Best Budget Gear

There is a huge market for budget equipment, and I would not be surprised if a greater share of the market was appropriated to budget equipment. There are many arguments for and against using gear on the lower end of the price spectrum, but we will not be discussing that today. Instead, this blog post is simply some affordable products that I would recommend. There are three categories – effects, amp modelling and units that combine the two.

Before I begin, let me preface the rest of this blog post defining ‘budget’ equipment in my own words. To me, the term ‘budget’ when used in this context mean the product in question has a price that is less than the flagship products from the same, or other companies, but still capable of doing the job. Naturally, there is also the fact that some people have more to spend, therefore I would suggest that the term ‘budget’ in a descriptive context is subjective. 

Warnings

I have discussed arguments for expensive and cheap gear in the past, usually in great detail. Please check out some of my older blog posts for this. However, I want to make some points and give some warnings.

Do not simply go for the cheapest option – it could be that they are the cheapest for a reason. By all means, shop around for the best price, but there are shortfalls with some cheaper gear that makes it more expensive in the long run. For example, there is a hugely popular musical equipment brand that makes fantastic effects at a relatively low price, however, the switches are notoriously cheap and many friends have had them fail at a critical moment. 

Other considerations would be the ethical choices you would make. A multi-national conglomerate, specialising in musical equipment. They have been in the news many times for blatantly ripping off not just the circuitry, but also the outward facing design of many pieces of gear and then severely undercutting them in the market, not everyone wants to support that (though not everyone has a choice!). 

Effects

There are some old-school units that I would love to recommend here, but I will not purely because they have strange power requirements and have long been discontinued – this means you will struggle to find them, or you will find them and the price will be extortionate. 

My recommendation here is a useful little pedal that can run several effects at the same time, has USB connectivity for adjusting patches and has been used by several notable guitar players – the Zoom MS-70CDR. 

The price for this pedal is 15,000jpy and, although that is not exactly small change, it is able to replicate much of what the Strymon equipment does for a much better price. Now this will not sound as good and could potentially have more restricted tone shaping capabilities, but it does not sound bad. If you are looking for some solid ambient effects, you can’t go wrong with this one!

Amp Simulators

Perhaps you already own a piece of equipment similar to the above recommendation, or maybe you are looking for a small back-up plan to help you through a show if your main equipment fails. Sometimes, you really only need the basic sound and for that, you simply can’t go wrong with the IK Multimedia Tone X One pedal.

This is not cheap at a cost of 32,000yen, but I would be happy to use this product live. This product is the same size as a micro pedal, so it has miniscule form-factor and would easily sit in your pocket. The Tone X family of products from IK Multimedia is always being updated, and can pretty much hold it’s own amongst some of the bigger players in the modelling scene. 

A friend of mine recently completed two tours, as well as playing the famous Bloodstock Open Air festival, with nothing but his guitar and a Tone X One – and this was no small production! 

For all of the above, and for the fact that you could buy nearly five of these for the cost of a new Kemper Profiler Player, this gets my vote for the ultimate budget amp modeller. 

Multi-FX with Amp Simulation

This is a tough one, having used the Line 6 HX Stomp in the past and the Kemper Profiler Player currently. However, they are not cheap units and the focus of this blog post is a lower cost. You can also buy something like the Valeton GP5 which is the same size as the Tone X One, but it comes with all of the effects and amps built it – switching through sounds is a nightmare and it feels a little on the cheap side, like it will break easily if you stand on it. 

My recommendation here is the Mooer GE200 – this unit has a pretty solid sound, three buttons for decent although limited switching and a built in expression pedal hat can be assigned to any function. The effects are good, the amp sounds are also good and the interface does the job well – this can be something that lets down even the most expensive of units! 

The price of this unit is anywhere from 35,000 to 40,000jpy depending on the retailer. I know people that rely solely on one of these for their entire rig, which makes setting up and packing down a breeze. Also, given the low price, they almost always have a duplicate on stand-by, just in case. The most common use I have seen for this product is either for a beginner just starting out, or as a backup for a pre-existing rig – it is not too common to have these incorporated into an existing set-up.  

Final Thoughts

Regardless of your reasons for buying budget gear, it would still be a good idea to try that piece of equipment out first if possible. There is so much gear available, so it would be a good idea to set out your requirements for a piece of gear, and then start doing the research. Remember to always be flexible with what you choose and not to big stuck on what your favourite influencer recommends. 

It would also be a good idea to really get stuck in with understanding your gear, regardless of how much it costs. Even if you have a ‘budget’ piece of gear, you would be surprised how much use you can get out of it if you put up the work – ask your teacher at The American Guitar Academy for help with this.