How to Buy a Guitar Amp

Different kinds of amps are specially designed to work best with different types of music, but if you’re playing anything based on jazz or blues, you’ll want to go for the ‘vintage’ sound. Bands land musicians like Cream, Hendrix and Led Zeppelin popularized this kind of sound during the 1960s. An effects program can help you if you’re looking to authentically replicate this sound that came from vintage amps, but if you’re more into heavy metal, you’ll want to find an amp with high gain. A high gain amp will allow you a greater range of distortion than a vintage amp will.

Imagine that there will be a time in the immediate future where you’ll go on to be a professional guitarist, and that you’ll be played to do what you love in front of live people. Sure, people will love listening to your music at live shows, but your family probably won’t love listening to you practice at home for hours. In order to avoid annoying your family or your neighbors, you can get yourself a small practice amp that allows you to hear what you’re doing without rattling the windows. If you don’t have a pair of headphones or a small amp to practice with in your room, make sure that your practice space is divided from everyone else, either by a considerable distance or by thick walls.

For small gigs and practice sessions, you want an amp with a low wattage. Try out amps until you find one with a good tone, as that will make your whole experience more enjoyable. The salesman at the guitar shop might try to sell you on an overloaded amp that doesn’t meet your basic needs. You won’t really need all kinds of special effects and knobs yet, and if you ever do, don’t forget that a great sound is far more important and rewarding than volume. Start out with a 30 watt amp and practice seriously!

The pre-amp is the thing that gives your electric guitar’s sound an inviting tone. When your guitar is plugged into it, it uses the natural noise from your strings to make bass tones, treble, and many other sounds that add up to a solid tone. Occasionally, a pre-amp will use MIDI to make your tones for you. With this kind of rig, you can retain your personal preferences and settings and call them back later using a pedal, but it’s advisable to purchase a separate box for effects. A separate box will give you wider versatility and higher quality effects overall.