Herman, shattering the dreams of every wannabe guitarist. "No, you can have a good guitar once you are good enough to deserve it!" Turns out it was the player not the instrument all along.
Commercially made budget gear songs: Top Gun theme song using a $189 (last sales price before being discontinued and now go for $400+) Rockman X100 guitar amp when practice amps cost that much. Bulletproof by Samantha Fish using a cigar box guitar.
That little amp actually sounds incredible for being a throwaway beginner amp. Times have indeed changed, I remember my first "amp" and it only brings back dreadful memories.
@@fajaradi1223 Yeah and they usually sound super fizzy and trebly. My first amp was a Peavey Rage IIRC. Nowadays you can just get a digital interface and use a VST like Bias FX II and get a fantastic tone all on the computer. I use that instead of my Mark V now.
TBH, I use a vintage 80s era Roland Cube-40 Keyboard 1x10" combo as my main practice amp. Loved the fact its a really basic amp that takes pedals pretty well and comes with an interesting little plate reverb. Yes, a real mechanical plate reverb, not a digital simulation. Loved it so much that I went out and bought another old silver Roland, this time a Cube-60 Keyboard 1x12" combo amp. Glad to see that this one's plate reverb still functions too. This one is now my main home practice amp with the Cube-40K being my main outside practice amp (altho lately "outside" only means out in the patio, thanks to COVID restrictions).
@@TheGhostGuitars Oh yeah I had a microcube then a cube 60 about 10 years ago and at the time I thought it sounded pretty damn good for what it was. Been so long I don't know if it did or if I just didn't know what sounded good at the time haha
"If you kid says I can't play this, I need a $2k guitar...I have a video to show you" 😂 So, basically Herman is roasting kids for complaining instead of actually practicing. As a mom, I approve of this.
Heh, too late, Rob Scallion already did that some few years ago. Altho it WOULD be interesting to see Herman Li try his hand on such a ...crude... instrument.
Hah hah, same! I'm still curious what The Dooo did to his to get it to play so well. Guaranteed the original action on those is like a suspension bridge.🤣
@@danw1955 If I had to guess, get one that's specifically imported from Japan? (Some of the stuff they do niche branding on over there isn't all that bad.)
@@danw1955 Probably took it to a tech, or figured how to set it up himself. Either that, or he is so used to playing on cheap and low quality guitars (his red strat for like 15 years) that he didn't have any problem.
might not be a paid sponsorship but at the very least they sent him it and probably asked for an honest review He has an amazon affiliate link to the product so he's still incentivised to not shit on it
Honestly, that little amp objectively sounds pretty damn amazing for what it is. It's maybe $8 worth of material and labour cost, and still has the ability to sound so good. Admittedly, the components will have very short lifespans, but they are easily repairable with just basic Electronics 101 knowledge. So something like this amp would actually be more beneficial for an aspiring muso, as it will force them to learn other critical skills, like electronics repair and maintenance.
@@sarahmcdonnell7705 it's definitely not night and day difference but there are subtle differences that even someone who can't necessarily point them out per se can still come to a conclusion that one sounds less than the other. I could also just be full of it lol, been playing for 20 years now so maybe I am 😅
@@adamtwelve I honestly had the same reaction to another video comparing the sound of various violins (100$, 10,000$, 100,000$, $500,000 and 10,000,000$). I could distinguish variances in the sound, but I'm not qualified to say which is better. I know which sounded better, to me, but that was about it. (hint, it wasn't the 10M one either). Same with this, I could hear slight tonal variations, but honestly, both amps (and even all the guitars) sounded good enough that I wouldn't complain if someone with any skill was playing them.
@@chrisvanderwielen1530 absolutely agree, the skill of the player and the piece of music always outweigh any minor tonal deficiency by an order of magnitude.
Did you use the speakers or the headphone jack? He only used the headphone jack so if you used the speakers, maybe there is an issue with the speaker side of the amp. Who knows.
They're all broken kid, it comes from the factory like that, just like all the hearts being broken while spending a hard earned 35 dollars on it. Listen to my advice, you don't need the starter guitar, just get an ibanez RG with a tremelo, but it needs some great ratio tuners, and some pickups and tuned to D with heavier gauge strings the action re -set and a perfect fret job, now with that in place and your favorite pickups (i like to use 7 or 8 string pickups in my 6 string guitars, especially a retribution 8 in an extreme diagonal across all the pickup places with custom routing and pickguard.) try an illuminator bridge in the middle and an EVO 3 in the bridge position now that is metal. get a cheap solid state amp. Now get a really good speaker and build your own box if you cannot afford an oversize mesa cab to put in WGS green beret or other really great sounding speakers. WGS invader sounds closest to a UK v30 but smoother and less breakup so it isn't as fun as a low volume deal where the speaker breaks up a ton. or get a reaper HP50 or retro 30, they have a veteran 30 that sounds really good also. depends what sound you want. Get a UK made V30 through thomann uk dealer. build a custom box take your solid state amp and put it inside the box also. now you got a screamin 1x12 combo amp. Get an equalizer pedal and other pedals and have a great time with great sound that you can actually mic and listen to in the room. Well lataz.
