How Bad is Amazon's Cheapest Guitar Gear?

[@netcodeerror9420]

"I am super impressed to the point where I have human rights concerns" is just such a sentence

[@LazyCat010]

Why I buy used axes

[@mykneeshurt8393]

Future generations will be paying the cost...

[@CaptainCraigKWMRZ]

Yeah, because human rights abuses started yesterday.​@@LazyCat010

[@riffsnoleads]

buys it through amazon.....

[@Chicken_Soup890]

It is like us, as Americans saying we drive Tesla to save the earth. (ignoring how they get the copper from the earth). We turn a blind eye and not realize of the overall consequences.

[@MashaT22]

Fun fact: those Fesley guitars are made in the same Chinese factory as Squier. Another Fun Fact: they stopped selling those boxes here in the US because a bunch of American KZbin channels that reviewed Fesleys like @ScarMyGuitar totally told the company that it was a bit over the top. You also missed the Elecratic Guitar and other hilarious errors on the box. So yeah, the recently stopped shipping guitars with these boxes and all the crazy branding (like 11-13 times in total on each guitar) in the US. I guess Canada got stuck with the leftovers, lol. But I’ve heard Fesleys are great starter or mod platform guitars that outperform the Squiers from the same factory. I’ve heard this from unpaid reviewers who got them with their own money and actual customers.

[@Aeduo]

I'm guessing combination of language barrier and AI slop resulted in that word salad.

[@sundaynightdrunk]

The Squiers have more resale value, but yeah, they're not much better than this guitar at the lowest end.

[@CINEMARTYR]

Drive channel on that amp is rough, pheweee.

[@the_real_DunderKlumpen]

Absoluuuuutely my friend.

[@Nickgaming-sy5og]

Are you a fan of doctor mike or something

[@DMSProduktions]

NASTEH! Clean ch is ok tho!

[@immy4104]

Yes, the pedal circuit was stolen. Almost every pedal circuit is stolen. Every pedal maker, cheap, mass produced Chinese to super expensive handmade boutique, steals circuits from everyone else. That's just how the pedal scene is.

[@DMSProduktions]

You technically can't 'steal' a circuit!

[@anttihuovilainen1653]

The famous Tube Screamer itself is just a Boss OD-1 copy with one diode changed and a high shelf EQ stage tacked on.

[@Fusso]

@@anttihuovilainen1653 It's a clone of the MI Audio Crunch Box

[@BanBanChi]

The upside down pick up cover makes it the Greeny of Fesleys.

[@DMSProduktions]

LOL! That's NOT how it works... but ok!

[@prgaming5063]

nope. the greeny has one of the pickups wired incorrectly. the fesly just has upsidedown pickup covers

[@DMSProduktions]

@@prgaming5063 I did say that! (In not so many words!)

[@KainzMusic]

2:29 That Fesley manifesto has changed my life To the lastested delightful creative ity Touching my Fesley makes my soul amaze It grows and blossoms universally And shit

[@chrisparker5278]

Josh Homme will soon be using this gear as his secret weapons!

[@hummens44]

Do you mean he'll be using it to beat the audience with it?

[@nickburmanmusic]

Hahah Buy it now and sell in a week at 10x the price!

[@propyro85]

And then 2 days after this review, the distortion box goes up to ~$80.

[@nocaster5120]

Ahh the fomo! I just bought one

[@propyro85]

@nocaster5120 Odds are this is a copy of a DS-1, so if you don't have one, this is a good way to fill that gap if you like the sound.

[@AngusNB]

The guitar is up to $220. 😁

[@DigitalDevil_001]

Lovely

[@gamergod9182]

"was the circuit just straight up stolen from something else?" all pedal circuits are stolen from something else. there are really only 5 or 6 drive pedal designs, and everything else is just a clone or slight modification.

[@SyntheticFuture]

That's an oversimplification, but yes there's only a few principles to distortion pedals.

