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How to Choose Your Next Guitar Amp

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Looking for tips on choosing a guitar amplifier? Then keep reading.

If you're looking at buying a guitar amp, whether it's your first amp or the next in a series of many, then look through the questions below.

We'll go through the steps and discuss what you should consider. What I'd like you to recognise after reading this is that your decision shouldn't just be down to price, size and brand.

There's a lot more to think about and, once you get down to selecting which features you need, it can actually make your decision easier.

1) Budget vs Features vs Tone

Ok, the big questions first:


  1. How much can you afford?

  2. What do you what the amp for?

  3. What features do you need?


Actually question 3 will mainly be driven by the answer to question 2. So let's look at question 2 in more detail further down.

2) What do you want the amp for?

It's time to be honest and decide what you want to use the amp for. It could be that you just want the amp, not to worry, plenty of us have Gear Acquisition Syndrome (see bottom of page for a definition of GAS). So first of all, what gap does this amp fill?

Do you need an amp for:

    Practising at home
    Rehearsing with a band
    Recording quietly
    Recording silently
    Playing in a live gig without a PA
    Playing in a live gig with a PA
    Provide a tone that you can't do with your current amplifiers
    Being a backup amp

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3) What features does the amp need?

Here are some features to think about:

Volume
    Is the amplifier loud enough?
    Does it sound good enough when turned down to practice volumes?
    Does the sweet spot for power attenuation work for you?
    Are all the tones available at the volume you want? - e.g. if you set the clean volume right, then are you happy with the overdriven volumes or are they too quiet/too loud?
    Is there enough clean headroom? - e.g. if you have a great overdriven sound, what does it sound like when the clean channel is switched in?


Switching
    Does it come with a footswitch?
    How sturdy is the footswitch? What connectors does it use?
    Does the footswitch operate all the functions you need?
    Does it have midi switching?
    What does the midi switching enable?
    Can you get all your required tones with the footswitch?
    Is the footswitch/midi switching included in the price?
    Can the unit be switched by another unit, e.g. a rack fx unit?


Tone
    Does the amp have inputs suitable for your guitar(s)? e.g. Hi/Lo Inputs - I had an amp that sounded great with strat guitars, but put a Gibson Les Paul through it and it saturated. And not in a good way.
    Do you need pentode/triode switching?
    Do you need any tone controls other than bass, middle, treble?
    Do the other tone controls offer something that eq controls or a boost/eq pedal can't do?
    Can you swap preamps or poweramp routing?
    Do you need a valve or solid-state amp? Need help, I have another lens: tube or transistor amps?


Channels
    How many channels does the amp have?
    Do the channels have separate eq/tone controls?
    Do the channels have separate gain controls?
    Do the channels have separate output volume controls?
    Do the channels have separate reverb level controls?


Reverb
    Do you need reverb? - I used an amp without reverb for 4 years and didn't miss it.
    Does it have the right reverb for you? - e.g. spring, tube, digital
    Can you switch it off when you need to?


Outputs
    Are the speaker outputs of the right impedence for your speakers?
    If it's a combo, can you connect an external speaker cabinet?
    If it's a combo, can you disconnect the internal speaker?
    Are the speaker sockets of the right type for you? - I've met people who only use speakon connectors.
    Does the amp have a direct recording out?
    Does the recording out include a speaker emulator?
    Can you change the speaker type that's being emulated?
    Where in the signal chain is the direct out?


Portability
    How portable does the amp need to be?
    Weight
    Size
    Number and location of handles
    Head and cab or combo
    Will it handle international voltages?


Effects
    Do you need an effects loop? - go for yes, unless you're absolutely sure.
    Is the effects loop of the right type, e.g. series, parallel or variable?
    Does you need a built-in noise gate?
    Do you need fx/signal processors built-in?
    Do you need to emulate specific amplifiers/cabinet combinations?

Looking for present ideas for guitarists?

Presents for Guitarists

Got anything to say?

Do you have any more advice for people looking to choose guitar amps? Or just want to comment on this lens?

  • BeginnerGuitar Jun 15, 2009 @ 6:59 pm | delete
    Nice info!
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4) Figure out priorities

So you've figured out your budget, you know what you want the amp for and you know what features you want. Great.