I still have the beginner guitar I started out with. It was a 50 bucks sunburst strat knock-off. I still use it too, though heavily modified over the last 15 years. Pretty much everything except the wood it's built with (surprisingly good density maple!) has been replaced over the years. New pickups, new pickguard, new machine heads, new potis, the neck was sanded off, scalloped and refinished and it's getting a new bridge pretty soon as well. I have over a dozen guitars but none are as close to my heart as that one and I've put a lot of time and effort into keeping it a solid instrument. All the modifications were done by myself as well, not by a shop. It's my project and I won't stop working on it until it breaks in half. It's going to need new frets as well as the ones it has are pretty much worn down to the fretboard. Great sounding guitar!
They have come a long way since the horrible Silvertone amp and Teisco I started on back in the 70s! Instead of hauling the big amps I have now around the house I mainly use a Spark 40 in the guest bedroom studio I use for RUclips vids. Doesn't take a lot of money to get great sound these days!
Hello Herman I think that you are one of my favorite persons on RUclips. I think its because your a talented, world famous musician and your just having fun making videos during the pandemic. Thanx
That little 3w sounds amazing and it's nice to hear a guitar god try these cheap things and give a really honest and considered review. It's easy to dismiss that amp when you can have any amp you want but this gives hope to beginners, you don't need to break the bank for a decent sound when you're starting out.
If I ever see one for 20 bucks or less, I'll buy one. I've built many battery powered guitar amps including one that uses a 12” Crate-Eminence speaker and RC car rechargeable batteries to power a 10-watt RMS amp and has a 9-vdc output jack for small floor modelers. My DIY porta-amp with a zoom G2 is loud AF and runs full blare with the processor connected for about 3.5-4 straight hours! It started with four 3” woofers then I went to a single paper 6” but finally I thought guitar speakers tend to be hyper efficient, so I went with the 12! Worked out great because it's barely bigger around than the 12 and about 4 1/3 inches deep. It even has bass, treble and a 2nd channel to plug into an additional speaker cabinet for another 10-watts. This meaning a 412 cabinet on the 2nd channel and you're loud enough for a band. I'm used to all that from porta-amps and would still consider buying one of these.
Something I have definitely come to understand over the years is that in the context of a somewhat decent mix, the cheapest, most nasty-ass garbage guitar tone can genuinely sound completely fine. Cheap tone only really rears its ugly head when heard isolated, or in really niche circumstances, like with frequency peaking, sustain behavior, or characteristics under heavy distortion. Obviously anyone with the ear for it will hear the difference, but its not the nails on chalkboard everyone seems to assume it is.
That's such a beautiful PRS, Herman! I've got a late 1985 PRS that my dad purchased in mid January 1986, I had inherited it when he passed in 2013, blessed to have it
Your Donner is perfectly good enough for white metal! 😆😆 Seriously it sounded alright, I am sure your show guests will be perfectly happy to jam with you plugged into it!
Methinks many practice/beginner stuffs nowdays are at least half decent in quality. Certes enough to get a newbie guitarist a good start on their guitar journey. I've seen some really crappy starter gear in the past (and a few surprisingly good ones). PS: I agree, the Donner profile sounds surprisingly good on the Kemper. Wonder how much of it is due to the Kemper itself, just idly wondering, LOL. Hope Herman Li uploads that Donner profile to the Kemper archives. It'd be a really funny thing to see how popular it'd actually be thereon!
I'm not a guitar player, but I love music. I'm not sure what the little amps sound is like on a guitar player scale, but what it did for me was to help accentuate the real sound of each guitar. That was an interesting take.
Definitely sounds better than my first practice amp...but then again technology has advanced pretty far, especially in the digital modeling area, especially IRs
I love ❤ that Li just showed the world a cheap decent guitar and a little amp can rock out and sound pretty good. Enough where no one has any excuses to not Rock N Roll now!!
I bought my 6 year old an Ibanez Mikro 3/4 scale for christmas. When I was getting it all set up and working in the new strings, I found that this tiny $130 guitar sounds better than my old RG whatever it is. I don't remember, it's a lower end one before they started making the geo's I think. It was a couple hundred dollars about 10 years ago. I also got him a the little blackstar fly 3 to play with. For a small travel type practice amp, it sounds pretty decent. He'll be super excited about it for sure, he's always wanting to mess with my guitars. As I've gotten better at playing, I realized that the gear doesn't make the player as much as we want to think it does lol.
this cheap stuff is pretty good nowadays. i have a 15w tube amp head from china that sounds pretty awesome. and with only 15w you can turn down the pre-amp, and go power-amp distortion, which sounds great. and it's loud - with a 4x12 cabinet easily suitable for full metal band. (except for Manowar and Motorhead.)
My first electric guitar was a Donner or a Squier aswell wich i played for about 3 - 4 month. I then upgradet to a BC Rich Warlock wich i played for about 9 years. I recently upgradet to an ESP E2 Horizon NT2 :D
Hah, my Godin Session has the same pickup configuration as that Ibanez Andy Timmins Strat! Two hotrails where the singles used to be and a splittable bridge humbucker! At 6:27, Herman's hands are LITERALLY a blur! They were too fast for his camera to properly capture them.
you know, I wasn't gonna subscribe but then Herman just put out some sick vids on guitar tech knowledge. Man this is just unbelievable from a rockstar. I'll watch the tuning floyd rose video next. Sick work Herman! keep rockin'! lookin forward to my 3W guitar amp (not sure if it comes from the same place), but man I just bought a Glarry semi-hollow, humbucker tele style $120 guitar and just loving it without the amp! (doesn't stay in tune after 15mins thou!). Waiting for my "halloween" dual humbucker guitar n 3W amp to arrive!