[@anthonygillette]

3:01 guitars are wood and magnets. The fact that the frets don’t stick out and the strings are close to the board, if you’re using distortion or overdrive, you’d likely never notice a difference unless you were looking at the sound waves

[@anthonygillette]

Also tonewood is a lie, the science doesn’t lie. Unless you’re recording an acoustic guitar with a microphone, you’d NEVER know what kind of wood or how many pieces of wood make it up

[@anttihuovilainen1653]

Funny thing is I've seen $1000 brand name guitars where every one of the dozen or so guitars from that brand in the store had horrible fret sprout and some were so bad that even a quick try them would have resulted in a bloody hand.

[@Shysleeves]

Food $200 Data $150 Rent $800 Guitar Gear $13,000 Utility $150 someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying.

[@ULTRAVISTA.]

Put all this wasted money into dogecoin and just leave it and wait. I've made money before off little down.

[@MaydupNem]

Cut out food and rent, those are just wasted money

[@ULTRAVISTA.]

@@MaydupNem good point, good point .. plus water too. Water definitely adds up over time. Just cut out those three things you'll be saving in no time

[@DMSProduktions]

@@ULTRAVISTA. Crypto scam bot!

[@dtb2229]

consider investing in candles

[@mateusbez2669]

2 very interesting things: - the distortion pedal really held up with the expensive gear. Incredible. - insane how individually the guitar and amp when paired with the expensive gear were fine (even the amp, but specially the guitar), but when you swapped both the quality declined A LOT. It shows very clearly that there are several incremental gains along the way

[@rainbowslushy223]

the cheap amp with the expensive guitar had this really nice lofi tone

[@netcodeerror9420]

@@rainbowslushy223 yeah it caught me off guard as probably my favorite tone in the video

[@Adam-Z96]

Yeah, I thought the same about that. I liked that a lot.

[@heathbarnhart1092]

As a conesuer of cheap amazon pedals, they are pretty much all the same circuits, in the same housings, just with different praint and brands. For fun, take the back plate off and see what make/model orignally ordered the board. Its even better when they come with mode toggle and you have guess what the toggle does, and half the time the modes are reverse of whats printed. As for what its based on, pretty much every pedal is riff on something. At the end of the day you can only do so much in a mass produced circuit that is affordable and profitable.

[@dekimyayyoga2426]

I like how you mixed up the equipment at the end. The amp seems to have the most effect in that setup. Then the guitar. The distortion was almost no difference. Then the wah actually sounded better with the cheap one, but that's because the expensive one was way more touchy and you played it the same as the cheap one.

[@stephanemelo]

The amp has ALWAYS the most effect on any setup, though.

[@mdargusch]

Quality is more about durability than playability in the age of CNC. Cheap woods swell more under humid conditions, causing delamination of layers, cracking in paint, and fret lifting. It's also far easier to dent cheap wood or strip screw holes in cheap woods. Look-up the Janka hardness scale. Cheap metals wear down faster causing flat spots or grooves in frets, or grooves and burrs on tremolo posts.

[@muenchhausenmusic]

Very interesting info, hadn't thought about this before, thanks!

[@SEEYAIAYE]

There's a reason a lot of guitar makers went with Indonesia instead of China

[@mdargusch]

@SEEYAIAYE I saw many people trashing Indonesian guitars made with agathis, but it has a Janka rating of 610, which is harder than poplar, basswood, or Eastern white pine. Essentially, agathis guitars have more durability at a lower price point.

[@SEEYAIAYE]

@@mdargusch The only real issue I've heard over the years were the Indonesian made Ibanez's hardware rusting like crazy just from the sweat of playing.

[@danieldurso6564]

@@SEEYAIAYEdon’t sweet it

[@vincent._.t]

There’s another option for guitarists who don’t want to spend a lot of money on amps and pedals : amp sims. If you have a computer and can afford a $50-100 audio interface (can be cheaper if bought used) then you can already get great tones from free amp sims. (You can also obtain paid amp sims for free through not so legal ways but that’s at your own risks)

[@221b-l3t]

You can often get them in promotions, I got an older amp sim for free (paid version) as a bonus on a Thomann order, it's a common promotion. I definetly prefer amps but today sims are very good and not bad for beginners, you can get the sound of much more expensive amps. Then again going used is an option. I got a Marshall Origin 20C for 300 bucks used, almost new. Best sounding amp I ever tried. And loudest 20W I ever heard, I managed to drown out a heavy metal drummer. There's also interfaces for a lot less these days but you want a low latency on that so I wouldn't go far below 50€. And it's something you can use later for recording so it's a one time expenditure, I've had my interface for 20 years. Getting hard with compability but it still works on Win 10.

