i was thinking of getting a new guitar and was wondering if you guys have any suggestions.
at the moment i have an electric ashton ag160 (made in vietnam), and an acoustic Vicente torres (made in spain).
I also have an BD12R Amp, which at 12W is probably gonna be easily drowned out by the drummer so i'll probably have to get a new amp soon aswell.

edit: heh, completely forgot to mention, i was looking to get an electric.

what sort of music do you want to play and how much do you want to spend?

mostly rock, alternative rock, or similar stuff.
how much, possibly about 400NZD, if i dont have the money to get something decent i'll save up a bit, really anything you can recomend as the next step.

for that much cash you'll be able to afford low end intermediate guitars... a step up above the super cheap beginner guitars...

most of the guitars available will be stratocaster style... yamaha pacifica... low end ibanezs... or a fender squire...

if you like les paul style guitars then you're pretty much stuck with the epiphone special 2... which isn't a bad guitar if you can find a good one (mine doesn't stay in tune and i'm too lazy to replace the tuning keys)

but the MOST important thing to remember when buying an instrument... try it first... try everything within your price range at the local music shop... one of them should stand out more than the others... just because the name isn't popular doesn't mean it'll be a bad guitar...

yeah, i was going to go to a local shop and have a look around, thanks for the advice i'll make sure to try them all.
also, at the moment we dont have a drummer in my band, but we hope to get one soon and i was wondering how large an amp you would need to be heard over the drums.

surprisingly enough a 12W amp can be heard over a drummer with proper placement... so long as you get a real drummer and not a gorilla who only knows how to pound the drums REALLY hard... just put the amp on a shelf or something where it's above the ground and facing the group... you'll have to crank it up but it should suffice until you save up enough for a nice little 20W marshall hehehe