I have a cheap Jackson Dinky 7 and a Gibson Les Paul that I play. My kids were listening to me play and thought the Jackson was more expensive. Hundreds of $ difference. Especially now you can get really good gear affordably and with using free/cheap VST plug-ins, you can sound pretty awesome. Way better than spending tons of money on pedals before this technology was easily accessible.
I have this amp as well and I think a detail missed here is that while the amp effects are surprisingly good the actual speaker is horrible. So if you use it for effects and route it to another speaker it sounds good, but it's a bit hard to use on its own.
Herman Li so true.. I have an all tube Marshall 40 watt combo, but it's my Line 6 Spider V60 and recently acquired Line 6 AX2 212 TubeTone amps I love more.. So kids, the "Need" for expensive equipment is out the door.
Roy Denney 1 year ago I've had this amp for 3 months and I think mine must be broken. Mine is slower than Herman's and misses a lot of notes.🤷♂ 100 Dennis Llewellyn Dennis Llewellyn 0 seconds ago They're all broken kid, it comes from the factory like that, just like all the hearts being broken while spending a hard earned 35 dollars on it. Herman Li is using it direct into his omazing recording rig on computer in the you tube video making setup they have.. Listen to my advice, you don't need the starter guitar, just get an ibanez RG with a tremelo, but it needs some great ratio tuners, and some pickups and tuned to D with heavier gauge strings the action re -set or whatever tuning you like, and a perfect fret job, now with that in place and your favorite pickups (i like to use 7 or 8 string pickups in my 6 string guitars, especially a retribution 8 in an extreme diagonal across all the pickup places with custom routing and pickguard.) try an illuminator bridge in the middle and an EVO 3 in the bridge position now that is metal. get a cheap solid state amp. Now get a really good speaker and build your own box if you cannot afford an oversize mesa cab to put in WGS green beret or other really great sounding speakers. WGS invader sounds closest to a UK v30 but smoother and less breakup so it isn't as fun as a low volume deal where the speaker breaks up a ton. or get a reaper HP50 or retro 30, they have a veteran 30 that sounds really good also. depends what sound you want. Get a UK made V30 through thomann uk dealer. build a custom box take your solid state amp and put it inside the box also. now you got a screamin 1x12 combo amp. or even build the useful for absolutely everything 2x12 box setup. Get an equalizer pedal and other pedals and have a great time with great sound that you can actually mic and listen to in the room and learn guitar. = add as many speakers as you want and build a bigger box, you may have to upgrade or have your amp modded for more speakers with more speaker outs , more power, adding an effects loop and more. best of luck. Save up and mow yards or wash some dishes for money, maybe in a year or less you could have your dream setup. if you get great grades maybe you can go to college earn degrees and invent things or become rich with those jobs? anyway you can do it, don't ever give up, and always rest one day of the week for god from friday night to saturday night and have life without death stealing from you, god shall not let you down, only devils do that by messing up people. Now remember what i am hath said and on the special day do not do any work, and do only rest from friday night to saturday night and stay pro life out there. take it easy everyone. i am that i am.
Right before the lockdown, I bought a blemished Squier Bullet HH Mustang for $140. Almost unplayable when I got it. Dry as fuck fret board, bowed neck, gritty frets, sharp fret ends, intonation off by a mile. Brought it to my guitar guy at the local shop, and he went over it for about 2 hours. Now it's one of the best playing guitars I've ever owned, and I've been playing for 35 years. I just need to put hotter pickups in it now. So don't discount cheap guitars, bring it somewhere that knows how to set them up. I haven't played out in a long time so I sold all of my big amps (Rivera Knucklehead, Framus Cobra, Peavey XXX), but I've had this ART DST-825 Rulesbreaker for 20 years, and for a solid state amp with onboard effects it sounds really fucking good. And it's loud as hell for a 2X12. I'm glad I bought it all those years ago, can't find them anywhere anymore. And you can take the amp part out of the cabinet, rack mount it, and bypass the power amp section and use a tube power amp. I did that for a few years and added an Aphex Aural Exciter and EQ and it was brutal. So don't discount cheap amps either. Anyway, Merry Christmas!
@@Cinestudi0 It was unplayed, got it from Guitar Center online. Every Fender Mustang that I've played was good, and if that was going to be even close it was worth the money. I don't care if I pay $100 or $1000 for a new guitar, I always bring it to my guy to go over, he's never let me down yet.
The most famous commercially used practice amp is the Rockman X100. Commercially available music using that clip on amp include the album Hysteria by Def Leopard and the Top Gun theme song.
I'm "restarting" out and I bought this Donner guitar because of him. It is a good guitar for the price. The amp is usable if you use headphones, without them it's REALLY crappy hahaha The issue with the guitar though, is that it gets out of tune around frat 5 or so. Specially the sixth string (E). Do you guys think a luthier would likely be able to do the trick? Or even some kind of good youtube tutorial for me to fix it. At the moment I don't know what is the culprit. But I'm asking probability. Any recommendations from the experts here?
I think with ANY guitar in this price bracket, it would be safe to assume that you'll need a good thorough setup to get it off on a good footing. So always assume another 80$ or so for a reputable luthier to set it up right (assuming nothing major needs done, but that's where ye need to shop around and find the good ones). Obviously, if ye know how to do most of the basic setup work (something that should be in any guitarist skillset anyway), it'd be cheaper to do the setup yourself and leave the big job to the luthiers. For the most part, anyone can do most, if not all the commonly needed jobs, even refretting. You just need the proper tools, the know-how and the patience to do it. Naturally if ye don't have the needed tools or not inclined to do some of those more tedious jobs, then can ye farm those out to a good luthier.