[@patrickkeenan6331]

Also, that distortion pedal is an exact repro of whatever Distortion is hip with the kids here in the states. Probably a Boss DS-1....

[@HaynesEllis]

DS-1 is great so that should be good too

[@almendratlilkouatl]

@@HaynesEllisDS1 is great? hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha *gasp* haaaaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha Oh my Satan what a funny joke dude

[@RF-uz3qu]

Learn to dial it in

[@micahfibranz]

.. hip with the kids...

[@NickDevXT]

Nah the DS-1 kinda sounds closer to a ProCo Rat for my ears. That stax kinda gives me TS-9 vibes with a pre-amp boost.

[@Retrovoider]

How lucky is this, I just went to the channel about 10 minutes ago and sammy flies in with the clutch upload

[@I.M.Guitar-Nerd]

For a cheap amp check out the smaller analog Hiwatt amps. The Crunch 17 or Leeds 25 sound amazing and they are right around $200.

[@DanStack16]

I have had a few of those mini pedals over the years- more often than not they've been awesome. You can find some absolute monster gain pedals, solid choruses and other modulation effects, and even multi-band EQs all in that same kinda housing. They're pretty awesome for a gig on a budget and the small size makes them great for travel pedalboards too

[@Aeduo]

Yeah there's no reason something like a distortion needs to cost much at all. So much of the process is going to be mechanized and done in bulk, most of the labor is probably just putting the parts in and screwing things down.

[@DigitalChemistryBand]

They're crap... you're deluding yourself

[@Aeduo]

@@DigitalChemistryBand I suppose it's possible they might not be up to gigging as far as reliability and durability (though maybe they are, not much to go wrong) goes but totally fine for home use.

[@DanStack16]

@@DigitalChemistryBand I’m certain some are for sure.. but when you’re broke and can get a pedal that, to the normal listener, sounds no different than a klon, who cares? I don’t care if my highs aren’t as crystal clear or if the sound is a little muddy I don’t have the $100 to get a better one and when I go play a show the audience can’t tell. Honing my abilities to actually play my instrument will do far more for me than a name-brand pedal will.

[@jaad9848]

@@Aeduo This. If you ever try building your own pedal you understand why a pedal could be built on the cheap.

[@A-zaih]

That demo was awesome! I love the dynamics of the different sounds and styles!

[@RyanWright]

8:20 "It smells funny." My favorite part of the gear review. lol

[@fearlessdaveandthetsuanami7037]

I have a fesley I use as a knock around back up guitar especially for when I'm on break at work and for the price its really worth it

[@kinhxfolf8852]

Could you review the Amazon basics dreadnaught acoustic? It’s like $80 I have one and love it think it sounds amazing with some quality strings

[@samuraiguitarist]

Should we do round 2?

[@J0T4Z0]

@@samuraiguitarist YEAAAAH

[@Josh_728]

@@samuraiguitarist Absolutely. Cheapest acoustic with the cheapest no-name strings vs expensive strings vs a more expensive acoustic with the cheapest no-name strings

[@kinhxfolf8852]

@@samuraiguitarist 100% should

[@niceleverace]

Other than the pickups having a little less punch its not too bad for the price.

[@seandaniel23]

Fesley baby!!!!

[@TheChristafershawn]

Aren't you that guy that does that thing on that internet channel thingy?

[@seandaniel23]

@ excellent description of what I do

[@gouthamakumar6591]

In my experience, a lot of cheap guitars tend to be pretty decent these days. The main place where you could complain tends to be the pickups, which are easy enough to switch out with a little practice with a soldering kit.

[@nocaster5120]

I just bought that distortion with your link. Love your videos 🤘🤘

[@chris_2714]

Used wahs are always available used. I guess the novelty wears off fast. With most good wahs being quite robust and the circuitry being simple, buying used is pretty low risk

[@Zundfolge]

Most of the guitar channels that routinely review cheap guitars have given the Fesley guitars rave reviews.

