Low On Funds, Big on Tone
- The American Guitar Academy
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
I have lost track of the number of times I have mentioned that you can get great guitars for not a lot of money. This blog post will be purely budget focused, and aims to help you achieve the best sound with the lowest initial spend. Before we jump in, remember that second-hand bargains are not guaranteed – you may find that your mileage fares better locally. However, for the sake of fairness, I have decided to only mention products that are available to buy new in Japan as of July 2026.
Please be aware that I am also not going to spend too long justifying each item, just know that I have either owned them myself or have experience using the item.
Low-Cost Ideas
Guitar – Playtech LP-400-BK (19800jpy)
Playtech is the own-brand of Soundhouse, one of my favourite music retailers in Japan. I have recommended many of their products to students in the past, and I often use their cables. It is very surprising that a guitar at this price point can look and sound as good as this – it is clearly a cheap guitar, but it stays in tune well and the humbuckers sound exactly like you would want them to. I think this guitar is also a good platform for modifications in the future!
Interface – Focusrite Solo (17900jpy)
Regardless of your desire to record guitar at home, you should have a good audio interface to turn your laptop or computer into the ultimate amplifier (this is something you should already have!). The audio input on your computer device is not really cut out to produce the sounds that we want with our guitar.
Headphones – AKG K240 (7800jpy)
You have to be able to hear your guitar, and it does not matter how much you spend on your computer device, but the in-built speakers will not even come close to the most basic of over ear headphones. I recommend these headphones because I have used the same pair for nearly 10 years, and in that time all I have had to do is change the cable, which is detachable anyway (in fact, the AKG replacement cable available on Amazon was of a higher quality anyway!). They do sound a little ‘boomy’ for my tastes, but that is only noticeable when I mix on the headphones and then compare to my studio monitors. For regular playing and listening to music, they are excellent.
Neural Amp Modeler – (free!)
This is probably the best option out there for modelling any type of amplifier. The program is free, the interface is simple and you can use your own impulse responses if you have some already that you really like (if the NAM capture you use does not have an amp included).
Because this software has both the profile (amp) slot as well as the impulse response slot, you can use it for guitar, bass, violin or anything that can plug into your interface. I have had great results with my acoustic guitar running through this using an impulse response taken from an old Martin acoustic guitar. Set low, it combines with the sound of the piezo pickup in my guitar and creates a more natural sound.
Playing Live
The solutions above are all well and good until you need to play live, this is where using a laptop is probably not a good idea (if it can go wrong, it will). Here are a couple of items that you really should have in order to play guitar at a show (cables, straps and pick amongst other things should be obvious!).
Boss TU-02 (1320jpy)
Having a good tuner of any style is a must, and as clip-on tuners go, this one is very good as well as the D’Addario and TC Electronic versions. When using this tuner, make sure you have your guitar muted or turned down – no-one wants to hear you tuning!
Valeton GP5 (12100JPY)
This is my most recent purchase, and easily my favourite this year. It is the size of a micro pedal, runs on 9v power or USB and is great for practice. However, in a live situation, it excels at basic functionality for the guitar player that does not need anything complicated or requires constant switching between effects on the same patch. Editing with your phone or tablet is easy, it is smaller than your phone and costs 12100jpy? It is a steal.
Remember the NAM software I mentioned before? Well, this unit can run those captures, but also combine it with some simple yet great sounding effects. One downside here is that you can run a NAM capture, or an IR of your choice, but not both at the same time. If using captures, choose one with a cabinet included. You could also use an included amp model with your own impulse response – I have had great results both ways.
I also love that you can use acoustic or bass natively, with any of the captures or impulse responses you choose to load into it. Remember, this is not the ultimate switching and modelling rig – the purpose is to fill a gap, help you out of a tight spot or act as backup.
Other Mentions
Neural Amp Modeler can be used as a VST plug-in or standalone piece of software. However, the latter can leave you feeling underwhelmed somewhat as there are no included effects. The following will help you on your journey!
Reaper
Reaper is free, and when the trial period ends, they do not cripple your access to the software. Reaper is also a heavy hitter with some great sounding plug-ins included as standard, so when you load NAM as a VST plug-in you will have a great time. There are also endless guides and YouTube tutorials to help you navigate the DAW (digital audio workstation) if you have never done so before.
Plug-ins
As I mentioned, Reaper has many great plug-ins included for free, but maybe you want something a little extra? I would try out the following for some extra fun without spending any money:
Valhalla Supermassive
This is a powerful delay and reverb plug-in that comes with a decent library of different presets and has an easy-to-use interface. This is a great plug-in to use for textures, but could also be a great opportunity to use some ambient sounds that you would not usually come across.
VZtec Malibu
If you are looking for some spring reverb, a nice tremolo sound or a combination of the two then you can’t go wrong with this free offering from VZtec. The presets are great, but the symbols make things easy to use.
Mercuriall TSC
If you want to use a drive sound in front of your amp, and Tone3000 doesn’t have a capture you like with one included, you might be tempted to have two instances of NAM open. However, having NAM open twice can cause audio issues if your computer device can’t keep up with the load (some NAM captures are very highly detailed). Try this one separate VST version of a Tubescreamer – they offer others too, all for free.
Tone3000
Tone3000 is one of the most important resources for NAM profiles, impulse responses, profiles of outboard gear amongst many other downloads. Some of the downloads on offer are not executed very well, but if you filter things by popularity and rating you can find some great choices.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully you have discovered some new things in this blog post! You may already have a decent guitar, maybe even a great amp, but playing with these plug-ins can help take some of the headache out of recording and gives you some new options to tinker with. Even if you do not intend to do any recording, you can have fun jamming along to your favourite Metallica track with a Mesa Boogie in a way that might not ordinarily be possible!