Electric guitar amplifiers are more than necessary if you are getting started in the world of music. A good audio amplifier will allow you to obtain the best quality of that sound you are looking for.
Electric guitar amplifiers are among the best sellers on the market. When someone is getting started in music or is passionate about strings, they usually think of this tool as a bridge to get closer to the sound they really want to make. Today we have an infinity of last-generation guitars and the choice is sometimes made at least complex.
The electric guitar amp is a different product from bass amps and amplifiers for acoustic guitar. For all-electric guitarists this is obvious, but beginners, or even those looking for an amplifier to give it away, sometimes believe that an electric guitar can easily be connected to an acoustic guitar amp, even if it isn’t. If you want to understand where the difference is, keep reading our reviews.
The 10 best amplifiers for electric guitars to buy
If you have an electric guitar or are thinking of purchasing one, you will need an amplifier. These devices help to amplify the sound through a loudspeaker, have different powers and designs and various effects so that you get the sound you want.
In the market there are a large number of amplifiers for electric guitars, but, to choose the most suitable one, you will have to take into account some aspects. First of all, we recommend you find a specific amplifier for electric guitar, since there are amplifiers for acoustic guitar or for voice. It is important to keep this in mind, since the specific amplifiers for electric guitar sound differently, and are specially created for this type of instrument.
If you want to buy the one that best suits your needs, consider the products that we present below, since they will surely be of interest to you.
Line 6 Spider V 240 HC
It is an amplifier head that has a 4-inch double speaker and tweeter configuration to be used in the comfort of your home, as well as in concerts with the bulky public when this equipment is combined with a closet.
Its volume can be impressive (and we are not talking about physical dimensions), because with its 50 W of power it seems to be a harmless and low-performance amplifier, but this is clearly not the case.
This one’s control is very simple and easy to use. Its standard three-band equalizer allows volume and unit control. A pleasant clean sound can be achieved as well as well-defined and balanced distortions.
It has a small screen that shows the active preset for the moment. In addition, through a set of controls, you can easily navigate through several presets that incorporates this amazing unit.
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Orange Amplifiers Crush Pro CR120H 120 W
This is another of the best electric guitar amplifiers to buy. Orange has been characterized as one of the manufacturers of valve amplifiers quite popular in the market. On this occasion his Crush Pro CR120H model stands out with a power of 120 W output is listed as a small monster with advantageous qualities.
Orange amplifier’s crush pro’s simplicity is the definition contrary to everything it would be able to do. Its control panel is basically divided into two parts: one responsible for configuring the clean channel and the other for its part handles dirty tones so to speak.
Its reverb modality has 3 styles: spring, hall and plate, giving the sound more strength and robustness to heavy rock genres, it also adds a rich and well-structured tone. Therefore, the sound emitted under this mode is quite complete and dynamic.
The overtaking of this incredible element is good but it is not really what this brand specializes in. However, this is solved practically using additional pedals, something that is very common to see in guitarists of any style.
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Marshall DSL Series 100H
It is among one of the best options of vacuum tube amplifiers, characterized by its versatility and its great ability to generate unique and original shades.
Great bands over time have adopted this as their favorite amplifier, leaving him a very good reputation due to his great performance in different musical styles.
By dividing its 100 W output into two parts to power its two modules, this amplifier, however, lacks something to properly boost the guitar and make it shine successfully before a live presentation.
It has two channels, each with two different modes where you can get distorted and altered sounds efficiently. You can generate with it a clean sound as well as a more grunge style.
Its clean sound is really clear, it highlights the essence of the impeccable soul that the electric guitar can have, demonstrating that harmless and not very aggressive side.
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Roland Cube Street
This is another of the best electric guitar amplifiers to buy. This is particularly an amplifier specially designed to play in the street, impress a group of people with their skills as a guitarist, rehearse at home and also put together presentations on stage. This solid-state amplifier has a robust and very versatile design as well as is a fairly economical option to consider.
Its operation is quite simple, even its controllers are quite separate, located at the top of the amplifier. It has three controls for the equalizer, plus knobs for delay and reverb effects.
