César Bonilla

The Epiphone Casino was one of my most sought guitars as a teenager and when I finally got it some months ago, it was all I wanted and more. Great sound and playability for blues and rock. It's so subtle, light and empowering to hold one of these. It's a hollow body, so watch the feedback as you get more gain in the amp.

As a guy who is heavily influenced by bands like The Strokes (Nick Valensi has one with P94s) and Kings of Leon (Mathew Followill loves his Sheraton, which is like a "premium" Riviera with a stop tailpiece) growing up, when I saw this guitar for sale on south Texas I didn't hesitate on to buying it. It's a heavy guitar with 2 epiphone alnico humbuckers that sound gnarly and potent. These are highly versatile guitars and are great for blues and rock. If you find one for sale (which is extremely rare) in good condition, don't think twice. They aren't that expensive.

A great amp that gives a great tone AND flexibility through its BOSS software. One hell of a buy.

The Amplifi series are great amps that double as sound system for home. The built-for-app is great to try differet sounds (preamps, cabinets, pedals, etc...) without having to shed more money. It lets you explore sounds and emulate artist sounds (to a certain degree), but it won't help you find your own sound and they are expensive. Take into account that it doubles greatly as, say, a Bose Speaker, without the over the top boomy bass sounds.