Choosing an Amplifier | Wanna Play Music

If you play electric guitar, you need an amp. But what kind of amp? And how loud? How big? How expensive?

Being a new guitarist makes your choice of an amplifier easier than if you've been playing for a while, because your priorities are different. In fact, your priorities make up a very short list: cost and loudness. Overall, cost is probably your biggest concern.

It's better to put more money into a good guitar than into a good amp, at first. Why? The only thing you need an amp for right now is to practice by yourself or to rehearse with a couple of friends. As you aren't ready to play a concert, you don't need a lot of loudness. And until you know your way around the fingerboard, you don't have to worry very much about finding that killer tone that everyone talks about (eventually, you'll find out that a lot of your tone comes from your fingers and the way you play, not from your guitar or your amp).

Amplifiers come in different types
The most common type combines the amplifier circuitry with a speaker in one cabinet. This is called a combo amp. Some amps have separate cabinets for the circuitry and for the speakers. This is often called a head/cab setup, or piggyback arrangement (because the head sits on top of the cabinet).

What's in an amp?
An amp's circuitry is actually two sections: a preamplifier (usually called a preamp) and a power amplifier. The preamp boosts the feeble signal from your guitar and then lets you shape its tone. The power amp takes the increased signal with the nice tone and then amplifies the heck out of it and sends its output to the speaker. The circuitry can use solid-state (transistor) circuits or vacuum tubes to do all this work. Tubes tend to be fragile, and they wear out over time, although some guitarists like their tone better. Solid-state amps are lighter, more durable, and usually cost less. And solid-state circuits rarely wear out.

A guitar amplifier can have one speaker, two speakers, or even more. And they can either be included in the cabinet with the amplifier circuitry or in a separate enclosure. Speakers can be small (6" in diameter) or large (15"), and can be designed to make a guitar sound clean or growly, depending on what the designer intends. In addition to the size of the speaker, the size of its enclosure has a bearing on the tone, making it deep and resonant or thin and piercing.

Shopping for a first amp
Visit your local music store and you'll be confronted by many amp options. The good news is that many good-sounding, reliable amps are available at low prices, and if you purchase a manufacturer's package, which often includes a guitar, amp, cord, and strap, you can stretch your dollar even further. What's most important at the beginning of your musical journey is an amp that makes the guitar loud enough to be heard while you're learning. Even most practice amps have a good variety of clean and dirty tones. If you're already learning and want to get into a band, then your needs may dictate a larger, more powerful amp. You'll know when you're ready for that.

What do I need?
There's nothing like a big, loud amp to turn a guitar player's crank. But this is your first amp and there are some realities to consider:

Affordability. An amp doesn't need to be expensive, especially if you're a beginner. As you get better as a player, and as you move from your practice room to the garage or basement to start playing in bands, then you'll need a bigger amp with more power. But for now, keep it simple and cheap. Stand by your budget. You can get a good, basic amp for less than $100. You may want to buy a package that includes a guitar and amp, which can often be found for less than $300, and usually includes a cord and a strap, too.

Portability. An amp can be heavy. And even a small amp can be hard to move around, especially if you've already got a bag full of books and a guitar. At the very least, your amp should have a handle on top. If it's a heavy amp, it should have a couple of handles so that you can have someone help you move it. Some amps have wheels, but when an amp is that big, you're well beyond the beginning stages, and your band mates can help you move it.

Enough volume to hear yourself. You don't need to be able to rattle your neighbor's house, or even your own house, for that matter. A simple amp with 8 to 15 watts of power and a single 6" to 12" speaker will do perfectly. There are some really cool and good-sounding battery-powered amps that are great for the bedroom. If you're dead-set on being in a band soon, you may need a slightly larger amp, with perhaps 25 to 50 watts of power and at least a 12" speaker.

Basic controls. You want at least a volume control and an on/off switch. That's all? It's all you really need right now. However, a tone control wouldn't hurt. Just being able to take some of the brightness of your guitar, or to add a little can give you a tone that makes you want to play more. (Of course, your guitar probably has a tone control, so don't sweat this one.) Depending on how basic your amp is, you may get separate bass and treble controls instead of a single tone control. There can be a midrange control, which lets you adjust the tone between the bass and treble controls, although this is usually a control reserved for more sophisticated (and expensive) amps.

Durability. An amp needs to hold up because sooner or later, you'll drop it, knock it over, smack something into it. Most amps have cabinets made of thick particle board or plywood and a covering of thick vinyl. Metal or plastic corners and perhaps metal or plastic feet under the amp also are included on many amps to protect them.

Other options? If the amp has an input for a CD player or cassette player, so that you can mix a pre-recorded song with your guitar, this may be handy when you're learning other people's songs. If the amp has a headphone jack, this may be useful now, especially if you practice at weird hours or are particularly sensitive about the wrong notes you hit while you're learning. Many amps have a reverb control, which lets you dial in a bit of echoey sound, like you'd hear in a large auditorium.

What's watts?
A watt is a measure of power. Applied to amplifiers, it means a given amount of power when delivered to a speaker. If this sounds like science class, you're right. In terms of an amplifier, it's the amount of power that comes out of it and is supposed to make the speaker sing. In terms of speaker ratings, it means how much power can be put through the speaker without burning it up.

Now, you should know that the amplifier's output power, the type and size of the speaker, and the type, size, and material of the cabinet all affect how loud an amplifier will ultimately be. Without dragging you back into science class, let's just say that you'll probably never hear the same amount of volume from two amplifiers with the same "wattage rating." So don't go by watts alone. Listen to an amp before you buy it, and use the manufacturer's wattage rating as a guideline, not an absolute measure of what it will sound like.

Care for your amp!
If your amp has vacuum tubes, then never take it out into the cold right away after you turn it off. Always wait for at least a half-hour. And if you bring your amp in from the cold, let it warm up for at least a half-hour before you turn it on. This will keep the tubes healthy and happy for a long time. Baby your speakers, too, because they're very fragile. If your amp has an open-backed cabinet, don't use it as a storage locker for your cords or other small objects. One bad bounce, and these objects can rip through the speaker cone, costing you tone and money. If your speaker is held in the cabinet with capture nuts, check them once in a while to make sure that they're tight. If you can't turn them with your fingers, they're probably tight enough. It's the ones that have loosened enough to let the speaker rattle that should be tightened. If any need tightening, don't over-tighten them! Just make them snug. If you have a cover for your amp, use it. And finally, if you spill something on the amp, wipe it up right away, and check what the manufacturer suggests for cleaning it.