@@TheGhostGuitars I understand, and I'm willing to learn. At the moment I don't know many influencers who talk about this, so there is no one I really trust. Any recommendations? Obviously I trust and respect Herman since I bought this guitar because of him, and I will watch his video on this topic. But in the meantime I would definitely check some good recommendations.
I'm pleasantly surprised. It beats the hell out of the Fender 15g I started out with. It isn't saturated enough for me, but that's kind of besides the point. And it sounded a lot better profiled through the Kemper.
Great vid, I only played it on my phone but I liked the cheap amp over the kemper it cut through more but also got to take into account an amazing player , greetings from ireland.
Got one. It's great for my kids because they're not tethered to a wall if they want to jam outside, but it's not so loud they can shake windows all over the house.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
It’s funny how quickly he picked up streaming. He’s such a natural for online entertainment and managing a stream/chat. It’s always great to watch
Managing a stream chat? He didn't even look at the chat, never mind answer the questions!
He steamed before this whole thing, he streamed his live shows on twitch
@@Ndlanding false, he did answer my questions & and these are just highlights of the stream
@@Ndlanding Nah he actually responds to us on stream.
Those parts are usually cut out from highlight videos unless its that relevant to the video.
@@usuallyclueless4477 Fair enough!
This amp is now worth $3500 just because Herman has used it.
Lol
Herman li is now endorsed by Donner lol
Good thing I bought it before this video !
@@instrumentalist28 or the other way around. Herman now endorses Donner as a shareholder.
That's it?? I would've pay 35000 just for that amp. So it's actually 35000 for the whole set.
I think DragonForce should do a show where everyone plays beginner kit instruments in the middle of a Guitar Center
Imagine Herman sjredding his on NAMM just for the heck of it
Nice to see such a skilled musician not be too serious and just have some fun like Herman Li does. Thanks for the great content.
WHAAAAAA? You mean my gear isn't the reason I sound like shit?
Was it me the whole time?
(cries in corner)
I feel your pain
yep
Right there with ya.
No but yes?
Herman, shattering the dreams of every wannabe guitarist. "No, you can have a good guitar once you are good enough to deserve it!" Turns out it was the player not the instrument all along.
Yup, my logic pretty much is that unless I can go into a guitar store and play a rad solo on the guitar I’m going to buy I ain’t stepping foot there
Commercially made budget gear songs: Top Gun theme song using a $189 (last sales price before being discontinued and now go for $400+) Rockman X100 guitar amp when practice amps cost that much. Bulletproof by Samantha Fish using a cigar box guitar.
Yeah you can make a $50 electric guitar sound like expensive ones if you know what you're doing.
I still bought a good guitar as my first but I know it's me who suck, not the guitar. :P
@@molekyyli self awareness is an important trait oh and what guitar do ya have?
That little amp actually sounds incredible for being a throwaway beginner amp. Times have indeed changed, I remember my first "amp" and it only brings back dreadful memories.
Same here. My first amp is plagued by a very bad feedback noise.
@@fajaradi1223 Yeah and they usually sound super fizzy and trebly. My first amp was a Peavey Rage IIRC. Nowadays you can just get a digital interface and use a VST like Bias FX II and get a fantastic tone all on the computer. I use that instead of my Mark V now.
TBH, I use a vintage 80s era Roland Cube-40 Keyboard 1x10" combo as my main practice amp. Loved the fact its a really basic amp that takes pedals pretty well and comes with an interesting little plate reverb. Yes, a real mechanical plate reverb, not a digital simulation. Loved it so much that I went out and bought another old silver Roland, this time a Cube-60 Keyboard 1x12" combo amp. Glad to see that this one's plate reverb still functions too. This one is now my main home practice amp with the Cube-40K being my main outside practice amp (altho lately "outside" only means out in the patio, thanks to COVID restrictions).
@@TheGhostGuitars Oh yeah I had a microcube then a cube 60 about 10 years ago and at the time I thought it sounded pretty damn good for what it was. Been so long I don't know if it did or if I just didn't know what sounded good at the time haha
@@cheetahfish still got a micro cube for noodling. The stack sounds are shit but the Brit combo is very usable 👍
"If you kid says I can't play this, I need a $2k guitar...I have a video to show you"
😂 So, basically Herman is roasting kids for complaining instead of actually practicing. As a mom, I approve of this.
As a fat mom, you should spend less on sugar and more on your kid! And learn to spell.
@@Ndlanding uhm, what?
@@Ndlanding My kid is very well looked after, as it happens, and has been taught to be polite to others too, but I appreciate your concern.
@@Ndlanding the hell was that comment, bro? You don't have to be a jerk, though
@@Ndlanding bro woke up and chose violence 💀
Herman is one of my favorite 2020 funk cures. Keep it going!
Herman Li is an amazing soul...
It is very hard to find such a humble human being at this level of capability!
Thank you Herman to be just like us!
1:24 "Of all the guitarists I've ever heard, you're one of them." LMAO
They had us in the first half, ngl
I cant stop sing "Herman had a little Amp, little Amp, little Amp....." lol
he made the children not complain, not complain, not complain.
Conclusion: If you are Herman Li, you will make a shovel with strings sounds good...
That's called a diddly bow and usually a broom handle is used.
Justin Johnson did it already.