Be a low-cost electric guitar amplifier that offers a wide variety of features. One of them is the pair of high-performance 6.5-inch speakers with which it is equipped, which offer 5 W of power.
Its power is not the best of all but its sound is quite warm and pleasant, it is good for practice and widely recommended for those guitarists who are in constant motion, since it turns out to be a fairly portable amplifier.
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Fender Champion 100
It is a legend in the world of solid-state amplifiers. Not to mention that it is among the best amplifiers below $ 500 that offer the quality and excellence characteristic of Fender. They say that a book should not be judged by its cover, because this amplifier despite having an innovative design maintains a pleasant sound and provides everything that a guitarist might want in terms of tone.
At first glance, a variety of controls and knobs are observed, each with an objective function. It has controls for the clean channel (volume, effects and sound level) as well as controls for the unit’s channel, which include gain, volume, treble, medium and bass.
Its two channels offer different effects among which are chorus, delay, reverb, flanger and wah. For its part, the Fender-type classic amplifiers where Tweed, British, and Blackface take place are included in the unit channel.
In conclusion, it is an amplifier that despite its classic design, offers a wide variety of sounds and distortions which is much appreciated by guitarists. It is more aimed at amateur musicians than the professional type.
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Blackstar ID: Core 10 V2
This is another of the best electric guitar amplifiers to buy. This great brand has been working hard to provide the public with quality amplifiers and good functionalities at an increasingly accessible price in both its tube and solid state models. His designs of this type are more oriented to the musician who practices at home or uses these tools to record his compositions.
This amplifier is considered one of the most economical and accessible on the market as well as one of the most versatile that simultaneously offers excellent sound. It may be the best option for many who are looking for quality and a price range that suits their pocket.
Blackstar has six different channels to create innovative melodies and compositions, including various types of overdrive and fuzz. It has reverb, delay and a set of modulation effects where imagination and creativity are lost sight of. Everything is set using gain, volume control and the ISF single-band equalizer.
It is common to think that practice amplifiers do not provide great potential and quality sound, as Blackstar ID is one of the few exceptions in this concept. At a really affordable price, this amplifier turns out to be quite useful and desired by many.
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Boss Katana Head Electric Guitar Amplifiers
Although Boss is a brand more recognized for its distortion pedals than for its amplifiers, this is one of the best amplifier heads that can be found in the market for less than $ 500, its performance is incredible and it also stands out for being an alternative version to the Katana-50 model.
The arrangement of the controls in this electric guitar amplifier is quite practical and easy to handle since they have been divided into several groups. The first one is the control of the amplifier, then there is the volume, amplifier and gain selector and finally, you have the three-band equalizer followed by FX cluster.
Its size is the opposite of its power, as it consists of 100 W at the output being twice as powerful as its predecessor. However, this amplifier has only a 5-inch speaker. It has five different modes of operation: an acoustic mode, a clean channel, another with a creak and the last two in lead and brown mode.
In short, it is a respectable and very decent amplifier, its great versatility demonstrates the variety of sounds it can produce and the easy handling it may require. Despite not being a very famous brand, this version is quite useful and efficient.
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Vox Custom AC15C2 Electric Guitar Amplifiers
This is another of the best electric guitar amplifiers to buy. It offers a classic and quality sound, it is ideal if you are looking for an amplifier for the electric guitar with a pleasant hue and that is below 1000 $.
This is not a common combo. Its C2 nomination means mainly that it has two speakers. It has two 12-inch Celestion G12M greenbacks. It delivers 15 W of power to the speakers through 12AX7 tubes in the pre-amplification stage and two EL84 tubes in the power one.
Valve amplifiers like this offer an accurate and highly balanced tone that can only be improved with an additional 12-inch Celestion. This amplifier includes a natural sound reverberation such as the effect of tremolo on the electric guitar.
In conclusion, the Vox AC15C2 has a tube sound that only a classic Vox could offer. It also highlights its price, which is half of its previous version and more complete (the AC30).
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Peavey ValveKing II Micro-Head Tube Head
With a great track record and reputation as an amplifier welcomed by the heavier genres, the Peavey ValveKing II has been the primary option to be considered by many heavy metal bands. It is a smaller version of other Peavey tubes and therefore more accessible.
