![\"Gretsch](\"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Gretsch-G5426-Jet-Club.jpg\")
photo by Gretsch<\/p><\/div>\n
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Firstly, when researching the market for my posts on electric guitars under $150<\/a>, I was really surprised by the number of great cheap guitars. Sure, they’ll need some tweaking and a setup, but the choice is far beyond what I had when starting out.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That said for $300, I found this Gretsch G5426 Jet Club<\/a>. As you’ll know I have a modified Pro Jet (rewired to Duo Jet specs). So I know these guitars are well built, play well, and are just good budget guitars.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At 30% of my dream guitar rig budget, this guitar should play well and the silver sparkle color is just neat! The guitar doesn’t come with a case, I’ll need to spend another $20 on Fender soft case<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now, this is where the fun begins! The aim is to see if I can rebuild my current gigging pedalboard<\/a>, albeit with cheaper pedals.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So the chain will start with Donner Compressor Pedal<\/a>, which looks like a Ross-style comp and is priced $37.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For low gain sounds, I’m thinking of using a Caline CP-18 Orange Overdrive Pedal<\/a>, which is a Timmy inspired pedal. And at $30 is a bargain! And for heavier overdrive sounds, a Joyo JF-14 American Sound Pedal<\/a> (price $37) should do the trick.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n After the gain based effect, I like a Volume pedal. Normally, I’d use a Boss or even a Fender volume pedal. Both are cast metal and built to withstand abuse. However, we’re on a budget! So I’ll be using a plastic Quik Lok VP-2611<\/a> ($24). But this would be the first item I’d replace!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As I don’t have the budget for a Boss TU-3 tuner, a $30 Donner DT Deluxe Guitar Tuner Pedal<\/a> will have to do. Of course, if I was putting this together for real, I’d try to find a Boss pedal tuner on eBay or reverb.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n After the tuner, I’d go into a Joyo JF-09 Tremolo Guitar Pedal<\/a> as my sole modulation pedal. And at $30, you can’t go wrong!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The final pedal on the board would be some sort of delay. I spent quite a bit of time looking for an affordable delay with a tap tempo. The only decent one I could find was the Donner Ultimate Delay<\/a>. It has 11 delay modes, stereo in\/out, tap tempo, and a built-in looper. For $80, it’s a steal.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On delay pedals, I have to say having a tap tempo feature that requires two foot-switches to be tapped at once to tap in the tempo, misses the point entirely.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Donner also has a lightweight frame style pedalboard<\/a> ($58) which looks like a good fit for my board. Plus, I should have lots of space left to grow the pedal chain. You know I’d keep adding pedals for as long as I could squeeze another one on the board!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n photo by Orange Amps<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n While I knew I could find a good guitar and some killer pedals, finding a suitable amplifier proved harder. There’s little real choice at the budget end of the market, especially for tube amps.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sure, you can get el cheapo solid states, a modeling amp with a tube preamp, or even 5-watt tube amps. However, I was looking for a tube amp in the 15 to 20 watts range. Something gig-able with all tubes, simple controls, and affordable.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The best tube amp I could find for my dream guitar rig was the Orange Micro Terror Stack<\/a>. Firstly, it looks so dam cool! Plus, it’s 20 watts, all tube, and only has three controls. It’s also priced under $250, which makes it a steal!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n So that’s the majority of my dream guitar rig. I’ve got a new guitar, amp, and pedalboard. Now, I need a way to power the pedalboard and some cables to hook it all together.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I’m going to use a 10-foot cable at each end. The best seems to be a $15 Fender Custom Shop Performance Series Cable<\/a>. So that’s from the guitar to the pedalboard and out from the pedalboard to the amp. Nice!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Powering the pedalboard is really simple. I’m going to use a Truetone 1 Spot Combo Pack<\/a>, which at $26 is affordable and perfect for powering my new pedalboard.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now, this is where it gets tricky. If you’ve been counting, I’ve got 8 pedals on the board, which means I need 7 patch cables. While there are a few solderless patch cable systems on the market, I’d typically use George L’s. However, the price of them would blow what remains of the budget.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The other thing I discovered doing the research for this post is most patch cable kits have 10 feet of cable and 10 plugs. The cost of buying the extra 4 plugs is 2\/3 of the cost of the complete kit. It’s sad companies feel they can overcharge for something so simple and basic.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So instead of buying a solderless patch cable system, I’d purchase 2 sets of Donner Guitar Patch Cables<\/a> (15 cm long and comes as a 3 Pack), priced at $15 each. And a pack the 30cm Donner Guitar Patch Cables<\/a>, priced at $18.00, again comes as a set of 3.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n So, the total for my dream guitar rig is just over budget and doesn’t include any shipping! However, for what I would end up with, the tiny overspend is completely fine! What do you think of my new guitar rig?!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Building A Pedalboard That Versatile<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pedalboard-dream-rig-challenge.jpg\")
<\/p>\nGain pedals<\/h3>\n
Tuner<\/h3>\n
Modulation pedals<\/h3>\n
Delays!<\/h3>\n
Pedalboard<\/h3>\n
Amps<\/h2>\n
![\"Orange](\"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Orange-Micro-Terror-head-Stack.jpg\")
Extras<\/h2>\n
Instrument cables<\/h3>\n
Pedal power<\/h3>\n
Patch cables<\/h3>\n
Totals<\/h2>\n
Guitar: $330<\/h3>\n
Pedals: $326<\/h3>\n
Amp: $250<\/h3>\n
Extras: $104<\/h3>\n
TOTAL: $1010<\/h3>\n