Your name has to be rob scallon for that
Heh, too late, Rob Scallion already did that some few years ago. Altho it WOULD be interesting to see Herman Li try his hand on such a ...crude... instrument.
@@TheGhostGuitars
Especially with a 2" gauge sling wires attached on it.
Idea: budget Dragonforce vs Real Dragonforce
Cheap Mic, Keyboard, drums, Guitar, amp Etc
Vs whatever you use
Awesome idea!
Andertons does something like this. They'll do a "Sound like X for $400 quid" and "Sound like X with unlimited budget"
I want to see this!
Somewhere, someone from Donner's haveing a head explosion.
Best advert ever and it was free!
I'm still waiting for li to get the legendary "Hello Kitty Guitar"
Hah hah, same! I'm still curious what The Dooo did to his to get it to play so well. Guaranteed the original action on those is like a suspension bridge.🤣
@@danw1955 If I had to guess, get one that's specifically imported from Japan? (Some of the stuff they do niche branding on over there isn't all that bad.)
@@danw1955 Probably took it to a tech, or figured how to set it up himself. Either that, or he is so used to playing on cheap and low quality guitars (his red strat for like 15 years) that he didn't have any problem.
that would be amazing hahahaha
its actually not a bad guitar, only one pick up though
Dear Herman, you have made a dad with little money very happy ^^
If this wasn't a paid promotion, Donnor Guitars is about to be one happy company, when they see this.
might not be a paid sponsorship but at the very least they sent him it and probably asked for an honest review
He has an amazon affiliate link to the product so he's still incentivised to not shit on it
Honestly, that little amp objectively sounds pretty damn amazing for what it is. It's maybe $8 worth of material and labour cost, and still has the ability to sound so good. Admittedly, the components will have very short lifespans, but they are easily repairable with just basic Electronics 101 knowledge. So something like this amp would actually be more beneficial for an aspiring muso, as it will force them to learn other critical skills, like electronics repair and maintenance.
Might even offer a gateway to custom amp mods. Cheap low risk starting point.
Not gonna lie it doesn't sound amazing but it's not complete ass either, pretty good value for the money I'd say.
I was shocked at the bass response honestly
I don’t know how people can tell the difference 😅
@@sarahmcdonnell7705 it's definitely not night and day difference but there are subtle differences that even someone who can't necessarily point them out per se can still come to a conclusion that one sounds less than the other. I could also just be full of it lol, been playing for 20 years now so maybe I am 😅
@@adamtwelve I honestly had the same reaction to another video comparing the sound of various violins (100$, 10,000$, 100,000$, $500,000 and 10,000,000$). I could distinguish variances in the sound, but I'm not qualified to say which is better. I know which sounded better, to me, but that was about it. (hint, it wasn't the 10M one either). Same with this, I could hear slight tonal variations, but honestly, both amps (and even all the guitars) sounded good enough that I wouldn't complain if someone with any skill was playing them.
@@chrisvanderwielen1530 absolutely agree, the skill of the player and the piece of music always outweigh any minor tonal deficiency by an order of magnitude.
I've had this amp for 3 months and I think mine must be broken. Mine is slower than Herman's and misses a lot of notes.🤷♂️
Did you use the speakers or the headphone jack? He only used the headphone jack so if you used the speakers, maybe there is an issue with the speaker side of the amp. Who knows.
Ayyyy lmao
Make sure to point the floor fan towards your face for maximum speed.
Maybe it's your fingers.
They're all broken kid, it comes from the factory like that, just like all the hearts being broken while spending a hard earned 35 dollars on it. Listen to my advice, you don't need the starter guitar, just get an ibanez RG with a tremelo, but it needs some great ratio tuners, and some pickups and tuned to D with heavier gauge strings the action re -set and a perfect fret job, now with that in place and your favorite pickups (i like to use 7 or 8 string pickups in my 6 string guitars, especially a retribution 8 in an extreme diagonal across all the pickup places with custom routing and pickguard.) try an illuminator bridge in the middle and an EVO 3 in the bridge position now that is metal. get a cheap solid state amp. Now get a really good speaker and build your own box if you cannot afford an oversize mesa cab to put in WGS green beret or other really great sounding speakers. WGS invader sounds closest to a UK v30 but smoother and less breakup so it isn't as fun as a low volume deal where the speaker breaks up a ton. or get a reaper HP50 or retro 30, they have a veteran 30 that sounds really good also. depends what sound you want. Get a UK made V30 through thomann uk dealer.
build a custom box take your solid state amp and put it inside the box also. now you got a screamin 1x12 combo amp. Get an equalizer pedal and other pedals and have a great time with great sound that you can actually mic and listen to in the room. Well lataz.
its amazing to see a guitar legend playing afordable beginer equipment, ill grab my old guitar. Thanks a lot herman :D
Love how surprisingly stoked he was about the lil' guy! 😻
I still have the beginner guitar I started out with. It was a 50 bucks sunburst strat knock-off.
I still use it too, though heavily modified over the last 15 years. Pretty much everything except the wood it's built with (surprisingly good density maple!) has been replaced over the years.
New pickups, new pickguard, new machine heads, new potis, the neck was sanded off, scalloped and refinished and it's getting a new bridge pretty soon as well.
I have over a dozen guitars but none are as close to my heart as that one and I've put a lot of time and effort into keeping it a solid instrument. All the modifications were done by myself as well, not by a shop. It's my project and I won't stop working on it until it breaks in half. It's going to need new frets as well as the ones it has are pretty much worn down to the fretboard.
