Buying an Amplifier

On many occasions I’ve talked about the importance of having a good amplifier for your electric (or electro-acoustic) guitar. After all, however good the sound is that you put into an amplifier, the resulting tone is going to be shaped by the quality of the amp (and/or speaker cab). I’ve had many occasions in the studio where the equipment isn’t quite up to the job (just read this post for details on that!), sometimes the amp head just wont produce the right sound (or can’t go loud enough!), and sometimes the speaker has been damaged to the point where every sound it makes sounds overdriven! So, as the helpful person I am, I thought I would write this to help you avoid various pitfalls (and there are many!) when it comes to buying a guitar amplifier.

Combo or Stack?

The first question you should be asking yourself is: do I want a combo or a stack amp? Now, to those of you unfamiliar with amp design I’ve probably just jumped right into the area of “What the fudge is he talking about?!” (feel free to replace the word “fudge” with a word of your choice…). The main difference between the two amp designs is that a combo amp comes as one unit with the amp electronics and speaker joined as one, whereas with a stack amp the amp electronics are separated into an “amp head” and the speaker comes in the form of a separate “cab” (short for “speaker cabinet”).

However, that’s not what you really want to know, is it? What you really want to know is what each amp type is good for, so that you can choose the right one for you, right? I mean, it’s all very well and good buying a 150watt stack amp for practicing at home, but I’m sure the neighbors (and/or your mum) aren’t going to be so pleased when their eardrums start to bleed!

What Do You Want to Play?

Obviously there’s a huge difference in practicing in your bedroom and playing on a live stage, so it would make sense that there are two very different amps for these purposes. Combo amps tend to be much smaller (under 50watt for guitar), and are probably the best thing if you want to practice in your room (although, a 50watt amp would also work on a stage with a band…). For home use you’ll only need 10 or 15 watts, any larger than this and you’ll start to get complaints about the volume.

If, however, you want a good amp for loud, heavy rock music on a stage with other instruments then you almost definitely want a stack amp. This will mean buying the amp head and cab separately, but it does mean you can mix and match a bit (just make sure the output on the amp is set right for each speaker!). Stack amps are alot louder than combo amps (100 up to at least 300watt), and they can be tonnes more expensive. Of course the only options aren’t either playing in your bedroom or with Motörhead! You’ll most likely fall in between one of these categories and I’ll have to leave it up to you to judge just where on the scale you lie. You probably have a pretty good idea of what you want to play anyway, but if you’re not sure just remember: you’ll probably need at least 50 watts to be heard against a drummer, so don’t expect to gig with only 20watts…(…of course, there are some exceptions…)

Valve or Transistor?

This is the second main point you’ll want to decide on before you even consider walking into that shop. There are two main types of amplifier that you should know about (two basic ways that the electronics work and thus two distinct types of sound produced).

First we have transistor amps. Used almost exclusively for combo amps, transistor technology hasn’t been around for as long as valves (so it’s, technically, more high-tech -but that’s not what counts for musicians). This means that there tends to be less to go wrong with transistor amps and they produce a more modern sound with a “tighter” distortion and the possibility of more gain. Their sound is preferred by many modern metal acts especially because of their distorted sound, but that doesn’t mean they are unsuitable for cleaner sounds. In fact, sometimes they are able to produce cleaner tones than other types of amps. Notable users of transistor amps include: Dimebag (Pantera, Damageplan); Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell); and others of a similar style…

The other type of amp- the valve (also known as “tube”) amp- is famous for it’s warmer, more natural sounding tone. There’s definitely a reason why the technology has survived all this time, and why nowadays the most expensive amplifiers and stereos are installed with valve technology. This type of amp works best for the blues- and that includes any genre of music with a blues influence. Of course, you can expect to hear the sound of valve amps from guitarists such as: Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Slash, Zakk Wylde…

Right, so by now you should have a pretty good idea of what kind of amp you’re looking for, in the next article I’ll be discussing what makes a good amp from a bad one.

If you would like to stay updated, please don’t forget to subscribe.

January 4, 2010 at 2:42 pm | How to | 3 comments

3 Responses to “Buying an Amplifier”

1. Chainsaw Guitar Tuition » Buying an Amplifier | High technology information says:

   04/01/2010 at 10:43 pm

   [...] original here: Chainsaw Guitar Tuition » Buying an Amplifier var addthis_pub = ''; var addthis_language = 'en';var addthis_options = 'email, favorites, digg, [...]
2. Chainsaw Guitar Tuition » Buying an Amplifier (part 2) says:

   05/01/2010 at 3:13 pm

   [...] my last post, I explained the different options available to you when buying a guitar amplifier (read it here) and in this post I’m going to take you through some of the things you should look out for in [...]
3. Chainsaw Guitar Tuition » Buying an Amplifier (part 2) says:

   05/01/2010 at 3:13 pm

   [...] my last post, I explained the different options available to you when buying a guitar amplifier (read it here) and in this post I’m going to take you through some of the things you should look out for in [...]

Copyright 2010 Chainsaw Guitar Tuition
Grab the feed