A Guitar Rig under $1000

Line 6 PodXT
Pedalboard

Putting together a guitar rig with a $1,000 to spend gives plenty of wiggle room for building a variety of sounds, enhancing performance possibilities, and mimicking the tones of your favourite players. It's still a very minimal amount to spend comparatively to gigging players in the local or international scene.  A typical experienced or pro player can have $5,000 to $100,000 tied up in guitars, amps, pedals and accessories, but you can still more than meet your needs for a $1,000. It's a good place to start.

Gibson les Paul Studio

American
Fender Strat

If I, personally, had only $1,000 in my budget for a guitar rig and knowing what I know as long time player and the basic needs I have for the gigs I play, I would gravitate towards getting either a used American-Made Fender Stratocaster or a used Gibson Les Paul Studio for around $800 and add to it a used Line 6 Pod at approximately $125 and a planet waves cable at $40 and a Levi strap at $30.

Line 6 PodXT 

Most of my budget would go into the guitar portion of the rig            and the Line 6 Pod is a versatile multi-amp/multi-effect unit that will cover just   about any style and plug straight into a PA or another amp. Having a good, tonally rich professional guitar is definitely the most important part of any rig. If I have a great guitar, I can feel confident plugging into a tonne of different qualities of amps and pedals and achieving a good tone.

Whatever direction your shopping takes you try to keep the quality of components high and the quantity of parts to a minimum. Remember the guitar is the most important part, and the rest of your rig can start small and grow over time.