Equipment Reccomendations
 

I have never been a gear head. My bandmates always took care of it.

but now, seeing as how I am starting a new band, I could use some advice on Microphones and Amplifiers and keyboard amplifiers.

what brands? what should i prepare to pay for them? how long should they last? where do you reccomend I make such purchases?

thanks in advance

it all depends on the style of music.

for punk:
guitars - gibson, fender ($1000-$2000)
basses - fender, gibson ($700-$1000)
amps - crate, krank, marshall ($900-$2500)

for rock:
guitars - esp, fender, prs, ibanez, schecter ($900-$2000)
basses - shecter, fender, gibson, esp ($900-$2000)
amps - line6, fender, marshall, peavey, crate ($900-$2000)

for metal:
guitars - gibson, esp, ibanez, schecter, jackson ($1100-$2100)
basses - gibson, schecter, esp, fender ($900-$2000)
amps - peavey, marshall, crate, fender ($900-$2500)

thats just including the most popular brands....and i probably left a few out. ill post more later.

dont buy over the internet.

all the brands i mentioned are usually damn sturdy instruments and should last you as long as you dont smash them.

damn.. you need satchmo...

vocal mic - Shure SM58 - industry standard
keyboards/amps - roland is good but im not that knowledgable about keyboards

keys can be tricky, i find the old stereo chorus amps that peavy made work well for alot of keyboards and give it a natural sound in the mix, without the keys sounding to upfront behind the somewhat muffled signal of a guitar/bass/ drums... only high end roland stuff is good for keys, we also ran our keyboard rig out of a fender passport PA, which is a 4 channel, it worked really well, especially because of the stands, which help with the room sound a good deal. amps... you need to be more specific, what you are looking for for sound, for price range, tubed, solid state... stuff like that. a head can make or break a band... cabinets for a starting band you can get away with most anything, but if you get a cabinet with **** speakers in it, it doesnt cost much to restock it with good speakers (celestions.. etc..)

ebay, musiciansfriend.com... those are seriously the only places to get stuff at a good price. guitar shops suck for prices for the most part.