The Guitar Amplifier Buying Guide

The importance of a good guitar amp cannot be understated.  As a guitarist and a guitar-player, it is (and it will be), without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most important pieces of equipment in your arsenal.

Getting a good, quality guitar amp is as important as the guitar itself. It is unwise to pair up an excellent, expensive guitar with a shoddy amp, and this is a mistake that a lot of guitar players out there, beginners mostly, tend to make.

For starters, make sure that you hook your guitar up with an equally-good and an equally-capable amplifier. Because a good amp will be instrumental (no pun intended) to how good your guitar sounds!

According to Musician’sFriend, some good amps for beginners include the Fender Pro Jr (15W) for its great tone, the Fender Blues Junior which is essentially the same as the Pro Jr. but with a larger speaker, the Squier Sidekick, which is cheap but matches up to its expensive counterparts, and the Vox Cambridge 15, which provides some classic Vox tone, solid state 15W power. You can check the complete list here.

Here is a list of the basic things to look for when choosing an amp:

1. Power (wattage): Lower wattage amps are ideal for practicing or playing in smaller spaces, such as a small studio, a garage, a room or a bar, as they create a harmonic distortion at lower volumes. Conversely, higher wattage amps usually pack a punch, and distort at a higher volume. Large wattage amps usually tend to be larger in size (physically) as well. For a beginner, I would almost always recommend getting a smaller amp (anything less than 30W will do just fine!), with good tone, rather than the other way around.

2. Solid-state Amp: Solid state amps tend to produce a better, cleaner sound and tone, while being cost-effective and affordable. They use transistors for the pre-amp and power, and hence produce a clean tone. They are usually very durable, sturdy and reliable, and can also take a knock or two.

3. Tube Amp: Tube amps, due to the material used to construct it, generally cost much more (and tubes also need to be changed after a while), but are usually preferred by professional guitar players. Tube amps are considerably louder than solid-state ones, produce a warm tone and have an organic distortion (most of these amps have separate channels with the ability to switch between clean and distorted tones), however they are quite delicate as compared to their solid-state counterparts, and should never be physically abused.  

(Thanks to modern technology, there are a ton of ‘hybrids’ now present out there as well, which provide the best of both worlds in a single package.)

4. Combo Amps: There are 3 main types of amplifier configurations out there: combo, head and cabinet, and rack-mounted and cabinet. Combination amps combine amp electronics with one or multiple speakers in a single package. Sub variants include (i) micro amps (1 to 10W) – small amps with just enough power to practice when alone and make for great amps to play in small places, (ii) practice amps (10 to 30W) – which pack a little more punch and are ideal for playing in the bedroom, living room, a small studio or a similar place, and (iii) full size 1x12/2x12 combo amps (50W+) – now these really pack a punch, and are perfect for large settings and playing in front of an audience. They feature either a single or a dual 12” speaker.

5. Head and Cabinet Amps: A cabinet refers to a standalone speaker enclosure that can be hooked up to a head. A stack refers to a head and a set of cabinets (which means a multiple number of speakers) connected together. These are used for gigs (especially if you play in a large stadium or an arena) as they pack some serious power and can be very loud and pretty heavy too.

6. Rack-Mounted Amps: Racks are amps inside a metal box whose front and read panels can be removed. A rack mounted amp is similar to a head since they have to be hooked up to a speaker. Subvariants include a pre-amp or a power amp.

7. Amplifier Construction: This refers to the thickness of the wood used to make the amp cabinet, which has a profound effect in the sound quality of the amp – a thick wood will produce a stronger sound and keep the speaker in place, while the speaker will tend to vibrate more if a thinner wood is used. Make sure that the amp you get has good build-quality, is sturdy and well-constructed. It is also preferable to buy a closed-back amp since they produce a better bass response.

8. Speaker: Practice amps (10-30 watts) usually come with small speakers such as 8” or 10” speakers. 12” speakers are also ideal for practice, and in particular for playing at smaller venues. For larger venues and when you would ideally want a lot of horsepower under the hood, go for a 100w combo amp (with 2x 12” speakers), or a stack (as discussed above).

9. Price: Price should never be your priority when you’re in the market for an amp. While it is never a good idea to settle for an extremely cheap, unbranded and underpowered amps, some lower-priced amps do provide a great sound and tone while packing a considerable amount of punch under the hood. Do your research – ask around, especially from people who’ve been in the business, and read up on some reviews online before taking the plunge.

10. Brands: Some of the popular amp brands include Vox, Fender, Peavey, Roland, Line 6 and Marshall. You can browse through and look at various amplifiers on MusiciansFriend.

11. The Best Amp for Beginner: Modeling amps with onboard effects are usually excellent ‘jack-of-all-trade’ amps, especially for beginners. These amps do a fairly good job or replicating the sound of the other kind of amps with a fair amount of accuracy as well as give put a ton of effects (delay, reverb, etc) at your disposal (which can make any newbie sound like a rockstar on his guitar!). And of course, goes without saying but make sure that you take the amp out for a spin before you buy.