Do they match? Can you get what you want for your budget?

A more important question is can you get what you need for your budget?

How about second hand?

Still having problems balancing budget and features?
Ok, it's probably worth taking some time to rank your list of features properly. Remember a basic decent sounding valve/tube amplifier will often get you closer to a great tone than a fully digital do-everything, emulate-everything. Also basic valve amps tend to retain their value more than digital amps.

It's also worth looking at some of the less famous brands. For instance, most of the public can probably name Fender, Marshall or Peavey, maybe even Mesa Boogie, but you can often get more bang for your buck by looking at Hughes & Kettner or Laney.

Look at the best guitar amps

over at the Search for Tone.

5) Some other questions

1) How well does it take pedals?
This is a common question on every guitar/amp forum. Mainly the poster wants to know if the amp is used with an fx pedal, then will it sound nastily saturated. Valve amps are less prone to this than solid-state transistor amps.

2) How much does the amp in your bundle cost?
If you're just about to buy a bundle with a guitar and amp, ask if you can upgrade the amplifier (and the guitar) for an additional cost.

Links to Guitar Amp advice sites

Want your site listed, then contact me.
Search for Tone | where tone comes first
Awesome Amps in one place.
Guitar Amp Tone and Effects Placement
Guitar Amp Tone, Effects Placement, and Cranked-Amp Tone at Any Volume Since 1997

Next Steps

So where do you go from here? We're discussed how to choose your next amp, there are a few other lenses that may be useful to you.

If you don't understand the difference between tube and transistor guitar amplifiers, then have a look at Tube or Transistor Amplifiers

If you are thinking of trying out some amps (and if you really should try before you buy), then have a look at Auditioning Guitar Amplifiers

If you're buying for someone else, then we have some ideas for Presents for Guitarists
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Some of my other lenses

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Links to Guitar Amp Manufacturer Sites

Guitar amp manufacturers, please feel free to add your sites here.

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Matamp Official Website

Welcome to the Official MATAMP UK factory website. more...1 point

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ENGL Amplification Website

ENGL Amplification1 point

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Guitar rig presets

The easy way to download and utilize a collection more...1 point

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Gretsch® Guitars and Basses

Official Website of Gretsch Guitars and Basses0 points

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Gabriel Sound Garage - Class A Amps

Gabriel Sound Garage LLC - The color of tone...0 points

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VOX Amplification USA | Guitar amps, guitars and effects pedals

Official VOX Amps USA site featuring VOX guitars, more...0 points

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Laney Amplification | Welcome

Laney - Power To The Music0 points

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Cornford Amps - the official site of Cornford Amplification - Harlequin, Hurricane, MK50, Carrera, Hellcat

Cornford Amplification is a company with a true et more...0 points

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Peavey.com

Peavey Electronics, manufacturer of musical equipm more...0 points

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Mesa Boogie Vacuum Tube Guitar and Bass Amplifier

Hand built custom guitar amplifiers and bass ampli more...0 points

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.:: Fender®.co.uk ::.

Official Website of Fender Musical Instruments0 points

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THD Electronics

THD Electronics is a company specializing in produ more...0 points

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KOCH - amps with an attitube!

KOCH - amps with an attitube!0 points

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Crate - The Best Value In Professional Tone :: Products

CRATE Amplifiers provide the best quality for the more...0 points

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Line 6

Specializing in modeling amplifiers, recording sof more...0 points

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Guitar amps by Hughes & Kettner - Technology of Tone

Dies ist die offizielle Homepage von Hughes&Ke more...0 points

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Orange Amplifiers

Welcome to Orange Amplifiers! Founded by Cliff Coo more...0 points

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Blackheart - Is your heart black enough?

Irreverent guitar products company which makes fan more...0 points

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The Maughan Amplifier Company - Valve Guitar Amplifiers

Hand Built All Valve Amplifiers - Valve Guitar Amp more...0 points

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Divided by 13

Divided by 13 Amplification of Southern California more...0 points

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Matamp Official Website

Welcome to the Official MATAMP UK factory website. more...0 points

50

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ENGL Amplification Website

ENGL Amplification0 points

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