Great sounding guitar!
Everyone asking what's the best stuff for cheapest price, but the real question is who's editing these videos
I was so ready to attempt to apply 😂
Oh well, time to build the editing portfolio and wait a few years
The editing of the Videos on this channel SKYROCKETTED in quality over the last 3-4 Months. Totally awesome to watch.
Notice how so many people are good at editing?
Well maybe that's because it's
Not. That. Fucking. Hard......
@@elonmust7470 Lol.
Herman edit the videos like he's playing guitar
6:53 I like how Herman's hair fly like on the MVs 🔥🔥🔥
I'm old school but this is cool on so many levels. Glad to meet you Herman. You are an outstanding musician.
They have come a long way since the horrible Silvertone amp and Teisco I started on back in the 70s! Instead of hauling the big amps I have now around the house I mainly use a Spark 40 in the guest bedroom studio I use for RUclips vids. Doesn't take a lot of money to get great sound these days!
Hello Herman
I think that you are one of my favorite persons on RUclips. I think its because your a talented, world famous musician and your just having fun making videos during the pandemic.
Thanx
That little 3w sounds amazing and it's nice to hear a guitar god try these cheap things and give a really honest and considered review. It's easy to dismiss that amp when you can have any amp you want but this gives hope to beginners, you don't need to break the bank for a decent sound when you're starting out.
If I ever see one for 20 bucks or less, I'll buy one. I've built many battery powered guitar amps including one that uses a 12” Crate-Eminence speaker and RC car rechargeable batteries to power a 10-watt RMS amp and has a 9-vdc output jack for small floor modelers.
My DIY porta-amp with a zoom G2 is loud AF and runs full blare with the processor connected for about 3.5-4 straight hours!
It started with four 3” woofers then I went to a single paper 6” but finally I thought guitar speakers tend to be hyper efficient, so I went with the 12! Worked out great because it's barely bigger around than the 12 and about 4 1/3 inches deep. It even has bass, treble and a 2nd channel to plug into an additional speaker cabinet for another 10-watts. This meaning a 412 cabinet on the 2nd channel and you're loud enough for a band.
I'm used to all that from porta-amps and would still consider buying one of these.
Herman, high praise for your mad guitar skills bro! You sir are an amazing talent! These videos are hella informative and fun to watch as well. 🤘🐉🤘
Your the best Herman, Thank you for this i am gonna try this out.
Something I have definitely come to understand over the years is that in the context of a somewhat decent mix, the cheapest, most nasty-ass garbage guitar tone can genuinely sound completely fine. Cheap tone only really rears its ugly head when heard isolated, or in really niche circumstances, like with frequency peaking, sustain behavior, or characteristics under heavy distortion.
Obviously anyone with the ear for it will hear the difference, but its not the nails on chalkboard everyone seems to assume it is.
That's such a beautiful PRS, Herman!
I've got a late 1985 PRS that my dad purchased in mid January 1986, I had inherited it when he passed in 2013, blessed to have it
Your Donner is perfectly good enough for white metal! 😆😆
Seriously it sounded alright, I am sure your show guests will be perfectly happy to jam with you plugged into it!
Just goes to show you dont need highly expensive gear to get a good sound, I'm happy with the couple of modelling amps I have, they sound great
When Herman played the guitar, there was a gust of wind blowing his hair
The donner profile on the Kemper with the effects added in sounds AWESOME
Methinks many practice/beginner stuffs nowdays are at least half decent in quality. Certes enough to get a newbie guitarist a good start on their guitar journey. I've seen some really crappy starter gear in the past (and a few surprisingly good ones).
PS: I agree, the Donner profile sounds surprisingly good on the Kemper. Wonder how much of it is due to the Kemper itself, just idly wondering, LOL. Hope Herman Li uploads that Donner profile to the Kemper archives. It'd be a really funny thing to see how popular it'd actually be thereon!
I'm convinced Herman can make anything with strings attached to it sound like a 2000 dollar guitar.
One of the best channels I've seen in sometime! Fun and really interesting.
Okay... Just got myself one of those Donner kits based on Herman's field tests... Thanks for the honest appraisal man!
looking forward to hearing the Donner amp live
That was my amp for years!! Yessss
Herman Li, such a cool guy!
tell your friends
I'm not a guitar player, but I love music. I'm not sure what the little amps sound is like on a guitar player scale, but what it did for me was to help accentuate the real sound of each guitar. That was an interesting take.
These videos are awesome because they show that you can sound good with the cheapest equipment, its all on you.
Between the guitar and this, you have made alot of expensive shops and brands real unhappy!!!!! I love it, thankyou
P.s. the BCrich sounded awesome!
Mr Li's videos are always so entertaining . thanks for sharing Mr Li
“How about this menacing Bc rich warlock” 😂
We love you Herman!
Definitely sounds better than my first practice amp...but then again technology has advanced pretty far, especially in the digital modeling area, especially IRs
Thank you Thank you Thank you,.... just so much fun watching you proof all this to beginner.🥰😍🤩😘💯💫🙌🙌🎸🎸🎸
Whoever edits these videos is amazing
I love ❤ that Li just showed the world a cheap decent guitar and a little amp can rock out and sound pretty good. Enough where no one has any excuses to not Rock N Roll now!!
He is gonna be so disapointed when he plays through the amp speaker on his vacation xD
I mean, you’re not wrong. But if it has a headphone out jack, then it will probably sound close to the direct line in recording.