[@Iroslaw88]

I'm not joking. I liked the tone of the cheap guitar, distortion and wah way more than the expensive ones.

[@garydiamondguitarist]

I'm amazed how much cheap gear quality standards have risen since the 90s, when I learnt to play. The Dolamo D-8 Overdrive is now my favourite single pedal gain pedal ever, and it's about £20 new. Only drawback is mains power is the sole power source not a 9V but since it's on a pedal board, genuinely not a problem.

[@TheStrykerProject]

Very helpful shoot-out - thanks Sammy G!

[@jeremyklein9679]

I didn't notice any tonal difference between the guitars. But what do I know, I'm a humbucker guy, so all single coils have that same jangly sound.

[@Bread-o7f]

for the guitar blind test my ears liked “C” the most :)

[@idiotburns]

same

[@jerrymcdaniel4539]

I was at B

[@the_real_DunderKlumpen]

As always, I love the production of your demos Sammy G! Love from North Dakota!

[@samuraiguitarist]

You're just down the road! I've driven through ND many times, me and my buddies would go to concerts in Fargo.

[@iforget8716]

Saying « Look out for the planet » after a ‘I bought cheap Chinese crap from Amazon’ video hurts my soul 😔 I found that cheap Amazon pedals usually sound pretty good but the parts don’t last very long when used seriously. I think they’re good for a beginner to tryout when figuring out their sound before making serious purchases. But still, I feel we should be encouraging the used marked, similar(ish)prices for better gear… and we would be looking out for the planet 😉 Good vid though!

[@SEEYAIAYE]

With Telescopes they tend to call the cheaper ones "Hobby killers" because they're poorly designed, cheaply built and will lead most newbies to believe that most telescopes suck, that term should apply also to all the cheap chinese guitar gear online, they work but only long enough to leave a good review. Just had this convo with my nephew the other night when he told me his temu guitar, amp and pedals are all broken, at least with 2nd hand gear it usually still works and holds some value if you decide to sell it down the line.

[@seanmckelvey6618]

I'll put it like this. In many places around the world the "used" prices are not comparable to a new, cheap guitar. These instruments provide an entry point, I doubt most parents are going to go out and buy a good, used guitar when they aren't even sure if their kid will stick with it. Secondly, the planet is pretty much fucked as it is, so I don't think there's much we can do to fix that.

[@thatunicornhastheaudacity]

Buy used gear. Decent price, excellent quality. Most guitarists treat their gear better than their own family. Sweetwater is a good place to start looking. You'll also be surprised at what you can find at second hand stores or pawn shops.

[@Krzygeley]

If someone asked why I’d recommend this channel and I wanted an example of SG’s wit, expertise, and tasty playing, this is the video to which I’d point them.

[@carlosrootsbassman]

Impressed with the guitar to be honest. I started on a Rogue I bought from Musician's Friend in the 90's and that was more money than this one. I think with anything else that is cheap, like furniture, time will be the big factor. You can move cheap furniture around so many times before it starts falling apart on you. Same thing here. My Rogue was fine until the saddles started breaking strings, the knobs started to go out, the chrome on the tuning pegs started to peel, and the plug connector started to become loose and eventually just let the plugs slide right out.

[@tomaszklimkiewicz9273]

I have an impression that you would make any guitar/rig sing... No, seriously, your playing is awesome; however you clearly showed the difference between the sound produced with cheapest and the more expensive gear. Thanks for the damo, great job! :) BTW, I own a piece of equipment which cost me an equivalent of 80 US dollars (brand new); it's an amp/cab modeller with all the basic effects you might need, namely a VOX StompLab. Plugged into a good monitor, it sounds just great. It has cured me of all the prejudices I might have had about cheap gear.

[@GuyManley]

Me, a bass player with a small bed room studio. That guitar might be good tool for writing/recording. That it came with low action and was intonated is insane at 130 dollar. I have never touched a starter instrument that did not need a full set up out of the box.

