So after looking at various electric guitars from both Epiphone and Squier, I ordered my first electric last week. It was delivered to my office and I brought it home last night. After reading many good reviews on various web sites and seeing some good reviews on YouTube, I opted for this metallic blue Yamaha Pacifica PAC012. It's the entry level guitar in the Pacifica line-up but it consistently gets good reviews. Not just as a good starter guitar, but as a good guitar period. I'm really happy with the purchase as it's got nice low action, the frets are super smooth with no rough edges, the neck feels great, and the tone sounds great. So I'll quote Nate's Facebook page when he bought a Pacifica earlier this year; "Your gear doesn't have to be expensive to inspire you". 🎸

For an amp, I bought a Behringer HA-20R amp. It has both a clean and overdrive channel as well as some built-in reverb. Again, it seemed to be very well reviewed and certainly had more features than some of the other starter amps like the Fender Frontman.