yo dude, if youve never played, dont drop a grand on shit, go get a starter kit for 2-3 hundred, comes with a small practice amp and shitty guitar.
Guitars I've played that I like: an american made fender strat... all maple neck... it feels like fucking butter. very nice and fun to play.
as much shit as I give will for his love of BC Rich, they feel great to play, not to hold, but the action is very nice, and i dont think the price tags are too high on them, get a platinum series anything, i played a platinum warlock, and wills platinum beast.. both felt excellent.
i have a pretty nice LTD, was 700 bucks, and it feels great... but I cant say that if i could do it all over again, that id buy the same guitar, id probably go with the schecters.
You can get a good guitar for around 4-5 hundred, just look for what you want, dont get a floyd rose "whammy bar" they are fucking gay, and if your just starting it will be the biggest fucking headache.
as far as amps go, alot of people I know said they liked the Roland micro cube, its a tiny like 15 watt amp, but they say it sounds pretty good, its like 100 bucks and makes a good little practice amp. I have a little 15 watt epiphone practice amp that i stole from my brothers starter set, it sounds pretty good on its own, i used my MT-2 metelzone petal on it for practicing.
If you want a big ol loud amp, i cant really help you on that one, id say look for a decent priced combo amp, like a cheap old fender amp, and jsut get an effects pedal, Boss MT-2 sounds really good for metal and its like 40 bucks on ebay. A buddy of mine loves his Line-6 Spider II combo amp, but I think the digital distrotions on it are gay. The mesa, Marshall JMC and the Peaveys (love the peaveys) are really good. but are really expensive.