[@DropkickJimmy]

Been watching your vids for a while (and just realised i wasnt even subbed, YT feed is a strange place) and just signed up to the Dojo, I've been playing for many years completely by ear and feel I'm missing huge chunks in my knowledge, particularly when it comes to theory. I've been looking to fix this for a while and that price is just insane, looking forward to firing into it.

[@johnhmaloney]

I have to admit that I liked the sound of the Fesley the most in that blind test. And when you switched from the cheap to the expensive distortion, when using the expensive guitar and amp, I didn't hear any difference. On the other hand, the cheap amp sounded like absolute trash and, while the cheap wah didn't sound that bad, nothing that's intended to be repeatedly stepped on should be made of plastic.

[@LuisEduardoBraschi]

I have that Daphon. The moment I saw I had to remove a piece of rubber so I could switch it on/off, it went back to its box and never saw the light on the day ever again. I'm using it in the future for some electronics experiments, though.

[@DeformedDevices]

A $30 pedal does have ramifications for the whole industry. I make boutique pedals and the key is that somebody can buy a fuzz pedal for $30. So why would they buy mine? I have to offer something unique. Be it the case, the sound, and going for people that want something by a guy in his garage. That's hand built. If all you want is the sound by the $30 pedal. Guitar circuits are basically all the same. Everybody makes a fuzz face. Everybody makes a tube screamer. Pedal companies that care have to come up with a different offering.

[@vittorioballeriocastoldi6171]

As a boutique builder you can offer so much more. I get that everyone does the standard fuzz face, but you can make all the versions and flavours that Chinese manufacturers doesn’t make. Correct me if I’m wrong, but boutique makers can also make bespoke pedals. Obviously you can’t sell a pedal for 30€, but doing so would cheapen the product for how is it perceived

[@seanmckelvey6618]

@@vittorioballeriocastoldi6171 A boutique builder can really only offer higher build quality and the good feeling that comes with supporting a small business. However, I am not paying over $300 for a fuzz pedal whose circuit has been cloned 400 million times over. Most of the classic tones we're all chasing were achieved with fairly cheap, off the shelf equipment. There's a room for both a high end boutique option, and a cheap option. But the reality is it's only a matter of time before a Chinese company clones any pedal and provides a cheaper option.

[@dougotto1451]

Had the same reaction from the Squier’Debut’ strat. Needed a Strat to demo some pickups and it was $129 on US Amazon. My pickups, new pots and cap and a bone nut and it’s a decent guitar.

[@BENfromSUNDIAL]

Are you in Canada but showing American prices for the masses? Because I'm in Canada and that guitar is $175 to me this Black Friday. I just tried a couple Donner and Monoprice/Indio strats during the sale. The Indio California Classic seems to be advertised as true American Fender specs, but I wonder if it's like a Squier body routed for American parts because the Donner body is bigger, thicker, and nicely rounded around the horns. I love the cheapest Donner DST-80 with open woodgrain in shell pink, but mine came with a cracked body and other signs of bad storage so I'm hoping more come in stock for a replacement. But check out the Leo Jaymz flamed maple top tele. That's the one. Dude...

[@fuggley]

That cheap wah was kinda smooth sounding, even if it was built like trash. The sweep as you stepped on it was softer than the other pedal. I can imagine a place for both.

[@hijmestoffels5171]

I wonder if the Fesley brand is the same as the Fazley brand you can buy here in the Netherlands.

[@boroughowl1609]

I got a Daphne Wash that had no way to switch on and off. The treadle didn’t reach the switch underneath. 😅

[@f0rth3l0v30fchr15t]

As much as anything else, they'd potentially all (except that wah, I guess) be usable for adding a slightly different layer to recordings.

[@modelcitizen1977]

All the stax/joyo/donner stuff is incredible value for money. Since their circuit clones you can use them to test drive the more expensive pedals.

[@221b-l3t]

I'm fine with using them. My Harley Benton Rodent has 3 modes, classic Rat, turbo Rat and solo Rat for 20 bucks and it sounds amazing pushing a Plexi style amp with a tubescreamer in front of it for some extra gain. I would have never bought a turbo Rat but it was exactly what I needed, regular Rat didn't have the massive output I wanted because my amp has tons of headroom and I play high gain. I try not to buy Behringer anymore but plenty of the low budget mabufacturers are great and they are ok companies not any worse than any mass production company (Behringer is).

