Buying an amplifier is one of the most important choices you will make.  Why?  This will make or break your guitar tone and sound, and your wallet.  The first thing you need to do is think about your needs. 

• Will you be playing at home?
• Will you be playing at home but with a bass or another guitar player?
• Will you need enough power and volume to play over a drum set?
• Will you be gigging with this amp?
• Will you need to use this amp in the studio?
• Are you going to need effects?

Tone

Things you’ll need to know will be the difference between Tube and Solid State. Tube is usually linked with the vintage tone or sound, warm rounded tones that distort easily. This allows the guitar player to roll off the volume and play clean, then slam the guitar volume full for a nice distortion sound.

Solid State amps get a bad name for their lack of warm tones, but their crisp clear clean sound is unmatched. Most players that use Solid State will be relying on effects for distortion. Solid State distortion is not as warm sounding as Tube distortion, but many companies today make Solid State amps that sound just like Tube Amps.

Power

Power is another subject to think about. What do you need? Tube wattage will always be louder than Solid State wattage! This means if you take a 50-watt Tube amp and a 50-watt Solid State amp, the Tube amp will almost 2 times louder on average.

Most Solid State amp rate a lot higher in power, but think about what speakers or cab you will be playing through. Don’t get stuck on wattage, many people think that the higher the watt number is the louder the amp will be, this is not true.

Combo or Separates

If you know the kind of tone you’re looking for, and are a working guitar player, than separate is the way to go. When I say separate I mean a head and a cabinet. Playing larger rooms will require more power, and a 2x12 or 4x12 will work great.

Combos will work great if you play at home or in a small band. Many combos come in cool packages now. They’re equipped with effects and processing that was not available before. Plus they’re easy to move from lace to place and you don’t need a van to move them.

Options

What will you need from the amp? Will you need a foot switch to control distortion, to go from clean to distorted tone? Will you need a direct line out of the amp for recording? What about E.Q. settings will need access to adjust many different tones? Can the amp drive another cabinet if you need to?

Remember even if you are going to be using effect pedals, it all comes down to how well the amp reproduce sound. It’s cut and dry, if the amp doesn’t have good tone to start with then no matter how many effect pedals you use, it will still sound bad.

Buying used? Here are some things to do and look for.

• Use your guitar to try out an amp, this is for compatibility.
• Look out for a million different options, it’s just more to worry about later on, and do you need all those extras.
• Where has it a been and what has it done, even if it looks great it still could have been in a club for 2 years and been cranked to 11, four nights out of the week.
• Listen for excess buzz or hissing. Before you even plug your guitar in.
• If possible remove the grill to inspect the speaker, look for tears or dents.
• Play with all the switches to see if you hear a pop, crackle or static while working them.
• Without your guitar plugged in stamp your feet next to the amp. Listen for any type of noise, this could mean electronic trouble on the inside.

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