Alright, so by now you must have chosen your preferred electric guitar and now you want to buy an amplifier and start your electric guitar journey, Look no further! We’ve got you covered. Today we will look deep into the top five guitar amplifiers available in the market for you.
First, let’s understand what an amplifier is
In the most simple words, It is a gadget or an equipment which takes the electrical signal coming from the pickup of your guitar, through a cable, processes it to create or amplify the sound using a speaker.
Guitar amplifiers play a big role in shaping the tone or the sound of any guitar player.
The sound or the tone that you hear while listening to a recorded song or even live, depends on many factors such as the type of guitar, pickups, amplifiers, processing units and the speakers. But amplifiers can easily be considered the piece that affects the tone majorly.
There are many options for you to choose from, Tube guitar amps to solid state guitar amps to portable or mini guitar amps also known as lunch box amps. Before we list down the best guitar amps available in the market for us, let us look at the history behind this genius invention.
Invention and the History of Guitar Amplifiers
If we decide to dig deep into the history of guitar amplifiers, it is just like any other instrument’s history, it took years of experiment and evolution for the amps to become what we see today and they continue to evolve with technology and improve with time.
If we look at some of the best sounding guitar amps today they are full of features and new creative technological advancements, many of the amps offer features like Reverb, Delay, Equalisation, Compression and many more effects.
It’s safe to say that this was not the case in the early days of amplifiers, in fact the first electric instrument amplifiers were not even intended for guitars, they were simply a portable public announcement system (PAs).
In the early 1920’s these were used to amplify the signal of acoustic guitars and had very limited features. Usage of amplifiers with electric guitars became more popular in the 1930s- 1940s era with the rise of Hawaiian and surf music.
Later many musicians and guitarists experimented and helped in the evolution of guitar amps, the first 100 watt amp was made in the 1960s, which offered a much better sound clarity with enough loudness and clarity.
As the time passed, guitar amps became better and better and now in today’s time we have a variety of amps that we can choose from 1 watt to 100 watts power, from tube technology to solid state technology, from modeling amps to even softwares and all of them offer a multiple number of effects for you to get the best possible tone out of your guitar.
Let’s do a creative and fun exercise
We want you to think about these questions:
Think about your favourite song or your favourite guitar player, can you imagine what type of guitar amp they are using ?
What makes your favourite guitarist sound the way they do ? Is it the guitar amp settings ? The amp size ? The quality of the speakers ? loudness ?
If you had the choice to design your own amplifier, What features would you choose ? What will it look like and what would you name it ?
Alright, without confusing you further let’s see what’s our best choices in today’s time. An amplifier for beginners would be something which is called a combo, it consists of a pre amp section, a power amp section and a speaker cabinet built into one single piece of gear.
We can learn about this later on as it is a slightly advanced and more technical topic to cover. Today we will look at the top 5 amps for you to choose from the market.
Marshall MG 15 Gold
Marshall is probably the most respected brand when it comes to speakers and amplifiers. It is more than just a brand, it is legacy.
MG15 is perfect for any beginner guitarist looking after that classic Marshall sound. This amplifier is straight up plug and play, and gets a good sound type of gear.
It doesn’t offer a lot of features but the sound alone makes this one of the best sounding guitar amps. You have the options of two channels, clean and overdriven with three band equalizers to shape your tone further.
With Control knobs:
Clean volume, Channel select button, Overdriven, Gain, Volume, Bass, Middle, Treble and one 8 ohm speaker loud enough to have a bedroom concert.
Some other features include:
- Channels/Presets: Clean, Crunch, OD 1, OD 2
- Total Power (RMS): 15W
- Headphones out
- AUX IN
Boss Katana-50 MKII 50 Watt 12”
Ever since Boss released their Katana series they have dominated the market and for the right reasons. They provide all the features that one can ask for in a practice amplifier. It is a 50 watt combo amp with a 12 inch speaker, so expect it to be LOUD.
It also lets you choose between different watt options of the amp, like 25W and even 0.5W for those quiet bedroom practice sessions.
If you love tweaking your guitar amp settings, this amp is perfect for you. It has five different channels Clean, Crunch, Lead, Brown, Acoustic and five different effects that work independently: Booster, Mod, FX, Delay, and Reverb. You can really get creative and experiment with different sounds and effects.
It also offers a lot of connectivity options for you to run your backing tracks, metronome etc. All in all, this amplifier is worth every buck.