[@pthelo]

There is a 40% discount on the STAX pedal right now! (12 DEC 2024 9pm EST)

[@joermnyc]

I’ve kept exactly TWO pedals in the span of 30 years of playing: a Vox Wah that I modified to be true bypass, and added in the Foxrox buffer to make it happy next to a fuzz. The other is a “Rogue” branded plastic stereo volume pedal from Musicians friend that cost me $20 25 years ago… that thing might just survive the apocalypse.

[@Insert_Bland_Name_Here]

On the guitar blind-test, is it bad that I genuinely preferred the sound of the Fesley and Squier over the more expensive guitars? Also, fun fact: "Whelmed" actually means what people mean when they say they're "overwhelmed". People just started exaggerating and saying they were over-whelmed, so now overwhelmed means you're overwhelmed and whelmed is largely forgotten despite meaning the same thing originally.

[@WhiteRaven___]

Ok but like what is the good wah wah pedal you used tho?

[@ETOL17]

10:08 I was actually about to try and get that back in 8th grease, before I found the Hotone Wah/Vol pedal. Thanks for helping me dodge a bullet there

[@TheRumpletiltskin]

During the blind playback: IMO the only thing that gave away the Fesley was that there's some high end resonance that is missing. it's duller than the other guitars.

[@robert-jp4oj]

So what about the gear you didn't buy like cheap cables? Curious.

[@DylanShield]

That Daphon wah was my first ever wah! I can't believe they still exist!

[@robswystun2766]

Okay, but did the wah smell funny before or after you used it?

[@mik99D]

They use MSPA13 transistos. ou can make the circuit for $ 2. Input and output jacks will cost extra $5. So $8

[@feyd313]

As someone who does DIY guitar pedals, I can almost guarantee that the Stax pedal is a direct copy of another type of pedal, just made somewhere that isn't susceptible to copyright laws, and probably made with really cheap parts.

[@konstkaras]

Why buy distinct distortion and wah pedal, while you can buy a pretty digital processor? (And have no sheer timber ear)

[@angeldelvax7219]

The cheap pedals won't change the pedal market because by far the most players shop for brands, not by ear. And to be fair, there is something to it. Proven brands usually have a very stable sound, and they last a long time. Can I have the wah pedal :p I could use the mechanics to make a volume pedal for my pedal board, so I don't have to switch between wah and volume on the built in pedal. XD And yes, the external pedal can only be volume.

[@markusnyman6897]

The first wah i had, was the same one that was in this video. I remember after a bit of use, it would randomly start ”screeching” when i used it lol

[@XCHADHIGGINSX]

I know I'm crazy but I preferred the sound of the cheap wah to the expensive one. It might have been the way you were playing it though.

[@samuraiguitarist]

Ya I should probably have noted that the expensive wah also has a range of settings. So sound wise you could set it to have more or less the same tone if you wanted, I just didn't think to do that, though I should've

[@TheBeardedCarrot]

I remember buying one of these wah pedals from Amazon about 13/14 years ago, I didn't know that much about guitar tech then and got fed up having to click on and off the wah by hand. I ended up gluing in a small scrap of wood to make it foot switch activated! Still got it today... However, it seems to be very dead even with a new battery.

[@drno2141]

you should check the cool music delay and crunch..two amazing pedals

[@Angel45432]

When I first started playing, I bought a wah pedal exactly like that but it was made by Pyle. It did not last me very long. Thats when I learned you get what you pay for.

[@brandonjackson5865]

I got a staxx EQ as some boot on a trade and I’ve had it close to 10 years and it’s fine a little noisy on a wall power supply but ran off a 9v on a dongle as quiet as any other quality pedal.

[@TaxEvader420]

Wouldve been cool to see if the fesley stays in tune after using the whammy (probably not)

[@qazwer333]

I know about this because I was looking at bass gear but squire or someone pretending to be them is offering a Fender Squier Debut for both bass and electric. I have no idea if they are the real things or not and you do need to provide your own setup. but for 120 for a name brand guitar or bass, it may be a good deal as most name brands start at 200 or around there.