Interesting. Thanks for saying that.
True, there is no way that amp's speakers are any way near what the monitors are giving him on the line out of that amp! ;)
I bought my 6 year old an Ibanez Mikro 3/4 scale for christmas. When I was getting it all set up and working in the new strings, I found that this tiny $130 guitar sounds better than my old RG whatever it is. I don't remember, it's a lower end one before they started making the geo's I think. It was a couple hundred dollars about 10 years ago. I also got him a the little blackstar fly 3 to play with. For a small travel type practice amp, it sounds pretty decent. He'll be super excited about it for sure, he's always wanting to mess with my guitars. As I've gotten better at playing, I realized that the gear doesn't make the player as much as we want to think it does lol.
It's never been the gear to begin with my guy. Its always been about you
I wanna be the Herman Li of acoustic guitar. I preach practice over gear, as well.
Fun video, man! 🐰❤️🎸🎶🤝✌️
Please show us that Herman Li dragon kick with that acoustic guitar
It’s actually insane how good that lil amp sounds.
one more time, it is not about the gear, it is about practicing and talent. Nice video (of course a 20K USD gear always help :) )
Gibson like, "Hey Herman, any way you can take down this video?" Thanks for making the video I didn't know I needed to watch.
this cheap stuff is pretty good nowadays. i have a 15w tube amp head from china that sounds pretty awesome. and with only 15w you can turn down the pre-amp, and go power-amp distortion, which sounds great. and it's loud - with a 4x12 cabinet easily suitable for full metal band. (except for Manowar and Motorhead.)
My first electric guitar was a Donner or a Squier aswell wich i played for about 3 - 4 month. I then upgradet to a BC Rich Warlock wich i played for about 9 years. I recently upgradet to an ESP E2 Horizon NT2 :D
Hah, my Godin Session has the same pickup configuration as that Ibanez Andy Timmins Strat! Two hotrails where the singles used to be and a splittable bridge humbucker!
At 6:27, Herman's hands are LITERALLY a blur! They were too fast for his camera to properly capture them.
Brilliant! What a great guy and guitarist.
you know, I wasn't gonna subscribe but then Herman just put out some sick vids on guitar tech knowledge. Man this is just unbelievable from a rockstar. I'll watch the tuning floyd rose video next. Sick work Herman! keep rockin'!
lookin forward to my 3W guitar amp (not sure if it comes from the same place), but man I just bought a Glarry semi-hollow, humbucker tele style $120 guitar and just loving it without the amp! (doesn't stay in tune after 15mins thou!). Waiting for my "halloween" dual humbucker guitar n 3W amp to arrive!
My first guitar was a bc rich warlock. I now have the Kerry King kkw warlock and I love it
I have a cheap Jackson Dinky 7 and a Gibson Les Paul that I play. My kids were listening to me play and thought the Jackson was more expensive. Hundreds of $ difference. Especially now you can get really good gear affordably and with using free/cheap VST plug-ins, you can sound pretty awesome. Way better than spending tons of money on pedals before this technology was easily accessible.
budget equipment has truly risen in quality in the last few years/decades
Very cool and important video, greetings from a guy that sold Jimi Hendrix wah-wah pedals for 4 years in the 90s...
I have a fender mini twin from the mid 90’s and that thing sounds amazing
this color is perfect
purple
I have this amp as well and I think a detail missed here is that while the amp effects are surprisingly good the actual speaker is horrible. So if you use it for effects and route it to another speaker it sounds good, but it's a bit hard to use on its own.
That's a surprisingly warm sounding amp.
Herman Li so true..
I have an all tube Marshall 40 watt combo,
but it's my Line 6 Spider V60 and recently acquired Line 6 AX2 212 TubeTone amps I love more..
So kids, the "Need" for expensive equipment is out the door.
So basically the answer to "I sound bad because my equipment sucks" is "git gud, scrub".
Roy Denney
1 year ago
I've had this amp for 3 months and I think mine must be broken. Mine is slower than Herman's and misses a lot of notes.🤷♂
100
Dennis Llewellyn
Dennis Llewellyn
0 seconds ago
They're all broken kid, it comes from the factory like that, just like all the hearts being broken while spending a hard earned 35 dollars on it. Herman Li is using it direct into his omazing recording rig on computer in the you tube video making setup they have.. Listen to my advice, you don't need the starter guitar, just get an ibanez RG with a tremelo, but it needs some great ratio tuners, and some pickups and tuned to D with heavier gauge strings the action re -set or whatever tuning you like, and a perfect fret job, now with that in place and your favorite pickups (i like to use 7 or 8 string pickups in my 6 string guitars, especially a retribution 8 in an extreme diagonal across all the pickup places with custom routing and pickguard.) try an illuminator bridge in the middle and an EVO 3 in the bridge position now that is metal. get a cheap solid state amp. Now get a really good speaker and build your own box if you cannot afford an oversize mesa cab to put in WGS green beret or other really great sounding speakers. WGS invader sounds closest to a UK v30 but smoother and less breakup so it isn't as fun as a low volume deal where the speaker breaks up a ton. or get a reaper HP50 or retro 30, they have a veteran 30 that sounds really good also. depends what sound you want. Get a UK made V30 through thomann uk dealer.
build a custom box take your solid state amp and put it inside the box also. now you got a screamin 1x12 combo amp. or even build the useful for absolutely everything 2x12 box setup. Get an equalizer pedal and other pedals and have a great time with great sound that you can actually mic and listen to in the room and learn guitar. = add as many speakers as you want and build a bigger box, you may have to upgrade or have your amp modded for more speakers with more speaker outs , more power, adding an effects loop and more. best of luck. Save up and mow yards or wash some dishes for money, maybe in a year or less you could have your dream setup. if you get great grades maybe you can go to college earn degrees and invent things or become rich with those jobs? anyway you can do it, don't ever give up, and always rest one day of the week for god from friday night to saturday night and have life without death stealing from you, god shall not let you down, only devils do that by messing up people. Now remember what i am hath said and on the special day do not do any work, and do only rest from friday night to saturday night and stay pro life out there. take it easy everyone. i am that i am.