Some additional features include:
- Channels/Presets: Acoustic, Clean, Crunch, Lead, Brown
- Total Power (RMS): 50W
- Headphones out
- AUX IN
- Effects: Delay, Reverb, FX
- Equalizer: 3-band EQ
- Speaker size: 1 x 12”
- USB connectivity
Blackstar IDCORE10 10W
This 10-watt monster is perhaps the best choice for you. It has so many options for a beginner to find their sound and experiment with different genres. From crazy overdrives to clean blues, this amp can do it all. It’s small, easy to carry, and has a normal headphone jack.
It also comes with free recording and editing software for both Mac and PC. A 20 watt version of the same amp could be a better choice for you but even the 10 watt version will do just fine.
The channels Clean Warm, Clean Bright, Crunch, Super Crunch, OD 1, and OD 2 and the EQ are enough for you to dial your signature tone.
Some additional features include:
- Total Power (RMS): 10W
- Headphones out
- AUX IN
- Effects: Delay, Reverb, FX
- Speaker size: 2 x 3”
- USB connectivity
Fender Champion 20W Combo
Fender can be easily considered as the top contenders when it comes to quality amplifiers, they have been in the game since the beginning of the guitar amplifier era. The champion series is made for beginners but the tones which can be produced by this amp don’t justify the price of this amp, and we mean it in a good way.
This little powerhouse can be used to play anything from jazz to country, blues to metal and a number of other genres. The amp features 8″ specially designed full-range speakers which can be loud enough for your jam sessions and even small gigs
Some additional features include:
- Total Power (RMS): 20W
- 1/8 ” Stereo for use in media player
- Headphone jack: 1/8 ” Stereo
- Speaker size: 8”
Line 6 Spider V 30W MKII
If you are an experienced guitar player, you probably saw this coming, didn’t you?
Well, you can blame us for putting this here in our top 5 list. This amplifier is worth every single penny. Some hate it and some love it but this amp here might be the best choice for you.
This amp is full of features to make your life as a guitarist easier, with 128 presets featuring a variety of classic and modern tones. Over 200 amps, cabs and effects, tuner, metronome, and jam-along drum loops. The possibilities with this one are endless. If you are searching for the best sounding guitar amps with modern features, this one is a solid choice. So if you ever get a chance to try it out, you know what to do.
Some additional features include:
- Channels/Presets: 128
- Total Power (RMS): 30W
- Headphones out
- AUX IN
- Effects: Multiple
- Equalizer: 3-band EQ
- Speaker size: 1 x 8”
- USB connectivity
Remember, whatever amp you choose from the list, the final tone depends on your playing and technique, so remember to practice your chops and most importantly, train your ear carefully to understand the basics of guitar audio and guitar amp settings such as Equalisation, Compression, Reverb, Delay, etc.
We wish you good luck with your guitar journey, find your own sound and Rock the world !
FAQS
What is a guitar amp?
It is a gadget which takes the electrical signal coming from the pickup of your guitar, through a cable and processes it to create or amplify the sound using a speaker. In short, it is a loudspeaker for your instrument.
Do I need a guitar amp to play electric guitar?
Yes, if you want your electric guitar to be heard properly without missing any nuances, you need a guitar amplifier.
What are the different types of guitar amps?
The most common ones are your Tube amps and Solid state amps. They are usually connected to a speaker cabinet. You will also come across Combo amps which is basically your amplifier section and speaker section built into one device. The guitar amps come in different size and power ranging from as low as 1 watt to 100s of watts, more the watts, more the loudness. You can choose according to your needs. Guitar amps for beginners usually come as combos, which means the amp and speaker are attached together.
How do I choose a guitar amp?
You need to find the style of music that you want to play and choose the amp which matches that style of music.
For example if you are a blues or jazz player you might want to look into Fender Guitar amps.
While for slightly more overdriven and rock sounds you can go for Marshall guitar amps or Orange guitar Amps. The size and the wattage of the amp also plays a big role in shaping your sound.
One easy way to figure this out is, find out which amp your favourite guitar players use and try to find a smaller version of that amplifier which fits in your budget.
Your budget also plays a big role in this, but please do your research before buying your amplifier. More expensive doesn’t always mean better.
What is the best guitar amp for home use?
We have mentioned the top guitar amplifiers for beginners and home use in this blog, you can choose any one from the list above. Or if you want to explore even more, some other good choices are Fender Mustang, Blackstar id: core, Boss Katana mini, Orange crush 12, Marshall DSL 5, Marshall MG 15 etc.
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