[@Onidragon55]

60CycleHum's Afford-a-Board and AffordaStrat series is an awesome deep dive into neat stuff you can find in Amazon's cheap bins if this kinda content tickles your fancy. There's some really great fuzz and distortion pedals out there for under $40.

[@dbmcel]

I'd be curious what that amp sounds like with a decent speaker replacement. Not curious enough to spend any actual money, mind you.

[@vhsorion]

Sammy, to answer your distortion pedal question, it was probably put together with dubiously paying labor. The actual insides of most pedals (circuit board and components) are wicked cheap. You can build a fuzz pedal for about one dollar and some soldering skills.

[@kempcky]

One thing that is worth the money is the Squier Debut Strat! I love mine.

[@Neil_SM]

I noticed the Amazon page you showed for the distortion pedal also had a checkbox coupon for 40% off; so it should have been more like $17!

[@valentinziegler1649]

Most important factor contributing to a great sound is the player. If I could get my hands on the most expensive guitars and amps, I will not sound nearly as good as Sammy G playing through that cheap gear.

[@CanadianExplorer93]

I have a affordable setup myself, I have a tele kit, a Zoom G1XNext multi FX unit, plus built in amps and, built in drums, and a new bee wireless guitar system, from amazon, pretty good setup.

[@1972LittleC]

The only thing I got a bit of a problem with in the premisse: You can easily gig with a GOOD 20 watt amp. Hell, I used my Marshall tube (yes, that's the crux) amp and it blew 50 and 100 watt heads away, just because you could push the power amp harder.

[@benjaminhawthorne1969]

I would like to hear from someone who can explain the correlation between WATTAGE & VOLUME. You said that this 50 W amp is NOT loud enough. That surprises me because I owned a tweed FENDER "Blues Deluxe" Reissue 40 W combo amp that was much too loud to use as a "practice amp." In fact, I feel that I never got the benefit of the preamp's tubes because I NEVER played the amp with the VOLUME turned above "3!"

[@221b-l3t]

Tube guitar amps are much louder than solid state amps usually. They output twice the rated power if the gain is on full. That's why you have 100 W speakers with 50 W combos. They are very efficient at amplifying those frequencies, the speaker is very efficient and we hear these frequenceies the loudest. I have a 20 W amp and it has absolutely no problem handling a metal drummer with some headroom to go. And wattage and loudness are not correlated linearly. To double the volume you need a 10x increase in power. So a 10 W amp is half as loud as 100 W amp.

[@benjaminhawthorne1969]

@@221b-l3t That explains a lot. Thank you for the information! 🤗

[@221b-l3t]

@@benjaminhawthorne1969 Also some manufacturers will mislead by stating peak power instead of average (RMS). Any reputable manufacturer will have the wattage listed as RMS. Peak power can be a lot more but it's just for an instant, not enough to blow a speaker, otherwise you might need a 200 W cab with a 20 W amp. Speakers make a huge difference too. And many other factors. Generally solid state you can use about 3-4 times of the power in a tube amp. So if you want a 40 W tube amp loudness better go with 100 W or more in solid state, like say a Katana 100 W will NOT be as loud as 1959 SLP. So your Fender was probably already putting out 20 W on 3. Plenty loud. It's why I went for a 20W and it has power scaling to 10 and 0.5 W. 0.5 is still loud. Calling cops loud. But not enough for a drummer. 10 W was okay with the drummer but no headroom at all so 20 is perfect. Any gig these days have the amps miced so they prefer you show up with a small combo and you mainly have it for stage volume on a stand. For what it's worth I'm extremely happy with my Marshall Origin 20C, found it for 300€. Sounds amazing. Still lots of clean headroom and Fender style cleans you get of old Marshalls.

[@CaptainCraigKWMRZ]

Did I miss the part where the amp is tube or solid?

[@SyntheticFuture]

Before anyone buys that distortion at an upmarked price: it's probably the same board as the Mooer / Harley Benton (rodent). It's fine but one you crank it it becomes way noisier than any decent RAT clone.

