Quote (GetOnYourKnees @ May 28 2011 01:37pm)
Hey, I bought a Fender Starcaster about a year ago and tbh, it sounds like crap. I generally play metal music like A day to remember, the devil wears prada, bring me the horizon etc but my current gear does not make the desired heavy sound that im looking for, and I was wondering if I need to buy a different guitar, a different amp or both? cheera
e/ if anyone could recommend something it'd be great
I dunno what amp you have, but yes guitar and amp both influence tone. You won't notice the guitar as much until you get the right amp of course. I could go into all sorts of tonal details, but long story short, every piece of equipment matters, and there are ways to mask it with cheaper gear but not so much with cheap gear.
Also, as a base point, I'd recommend looking for humbucker equipped guitars. Not necessary, but it'll boost your bass and your output (gain). As far as amps are concerned, I don't really know your budget, but if I had to aim high, I'd go for a marshall jcm800 for 80s toanz. Mesa Boogie, Orange, and Soldano are also solid amps. On the low end, Jet City is basically the low tier Soldano amplification. There are some other amp brands that are really good for metal and affordable, but their names are escaping me. I'll be sure to let you know if I remember them. I wanna say Peavey makes a pretty solid metal amp.
If I had to make a priority though, I'd say get a good amp first, then a guitar. Also, pedals are great for masking tone. If you can't get enough gain with your amp, get a dope distortion pedal.
Tone is a deep, deep hole though. You can get lost in there jumping around between various specific sounds. One thing to remember is the audience won't be nearly as much as an audiophile about it as you will be. That said, good tone is inspirational and helps YOU express yourself better.
tl;dr:
both matter. won't notice guitar as much until you get a good amp. recommend looking at humbucker equipped guitars. marshall, mesa boogie, orange, and soldano are awesome gainy amps. jet city is a low end soldano, and I think peavey makes a good metal amp.
This post was edited by Derkaderk on May 28 2011 08:05pm