Guitar amplifiers – which one is for you?

So you’ve purchased your first electric guitar, but no-one likes to rock out in silence, so now buying your first guitar amp awaits you. Which one to go for strongly depends on why you play guitar, there are some amps optimized for playing along to songs by yourself, whereas if you’re in a band and gig regular, you’ll want to consider a more heavy duty, and more importantly a louder one.

The bedroom player.

Look no higher than a 15w amp, anything more powerful will be unnecessarily loud for your surroundings. Look for amps that either have an input jack for headphones so you can use your amp and still be silent, or an auxiliary input so you can plug an audio cable into a laptop or iPod and play songs through your amp.

Suggestion –  Fender Frontman 10G. 

Image Courtesy – Fender

Starting to play in a band.

It is key when buying amplifiers as a band to look at the power (w) of what you are buying, for instance, having a rhythm guitar amp 10w louder than the lead guitar one is far from ideal.

If like most 4 piece bands starting out, you are unsure what product to buy, do some research first. Try not to get tricked into buying because of fancy features, such as multiple kinds of echo, and a variety of different distortion channels. These can sometimes hide a poorly manufactured amplifier. To play along with a band and not be drowned out, your first amp should be around 15 – 20w, have a solid sound on both clean and distorted channels and be able to handle the wear and tear of being carried/transported around.

Suggestion – Orange Crush PiX CR20L.

 

Orange Crush PiX CR20L Combo Amp

Image Courtesy – Orange.

The Experienced Player.

Now you will have moved past combo amplifiers, and are probably looking at mastering your sound. Both combo amps ranging from 50w+ and ‘stack’ amplifiers consisting of a head and cabinet are what most experienced players choose from. Popular brands for stack amps include Marshall, Fender, Blackstar and more.The best advice would be to go to a music store and see for yourself what suits and sounds the best for you, these kind of amplifiers can extremely expensive and an investment that needs to be researched!

Image Courtesy - Marshall.

Image Courtesy – Marshall.

For new players, check out the video below from Free Guitar Videos to get to grips with terms such as gain, channels, distortion and more. Or if you’ve already bought an amplifier and you’re looking for a guitar to go with it, read our guitar guide.

 

Five tips for starting to play Guitar.

By far one of the most popular and appealing instruments to any aspiring musician, here are five tips that should help you pick up a guitar and start learning today.

  1. Choose your style. With lots of different styles of acoustic and electric guitars on the market, it can be confusing for any beginner to know what to go for. Acoustic guitars around £50 – £80 are ideal for beginners. You can often get bundle backs with a free carry case, or a strap etc. with a good quality guitar as well. Once you have learnt the basics and are moving onto intermediate skills, then it may be time to purchase your first electric guitar and amplifier.
  2. Learn some things online. Not every player can afford one to one tuition and guitar lessons. Don’t worry, there are lots of online resources aimed at developing players of all abilities. Ultimate Guitar has free lessons for various skills. YouTube also has lots of channels dedicated to guitar tutorials and lessons, Mahalo is highly recommended.
  3. Don’t get too frustrated. Learning guitar is a very complicated hobby, it takes years for some players to develop their skills. Players often get too frustrated when they can’t do something, a good motivational tool is to picture yourself a month ago, then look where you are now, and see how much you have improved!
  4. Don’t rush the basics. Too many people pick up the guitar and stop playing because they aren’t Jimi Hendrix after a week of practice. Taking time to perfect your knowledge and playing abilities of major and minor chords, single notes, barre chords and more, will undoubtedly benefit your chances when you come to learn anthems and harder guitar songs.
  5. Enjoy it! Without doubt the most important factor, whether you are playing along to songs in the comfort of your own bedroom, or jamming with your friends in a rehearsal room, playing guitar can make you relaxed, excited and proud of yourself.

For readers who are interested in buying an electric guitar, but are unsure which amplifier to play it through, check out Hobby Umbrella’s guide to amplifiers!

Now go and enjoy learning guitar!