[@Aarlog]

I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone point this out yet, but the headstock on the Fesley is literally just the "Warhead" headstock you can get on Warmoth necks. Which makes the blurb on the amazon product page about the "unique Fesley headstock design" even funnier tbh

[@TheAndostro]

5:50 yeah like i expected that when magic ends cheap guitars (new or used) can be great often cheap amp have decent clean tones but when it's comes to overdrive distortion fuzz (depends what kind of overdrive it's have) it's starting to sound bad

[@chimika5025]

damn! im mindblowned how cheap guitars nowadays have improved so much.. i too am concerned about the working environments in the factory though...

[@HELLNAWW]

Donner DST400 are pretty good for their price when they go on sale. I got mine for like $140 on Amazon 🤷 AliExpress also have really good cheap pedals in the $30-40 range (eg any model of Rat from DemonFx or Mosky). There's always the Joyo American Sound as well. The amp is one thing that cant and shouldn't be cheaped out on, but nowadays you can look used and find a good amp for a good price (tons of used Peavys, Boss Katana, etc on the market for like $150 or less). Going Digital or tube amps is where stuff starts to get complicated and expensive. Idk, i saw the price scales you mentioned and my eyeballs popped out of my head. I feel like you can get pretty solid intermediate stuff for below around $350 nowadays, maybe less if you shop used.

[@doknox]

I have what i would consider a cheap setup and it cost over a grand...🤷‍♂️ Man the fesley just sounds like the tone knob is rolled back a bit. Not bad at all for 120. Better pickups and pots would probably take care of that. Also sounds like the speaker is the problem with that amp. I could be wrong but....try a speaker swap and see what you get.

[@77zrod46]

I think people forget that any and all guitars are musical instruments. Just like a sax, clarinet, etc... They're made to make a sound. What you do with it matters most.

[@t89pain]

driving me nuts that the neck pickup is installed the wrong way lol

[@PhilBoswell]

"It's not very loud"…the VOX AC30 would like a word ;-)

[@dfkman]

AC30 is class A and this is probably class D though, so those 50 watts aren't the same

[@akkudakkupl]

@@dfkman50 watts is 50 watts. Class A vs class B vs class D, etc. is about efficiency - so how much waste heat you are generating to push those 50 watts into the load.

[@JilaX]

@@akkudakkupl If you think 50 solid state watts = 50 tube watts, you need a basic lesson in how gear works.

[@brucewahler6789]

Speaker efficiency is also a key to a classic Vox AC amp. Celestion alnicos are 4-5dB hotter than most other guitar speakers (ex: Fender Special Design), and maybe as much as 8-10dB hotter than the kind of speaker that often shows up in a modern < $200 guitar amp.

[@valvenator]

​​@@brucewahler6789 Excellent point often overlooked. I had an amp that went from "is that thing even on?" to "holy crap, is that mother loud!" just with a speaker change. A 3db increase is like going from ten to twenty watts. Every 3db increase is like doubling the wattage of the amp. An increase of 10db is like switching from ten watt amp to a hundred watts.

[@ralphhathaway-coley5460]

Fesley guitars made in the same factory as the Squire guitars! Also have you seen the burl on the ash burl Telle they sell at £77! reveiws are ok too, usual problem is setup and the switch can be sketchy. Not an expensive fix.

[@shucrut63]

I bet the richness of the high end guitar in comparison with the cheap one is 90% due to good strings vs stock generic strings on the cheap one.

[@lostinthemasses]

"What are the labor conditions like? What's happening with the environment to bring you this at this price?" This is why Sammy G deserves to have such a massive platform, these are the questions we need to be asking about EVERYTHING we buy.

[@chascoppard]

That guitar is the latested design. That definitely leads a new cool.

[@Louis_Rain]

I liked the sound of the POS wah better than the expensive one.

[@nathansweeneymusic]

I bought a 120W COOLMUSIC to upgrade my busking gig its honestly pretty good for the price ($300 AUD) Put an amp modeler in front of it and youre good to go, long lasting battery, 2 mic inputs and 2 guitar inputs, bluetooth. Damn china.

[@misterdark6466]

Fesley guitars about always get great reviews for the price.