How To Choose and Buy An Electric Guitar Amplifier

You’ve got your hands on an electric guitar you’re happy with.  But it’s awfully quiet without and amplifier to get you going.  And shopping for amps is an overwhelming task if you don’t know what you’re looking for.  He’s a beginner guide to what’s out there.

First off, look at your situation and see what you’re going to be playing.  Jazz combo?  Heavy metal group?  Cover band?  Just at home practice?  That’s going to help you hone in on what you need.

Second, get the best amp you can afford for you.  If your tastes run to lo-fi sounds, you’ll probably be happy with something inexpensive.  But if you’re looking to reach the heights of tonal pleasure, you do get what you pay for here.

Third, find out what your favorite players are playing through.  If you’re attracted to that particular tone, a good starting place is finding out what amp they use.  Most players consistently use the same type of amps.

When you go to a store to try out amps, be sure to use your own guitar to try them.  Most stores are ok with this.  A different guitar will make the amp sound differently.

And of course, there’s a ton of amps built for other instruments: bass, electronic drums, keyboards, vocal PAs, etc.  Ignore all those for now.

Now, once you’ve narrowed the field a bit with those three steps, we can look at the different types of amplifiers available.

First is the option of what’s driving the amp:

Tube Guitar Amplifiers
This is the oldest type of amp, and to many people, still the best sounding.
Pros: Sweet classic tone, power saving, louder than solid state amps at the same wattage
Cons: Tubes are breakable and need to be changed every so often

Solid State Guitar Amplifiers
In these, tubes are replaced with transistors.
Pros: Much sturdier for heavy use, good for particular guitar sounds like 80′s rock
Cons: Harsher tone on the high end and overall thinner tone compared to tubes

Digital Guitar Amps
Also called a digital modeling amp, this is one of the newest breeds.
Pros: Huge variety of sounds and effects including modeling of much more expensive amps.  Fantastic for cover bands who need a huge variety of sounds.
Cons: Tones sound fake on cheaper models though more expensive ones sound great.  A bit of a higher learning curve to learn how to get to all the sounds.

Hybrid Guitar Amps
These combine tubes and solid state transistors.  Oftentimes with the tubes running the amp and transistors used for effects and such.  While the tone won’t be dead on like a good tube amp you’ll get close for a lot less money.

All of these amps come in a variety of sizes and wattages from little 10-15 watt single 8″ speakers to monster 200 watt full stacks with 4-8 12″ speakers.  Your choice will depend on those first three steps you went through.  If you just need something to practice on at home, a little 15 watt is all you need.  Your neighbors will thank you for it!  I use a great little Vox 5 watt DA5.  Bonus: It fits is my suitcase for solo road gigs.  Not loud enough on it’s own for a gig, but you can always mic it through a PA system.

When you need something to keep up with a band, take a look at a 1×12 or 2×12 combo amp.  There’s plenty of great ones out there from Fender, Line 6, Mesa Boogie, Soldano and others.   Again look to see what your favorite players are playing.  

If you’re going to be playing at least mid-size clubs or larger, then you can look at half and full stacks.  You’ll get great tone and they look fantastic on stage.  But I guarantee you’ll get tired of hauling them around after awhile… unless you’ve got roadies!  

I keep at least 3 amps on hand.  A tiny practice amp like the Vox described above.  A Line 6 2×12 modeling amp for studio work and smaller gigs.  And a Marshall half stack for much larger shows.

So to wrap up… Look at what your needs are and compare them to the guidelines above to see where to start looking.  Don’t just go by size, wattage, or heaven forbid, looks.  Check out what your favorite players are playing and then sit down in a store and try out as many as you can until you find the one you like.

Life’s short… Play loud.

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Vox Boutique Overdrive amp model

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This entry was posted on Friday, January 7th, 2011 at 4:22 pm and is filed under Vintage Electronics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.