Seeking Gift Advice from Guitarists

Greetings to you, the talented members of TW.

I'm not much of a musician, but my Dad is a guitar hobbyist. He's been playing since the 60s, mostly acoustic folky stuff, but about 5 years ago we got him an electric guitar and amp. He enjoys it and has a subscription to some guitar magazine which teaches him some new things. He also has some instructional guitar DVDs.

I was thinking of getting him something for his electric guitar and was wondering if you wouldn't mind providing some advice. Here is the equipment he has already:

Yamaha Pacifica Guitar (link (http://www.yamaha.com/guitars/products/productdetail/0,,CNTID%25253D60152%2525 26CTID%25253D600003%25252 6CNTYP%25253DPRODUCT,00.h tml))
Fender Frontman 15R amp (link (http://www.zzounds.com/item--FEN0231501049))
DigiTech RP80 Modeling Guitar Processor (link (http://www.elevation-music.com/dirpmogupr1.html))
Boss CE-2 Chorus Pedal(link (http://www.bossarea.com/loadpage.asp?file=boxes/ce2.xml))
Boss DS-1 Distortion Pedal (link (http://www.zzounds.com/item--BOSDS1))

Is there anything in the $200 and under price range that you think a tinkerer would enjoy having?

Is there a better amp in that price range?

Any advice you can throw my way is appreciated.

Keep on rockin' brosefs.

Hmmm...You could get him one of the Line6 PODs. They're pretty cool and versatile and if you get one of the older versions they're right about your price range.

What does it do vs. what the DigiTech thing does?

The podxt is a good idea but it'll run you like 400 bucks. Find the older models like assfrags said and it might be better.
Pickups are cheap though. They run around 100 bucks a pick up. See if he wants to change his sound or something.
If someone had to buy me something now, for guitar, that was under 200 bucks, it would a fuck ton of picks and guitar strings.
As for your question, the podxt has more capabilities. They're both good though. I prefer pod xt. You can just do more with it.

I have the 2.0 model, which I think is the most recent one besides the XT. Its an amp and effect modeler. Since hes using such a small solid state amp, he can model a nicer tube amp sound, and also be able to adjust a simple eq. Its got a tuner and a range of effects.

Maybe get him a wah pedal and/or a chromatic tuner like the Boss TU-2. New strings and guitar polish make good stocking stuffers too.

Dad doesn't want to mod his guitar. Trust me.

Get him something simple, that he can plug in and enjoy - a Fender G-DEC Jr. runs $179 from the major retailers online, and he'll have a blast playing along with it.

Dad doesn't want to mod his guitar. Trust me.

Get him something simple, that he can plug in and enjoy - a Fender G-DEC Jr. runs $179 from the major retailers online, and he'll have a blast playing along with it.

Thanks for all of the replies.

Besides the play along aspect, is this amp better than the one he already has?

assuming he has a computer
you could juarez something like Ableton Live and an amp VST for free, then he could experiment with recording and using a crapload of presets (you might need a decent sound card if the ASIO4All drivers don't decrease latency enough w/ the guitar going through Line-In)

or you could d/l a copy of Guitar Pro and tell him about the tab site ultimate-guitar.com
the GP tabs are more useable than text-only ones, because it plays (with pretty crappy sounds) the instruments for you, and you can change the tempo incrementally if you're learning something hard

both of these suggestions are cheap/free

All of his pedals will work in front of that amp. The G-DEC just provides you a simple way to fire up a rhythm section to play along with. It'll also sound a little better than that Frontman.