Guitar Amplifiers

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Guitar Amplifiers Buying Guide.

Walk into a well stocked music store and you will be faced a huge selection of guitar amplifiers. What amp is the right match for you and your guitar/s? It can be a difficult buying decision. With some basic research, the buying decision is made a little easier. So, here is a brief guide for amp buying. Sure you need to inform yourself about amplifier specs and features, but do not stress too much. The simple approach is pick your budget, review a few models and make the purchase. The state of current technology and manufacturing techniques means that most amps are of good build quality and will deliver acceptable performance.

The price

Many musicians will advise you to spend a similar amount of money on the amplifier as was spent on the guitar. The reason is pretty simple; the music that you create needs to pass through the amp before it reaches the world. In short, why reduce your guitar's potential by using a lesser quality amplifier. However that does not mean that less pricey amps are of low quality. Today, because of computer aided manufacturing, costs of amp units are dropping considerably without affecting the quality of the sound that produced. This is obviously good news for the newbie guitarist who wants a good amp unit.

Amplifiers are generally optimized to perform with the four types of guitar instruments, for example: the electric guitar, acoustic guitar, electric bass guitar, electronic keyboard.

Electric Guitar Amps: These are by far the most popular category of amplifiers. But their popularity has a lot more to do with the success of the electric guitar itself.

Acoustic Guitar Amplifiers: These amplifiers are optimized to project the brilliant highs of the acoustic guitar while preserving the warm mid-ranges and bass. Typically, the acoustic amplifier houses inbuilt speakers; feature a microphone plug and a line-in for guitar pickups.

Bass Amps: These amps tend to not distort the sound; rather the focus of a bass amp is to reproduce the low sonorous sounds that bass guitars are so popularly known for.

Keyboard Amps: Simply try to reproduce the sounds made by the keyboard as accurately as possible acting like a PA system.

Amp Unit types

Combo Amps: House both amp unit and speakers in one box. Most of the amps that you will see are of this variety. One of the benefits of these amps is they are easy to carry and transport.

Amp Head: Is a single amp unit without any speakers. These need to be paired up with speakers by a cable. It is advised to use high voltage cables for connecting the amp head to the speakers. Avoid standard type instrument cables. This type of an amp is also great for connecting a large number of speakers.

How an amplifier works

Converting electrical impulses into audible sound is the basic function of a guitar amp. The electrical signal to sound is achieved by the preamp and power amp circuitry. The preamp works on the signal it gets from the instrument and makes it good enough for the power amp and the other instruments within the amplifier such as the EQ and the effects loop etc. The power amp boosts the signal so that the speakers can produce the audible sound.

Vacuum Tube Amplifier

A vacuum tube is essentially the same as what you find in older style ratios.

Tubes, when they are over-driven and heated with electrical current produce the “distortion effect” which explains the popularity of these types of amplifier. Although tube amps are considered an older technology, being replaced with solid state technology, they remain popular for many musicians.

Solid State Amps

These amplifiers are a newer generation of circuits which attempt reproduce the authentic tonal sound quality of the vacuum tube.

Trying to decide whether to go in for a vacuum tube based amp or a solid state based amp is a very personal question. The sound and tonal differences produced by both type of amps is generally only detectable by a trained ear, however purists tend to opt for the vacuum tube amps because of the more analog tone and distortion sound quality. Solid state amps are generally cheaper than their vacuum tube counterparts. So, for budding musicians, a sold state amp can be bought with a smaller starting budget.

Proper Channels

When research amplifiers, ensure the unit is capable of multiple channels, which can be set independently allowing the user to seamlessly switch between channels. Channel switching or switching between multiple channels while playing is a rather important feature that many guitarist now-a-days prefer. Electric guitarists find the ability to channel switch useful to achieve efficient changes between loud distorted sounds and those cleaner rhythmic tones. Most amps come equipped with a footswitch with which you can change and juggle between multiple channels at the same time.

Electrical Power

Power in an amp is meant to denote the amount of raw power being fed into the amp unit for the speakers. This is usually measured in Watts. Bear in mind the following guide when researching your amplifier purchase:

a) Higher wattage will mean a louder sound in the same amplifier.

b) Vacuum tubes produce a markedly louder sound per Watt of power as compared to solid state circuits. For instance, a 5 Watt powered vacuum amplifier produces sound similar to a 40 Watt state amplifier.

c) Beginner musicians will find the feature of a headphone jack useful, especially for those practice sessions when you do not want to disturb the neighbors.

Amplifier Effects

Most amplifiers support a number of inbuilt effects. Here is a brief overview:

Line-6-spider-amp-controls

a) EQ: The amp unit will feature 2 or 4 dial knobs that control the range of sound frequencies For instance, increase treble settings for a brighter sound, adjust the middle EQ to full and the treble and bass to zero to achieve a the natural sound of the guitar, add extra bass tones by increasing the bass frequency. As we are familiar with the slider type EQ controls on a home stereo system, then experiment with the EQ controls on an amp. Adjusting the treble higher produces brighter sounds, while adjusting the middle and bass produces rich deeper tones.

b) Effects Loop: An effects loop allows you to modify the signal between the preamp and the power amp using an external chord.

c) Digital Effects: Most modern amplifiers feature a range of digital effects that may include; flange, phase, reverb, echo, chorus, pitch shift and so on. Remember we mentioned channels earlier, well channels can control effects which can be preset and assigned to a channel. The channel switcher can then easily switch between different effects presets. In many instances, amps will feature preset effects combinations.

Speakers

Speaker quality is important, of course. be mindful of your budget, but try to get the best speakers for your budget. bear in mind that heaver and more expensive speakers are generally translate better sound quality. Better speakers will also allow for a better coloration of the amplifier’s signal producing richer and more superior sound.

Common speaker types include:

- 8” Speakers: smaller amplifiers.

- 10” Speakers: find these in amp for for practice sessions.

- 12” Speakers: found in general performance amplifiers.

- 15” Speakers: these speakers suit bass amps and built into separate speaker cabinets.

Ending remarks

Buying an amplifier requires some initial thought and research. Be clear about the purpose of the amplifier and how it will match and enhance your musical genre. Among these are – the types of music that you play, the number of instruments in the band, the placement of the amp, is the drummer loud, the size of the performance etc.

Points to consider

- 40 Watt solid state amps driving a 10" speaker will deliver adequate results for most performance contexts.

- 60 Watt solid state amp paired with a 12” speaker will do well in all but the loudest situations.

- 30 Watt tub amplifier is the pic for a full rock band performance in most contexts.

The tips in this guide will help you evaluate your needs for an amp and assist you find the right amp that matches your musical genre; performance and practice requirements and, budget.

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