guitars fault

I am going to kick you in the fucking teeth if you use the term guitfiddle one more time.

Damn hippys.

Adjust your intonationas low as it'll go. Get hotter pickups, bridge pickup is more important (EMG 81, Seymore Duncan Invader is good, that's what I have). Find more distortion, a shitty amp like that can't have good distortion and distortion, not overdrive is better in my opinion for easier playing and 'that' solo sound. For distortion lots of good pedals are out there. I use a Digitech Metal Master. with a pedal like that your amp would probably crackle and hiss alot though at higher volume. Unless you're playing shows and shit though, that shouldn't be a real problem. For now just settle with a pedal, pickups, and guitar adjustments

Action?

To the originial poster....,I would try the cheap route and just stick a new pickup in the bridge. Alot of sound difference comes from a pickup in a Epi SG and a top of the line SG, so to speak. Buy you a kick ass high output pickup and you'll be alot more happy than shelling out 500 - 700 bones for a tube amp, unless you got the change to spare.

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OK thanks for all you help guys. What I think Im going to do it get a new set of EMG pickups(The ZW set, EMG 81 in brige and EMG 85 in neck) And a Pedal, I was thinking either the Rocktron Metal planet, or what really caught my eye but I kind of don't like the sound(I havent played one yet) Is the rocktron silverdragon, it has a tube in it so it might boost my sound, but Its kinda a high gain pedal, and I need some lows for the type of music I play.

Then next year, I come into $20,000 so I'll take a bit out of that and get a kickass tube amp

Now, I just need to figure out how to install the pickups without messing everything up =(