How to Buy a Guitar Amp

You could have a vintage $4000 Les Paul, but if you’re playing through a sub-par guitar amp, it’s not going to matter much. Your guitar amp is hugely important.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• $100-$1000+

1. Choose a combo amp or head and cabinet. Separate heads and cabinets look and sound great, but they’re much harder to transport around. If you’re playing live, guitar amps will be mic-ed so a combo amp can be effective.
2. Solid state or tube? Tube amps have a great vintage feel and sound, but weigh a ton and are hard to repair. Solid state is cheaper. A good middle ground is a hybrid tube/sold state amp. New amps are getting better at mimicking a tube amp sound, but purists will only play a tube amp.
3. Look for knobs. Sounds simple, but you want a fair number of tone controls. Look for low, mid and high EQ, presence, overdrive, and reverb. A lot of knobs may look nice, but some could be all form and no function.
4. Check out digital modeling amps. Some modeling amps can switch from a Marshall stack sound to a Fender amp sound. A footswitch can change between tones—so you can potentially go from clean to distorted without an extra distortion pedal. Check for other effects, like tremolo or chorus.
5. Pick speaker size. 4 x 10 is a good all around bet. The larger the speaker, the deeper the sound, so larger is not necessarily better if you’re looking for rich high-end tones.

Tips & Warnings

• Check if the amp uses spring reverb or digital reverb. Spring is going to sound more natural, but some can’t tell the difference between spring and digital.
• Your best bet is to play your own guitar through a selection of amps. Take your time. Turn it up. Play clean and quiet. Play around with the tone controls and see how responsive the amp is.
• Also check to see if the amp is sturdy. If you’re taking the amp on tour, it better be durable.
• A 15 watt practice amp can work if you’re just using the amp in a small space.
• Wear ear plugs. Don't end up like Pete Townshend with permanent hearing damage from his huge guitar cabinet.