Right before the lockdown, I bought a blemished Squier Bullet HH Mustang for $140. Almost unplayable when I got it. Dry as fuck fret board, bowed neck, gritty frets, sharp fret ends, intonation off by a mile. Brought it to my guitar guy at the local shop, and he went over it for about 2 hours. Now it's one of the best playing guitars I've ever owned, and I've been playing for 35 years. I just need to put hotter pickups in it now. So don't discount cheap guitars, bring it somewhere that knows how to set them up.
I haven't played out in a long time so I sold all of my big amps (Rivera Knucklehead, Framus Cobra, Peavey XXX), but I've had this ART DST-825 Rulesbreaker for 20 years, and for a solid state amp with onboard effects it sounds really fucking good. And it's loud as hell for a 2X12. I'm glad I bought it all those years ago, can't find them anywhere anymore. And you can take the amp part out of the cabinet, rack mount it, and bypass the power amp section and use a tube power amp. I did that for a few years and added an Aphex Aural Exciter and EQ and it was brutal. So don't discount cheap amps either.
Anyway, Merry Christmas!
How did you knew it had potential? Sound to steep of a price for a busted unplayable squier bullet
@@Cinestudi0 It was unplayed, got it from Guitar Center online. Every Fender Mustang that I've played was good, and if that was going to be even close it was worth the money.
I don't care if I pay $100 or $1000 for a new guitar, I always bring it to my guy to go over, he's never let me down yet.
6:52 Can any pro guitarist here tell me how many hours you need to practice to have the wind in your hair while you play?
I laughed more than I should
You have to grind and level up quite a bit.
40 hours a day.
You need to get to level 45 , if killing a board gives you 3xp and you can complete the cycle of 10 kills in 2 minutes.... about 15k hours
You need to reach master pro level 100 before you learn the dragon shout.
Loved the Warlock!
I low key was excited for this video lol
The most famous commercially used practice amp is the Rockman X100. Commercially available music using that clip on amp include the album Hysteria by Def Leopard and the Top Gun theme song.
That Rockman stuff is in Overloud's TH-U now.
Wow what alot of fun , this was
This shows that the guitar player is the most important part of sounding good.
You seriously need to use that profiled sound or the amp itself on your next album!
I'm "restarting" out and I bought this Donner guitar because of him. It is a good guitar for the price. The amp is usable if you use headphones, without them it's REALLY crappy hahaha
The issue with the guitar though, is that it gets out of tune around frat 5 or so. Specially the sixth string (E). Do you guys think a luthier would likely be able to do the trick? Or even some kind of good youtube tutorial for me to fix it. At the moment I don't know what is the culprit. But I'm asking probability. Any recommendations from the experts here?
Will have a video on setting up its intonation soon. 😀
@@dragonforce thanks! I'll check it out when it comes out
I think with ANY guitar in this price bracket, it would be safe to assume that you'll need a good thorough setup to get it off on a good footing. So always assume another 80$ or so for a reputable luthier to set it up right (assuming nothing major needs done, but that's where ye need to shop around and find the good ones).
Obviously, if ye know how to do most of the basic setup work (something that should be in any guitarist skillset anyway), it'd be cheaper to do the setup yourself and leave the big job to the luthiers.
For the most part, anyone can do most, if not all the commonly needed jobs, even refretting. You just need the proper tools, the know-how and the patience to do it. Naturally if ye don't have the needed tools or not inclined to do some of those more tedious jobs, then can ye farm those out to a good luthier.
@@TheGhostGuitars I understand, and I'm willing to learn. At the moment I don't know many influencers who talk about this, so there is no one I really trust. Any recommendations? Obviously I trust and respect Herman since I bought this guitar because of him, and I will watch his video on this topic. But in the meantime I would definitely check some good recommendations.
OUTSTANDING!
I'm pleasantly surprised. It beats the hell out of the Fender 15g I started out with. It isn't saturated enough for me, but that's kind of besides the point. And it sounded a lot better profiled through the Kemper.
What I take from this.
Your speaker is the most important variable in ones tone.
Even Herman Li knows that you need to play Open chords and have clean Tone to impress girls
Good microphone + daw track edition = make all amp sound good
That gave me a good laugh, that little amp is great.
Sweet. Thanks!
Yeah sweet sounds great dude
That is a meaty Rhythm sound!
Holysh@t GREAT VIDEO....
Great vid, I only played it on my phone but I liked the cheap amp over the kemper it cut through more but also got to take into account an amazing player , greetings from ireland.
They had it on sale, now it is 170 US. Still a great deal, think I might pick this up for my daughter.
Best ad for Donner gear ever
Got one. It's great for my kids because they're not tethered to a wall if they want to jam outside, but it's not so loud they can shake windows all over the house.
Herman, you are cool as hell dude!