Choose a Guitar Amplifier That Fits You!
There is no doubt about it! If you play electric guitar, you need a guitar amplifier. So what amplifier fits you? Lets have a look at it!
It's the same story as with buying an electric guitar. If you have an idea about what sound you like to have, your one step ahead!
It's also important to know for what purpose you need the amp. If you are only playing at home you probably don't need a 200 watt Marshall...
Of course the amp has to fit in your budget also! It is possible to by cheap guitar amps that are good.
Do you now your sound?
If you have no idea about what sound you want, you have to figure that out first. Listen to guitarists in your style of music. Go to guitar shops and try different amps so you get an idea.
Your amp and guitar are important ingredients for your sound. For example if you like the sound of Jimi Hendrix, you have to look for a stratocaster and a Marshall.
I am not saying that you will sound like Hendrix if you buy a Marshall amp. What I am saying is that you know in what direction to look.
How does a guitar amplifier work?
A guitar amplifier has two power sections. A preamp and a power amp. Your guitar delivers a small electric signal to the preamp part of your amp.
In the preamp this signal is amplified into a stronger signal. This signal can be shaped with tone control knobs (mostly bass, treble, and mid).
From the preamp this stronger, tone shaped signal, is send to the the power amp. The power amp amplifies this signal into a powerful signal which can be send to your speakers.
Different guitar amplifiers
There are different kinds of amplifiers:
combo and head
comboYou can buy an amp with build in speakers. That's what they call a combo. It's also possible to buy a separate speaker cabinet and amp. That kind of amp is called a top or head.
Most combo's have a possibility to connect an external speaker cabinet as well. External speaker cabinets are connected with special speaker cables.
If you have a combo version and head version of the same type of amp, the circuit of the amp will be the same. If we talk about tone, the difference between a combo and a head are the speakers or speakercabinet you use.
Impedance
If you connect an external speaker cabinet you have to check the impedance. Most heads will have an impedance switch. On some combo's you find a description about what impedance you can use.
So you have to check the impedance on your external speaker cabinet when you want to connect it to your amp. To connect an external speaker cabinet you need a special speaker cable.
One two three four channel guitar amplifiers
Most amps have more than one channel. Personally I use a one trick pony. That means I have an amp on witch I can only use one channel at a time. No switching possibilities. For different sounds I use effect pedals.
Most guitarists prefer an amplifier with more selectable channels.
An amp with more channels gives you the possibility to switch between different amp settings. The switching can be done by a foot switch.
One channel for a nice clean tone. On another a little more crunch and one more for a good lead tone.
On a modeling amp you have lots of possibilities for different sounds.
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