Guitar Amplifiers

When the economy is in a downturn, finding the best value for our money is increasingly important. Therefore, there is no reason to pay full price for a Hughes & Kettner amp head, especially with the deals online merchants provide.

One such premier online channel is eBay. The popularity of eBay is worldwide, with millions of users from over 30 countries involved each day within this robust and trusted shopping environment.

Is shopping online considered a risk? Concerned about shopping online? So is eBay. And they have a host of systems in place to make the online shopping experience safe and secure. Paypal is fully integrated into eBay's platform. The combined efforts of eBay and Paypal deliver two important features for the shopper, namely: eBay's Seller Feedback system and Paypal's Buyer Protection scheme. The combination of these two systems make for a very safe and secure shopping environment.

The eBay buyer interface offers the shopper options such as: buy now; make an offer; or bid on an auction within a secure and trusted online environment.

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. Here is a basic guide to assist your amp choice. On the one hand, it is wise to arm yourself with some research before entering the market for an amp. On the other hand, the quality of amps on the market these days, you could just as easily pick your budget, review a few models in that price range, and make the purchase. So do not stress too much.

The price

There is a general rule of thumb, advocated by musicians, the cost of the amp ought match the cost of the guitar. Why? Well the amp is the channel through which your musical talent will broadcast to the audience. 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. The state of amplifier manufacturing processes, that incorporate computer aided technologies, means that unit quality improves while retail prices become lower. This market trend is good news for guitarists researching and buying a new or pre-owned amplifier.

Given the multitude of roles that amp units can fulfill, they have been optimized to be paired up with 4 different types of instruments: the electric guitar, acoustic guitar, electric bass guitar, electronic keyboard.

Electric Guitar Amplifiers: These are very popular amps. But their popularity has a lot more to do with the success of the electric guitar itself.

Acoustic Guitar Amps: 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: These amplifiers are optimized to simply and accurately reproduce and project the keyboard sounds like a PA system.

Amplifier Types

Combo Amps: House both amp unit and speakers in one box. These amplifiers are the most common type on the market. One of the benefits of these amps is they are easy to carry and transport.

Amplifier Head: As the name suggests, this amp is one unit not containing speakers. Speakers need to be connected to an Amplifier head to fully function. High voltage capable cables are the better choice for connecting speakers to the amp head. Avoid using standard guitar cables. This type of amplifier is designed to manage the connection of several speakers.

How an amplifier works

The primary function of an amplifier is to convert electrical signals into sound. 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 task of the power amp is to boost the signal sent to the speakers.

Vacuum Tube Amplifier

A vacuum tube is basically the same thing that was used in radios about half a century ago.

Tube type amps produce a unique sound, appealing to those musicians seeking the warmer tones and special distortion effect tube amps deliver. Some consider the tube amp to be obsolete, but for many musicians the authentic and classic sounds of the tube amp ensures its continued popularity.

Solid State Amps

Solid state amps are a newer generation of circuitry, inspired by the tube type amps, optimized to reproduce the those more authentic and classic tones achieved by tube amps.

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 difference between the two is something which only very well tuned ears can pick up, however purists tend to stick with the vacuum tube because of the organic and fluid distortion that comes out of it. Most newbies however tend to stick with the latest in technology, including solid state circuits not only because some of these are suited to some of the modern genres, but also because they are cheaper.

Proper Channels

Amplifiers offer multiple channels which can be independently setup so that you can switch between them without missing a beat. 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. A footswitch, which is generally supplied with new amp purchases, manages channel switching.

Electrical Power

The power capacity of an amplifier is measured in Watts. And it is this wattage capacity that drives the speakers. Keep the following things in mind when selecting the kind of power you want your amp to be based on:

a) The higher the wattage spec, the louder sound capability of the amplifier.

b) Vacuum tube type amplifiers deliver a much louder sound per Watt in comparison to solid state amplifiers. For instance, a 5 Watt powered vacuum amplifier produces sound similar to a 40 Watt state amplifier.

c) If you are buying for a beginner then make sure that the amp unit has a headphone jack.

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 effect loop is controlled by an external chord and facilitates changing the signal carried between the preamp and the power amp.

c) Digital Effects such as flange, phase, reverb, echo, chorus, pitch shift, etc are supplied in most quality amplifiers. 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

Obviously this is what the world listens to! So it is good to have the best speakers which you can buy. As a general rule, speaker price generally determines projected sound quality. Heavier more expensive speakers manage sound projection better than cheaper lighter models. Better quality speakers facilitate better coloration of the amps signal, thus creating a richer superior sound.

Speaker types:

- 8” Speakers: found in smaller amps.

- 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

There really are gazillion things that you will need to consider if you sat down to decide what kind of an amp you should be purchasing. Some considerations include: the style of music you plan now, the number of instruments you plan to attach to the amp, are there other band members who want to plug into your amp, the size of performances and venue types.

Points to consider

- 40 Watt solid state amp driving a 10” speaker will hold up its own in most performances. However this may not do so well if the band has a drummer as well.

- A 60 Watt solid state amplifier matched with a 12" speaker is completely suitable to all but the loudest performance locations.

- 30 Watt tube amp is loud enough for a full rock band in most conceivable scenarios.

This guide is a starter for you on the path to buying the right guitar amp that meets your musical style and performance needs.

Hughes & Kettner COREBLADE Metal 2010 Amp Head - recently sold units.

Visitor search terms:

coreblade amp prices, spider valve vs coreblade

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.