VoLT

Thanks much for all the feedback, it's been an interesting read. Basically, half of the people I talked to, including here, said that brand x was the best and they'd had nothing but good experiences with it. Of course, over time I heard that about every possible brand. The other half of the people I talked to said it didn't matter because most affordable practice (10-20W) amps are pretty much the same. I decided to take that advice and just wander over to guitar center and see what was on sale for around $100. Crate was the clear winner on price/features for guitar, and bass was a toss-up between Fender and Crate. My sales-dude said he'd had fewer returns on the Crate bass amp so I got a matched set. If I'd seen Drano's post before I bought them, I might have reconsidered, but overall I'm happy with the sound. I think the bass amp probably sounds better than the guitar amp, but they both sound good for the price.



Again, thanks for all the suggestions!

Awesome, congrats. Those string swing guitar holders are great. I swear by 'em.

Personally, I like Behringer. The quality is nice, and they keep your wallet happy as well.

I agree. I got a Behringer BX1200 Ultrabass amp recently for just $200 (new!) and it kicks my ass. It's got 120 watts, which is amazing for the price, and even makes my piece of crap Ibanez GSR200 bass sound great. Definitely recommend it.
And, if you're willing to pay $300 for a guitar amp, the Fender FM 212R seems pretty darn good. I play it at my friend's house all the time, and I love it. It cranks out 100 watts. If the price is too much though, my dinky little Ibanez IBZ10G hasn't let me down. It's a small little practice amp, and I think it goes for about $65 or thereabouts (I don't know. It came with the noob starter pack I got, so I don't know how much it would be separate, but most amps of that power run about that price). It also has gain, but it's kinda crummy. I'd recommend picking up the essential Boss DS-1 Distortion pedal, which runs around $40, and trust me, you'll end up using it a lot. Good luck with your playing. The right equipment can make all the difference, trust me.

So far, the new season is the best yet, IMO. The only thing I haven't liked about it so far was the sex scene when you could here the nickels swishing around. XD A little nasty even for my tastes. I really loved it when Stewie crashed into the tree, and when the newly neuetered Brian says, "I really wish I could chew on my crotch right now". I heard next week's Animation Domination is cancelled because they're showing SW Episode II. Sweet. Let's take off the funniest thing in the world for a week so some nerds can drool over bad sound effects. But anyway... yeah, good stuff so far.
American Dad isn't too entertaining so far, but it seems to be picking up. The "Well that's just science fiction" crack was pretty funny.

I heard on an Xbox forum I go to that the standard package will be $300, and the package that includes the 40GB HDD will be ~$350. Sounds a little too good to be true, but we'll see.
I'm pretty excited about this. Gears of War and Perfect Dark look sweet, and if UT2007 comes out for it, I'd kill 1,000 innocent lemurs to get it. I guess Halo 3 will be kinda cool, if it doesn't suck like Halo 2 did.
But, yeah, that MTV thing sorta sucked. Bad. I mean, The Killers? The only way their performace would've been good is if they spontaneously combusted as they were playing. That would rock.

Geek: How many polygons are in the characters?
Engeneers: They have (place number here) polygons.
Geek: How many polygons are in the environments?
Engeneers: They have (place number here) polygons
Geek: Are the backgrounds fully destructable?
Engeneer: Yes fully.
Geek: Whats it like to kiss a girl?
Engeneers just staired blankly.

ROFL. Nice.
But anyway, this November is going to be pretty sweet if PD0 and GoW come out as planned..

You don't have to pay anything, but good luck playing HL2 if you don't own it. If your friend's already registered it on Steam (i.e., he's played it at all), then just give up and buy your own copy, because it won't let you play.