Peavey ValveKing II differs from other tube amplifiers by the arrangement of its controls. It has a rhythm gain control which is surrounded by a channel selector button; a previous gain button and also the equalization cluster three-band.
Peavey ValveKing II offers an output power of 20 W using three 12AX7 in the pre-amplification stage and two EL84 in the power stage. It also has a TSI package which is an integrated circuit that notifies the user if their pipes are at risk of failure.
Simply put, it is a box with electronic circuitry well designed for the work you should do. Its performance is synonymous with the excellence that Peavey can offer.
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Fender Frontman 10G Electric Guitar Amplifiers
This is another of the best electric guitar amplifiers to buy. The Fender Frontman 10G is the electric guitar amplifier with the best quality / price ratio. Ideal for those who want to play in the recording studio, at home or even in very small rooms, with its dimensions of 18 x 35 x 29.2 cm it is easy to carry, but very solid.
This model weighs 10 pounds, has a single 6-inch case, and two-band equalization.
On the front panel you will find the inputs for the electric guitar jack and headphones, but also an AUX-IN input with a standard jack (3.5 mm), to connect the amp to all your favorite devices, and play the electric guitar accompanied by a musical base.
If you are looking for a manageable amplifier, able to enhance the sound of your guitar without crackling, and with pleasant distortion effects without being jarring, the Fender Frontman 10G is the ideal model for you. It is not powerful enough for use during outdoor concerts, but for all other releases, it is ideal.
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How do I choose the best electric guitar amplifiers?
The choice of the best electric guitar amplifier must be weighted according to the instrument you have and the sound you would like to get.
It is practically impossible to define a model better than another or to declare that a brand is the best ever.
Type: combo or non-combo?
The first is certainly more practical as it unifies a preamplifier, a power amplifier and a speaker in a single structure.
In this case, management is more practical and functional.
Those who prefer to have a finer adjustment must opt for a real amp with a separate case that diffuses the effect. The combo is cheaper and less cumbersome than the other solution.
Amplification: with valves or transistors?
Nice dilemma, even if the answer is rather simple.
A tube amp for electric guitar is more expensive, but it has a better quality sound than a transistor one, since it follows the reality of the instrument more faithfully.
In contrast, the transistor one is cheaper and requires less maintenance.
Furthermore, if it is of quality, it manages to approach one tube level with sound, but the yield will always be lower, even if the technology has progressed and in terms of performance the two solutions are very close in some cases.
Sound:
Once the amp is connected to the instrument you have to see it as a whole, where one is an integral part of the other.
You must first clarify the type of sound you would like to obtain and then choose not only based on the declared power, but above all by observing the settings available on the amplifier.
The sound can be clean and crystal clear, darker, warmer or metallic, more dirty and scratchy.
Alternatively, you can get different yields depending on the effects that thanks to the pedals you will get out of the amplifier.
Evaluate the musical genre: country or folk styles have different peculiarities compared to rock or pop, just as a rap track is distinctly different from a classic one.
Power:
Many think that power is everything for an amplifier. the more watts you have available, the better. It is not true.
If this were the general reasoning, everyone would run with 300 hp cars, but in reality, this is not the case.
You understand that it is important to know where you will be using the guitar amplifier and in which contexts. Use in a recording studio or in your room does not require stadium powers. It would make no sense to have a supercar to go to the newsstand to buy the newspaper.
In contexts like the bedroom or the study, the power certainly passes into the background (perhaps even on the third floor). For such uses, even 20 Watts could be too many and interfere excessively on the tranquility of the neighbors. At most 15 Watts may be enough for your room.
Otherwise, you must instead think if you are looking for a stage or venue amp for live concerts and performances. The power, in these cases, assumes greater importance.
Not only because you have to spread the sound in a bigger environment, but also because you won’t have to run the risk that the other instruments will cover your solos or your accompaniment. In these cases, you will need an amplifier that has certain high and low volume settings.
Inputs:
Obviously, the guitar input is fundamental and it is obvious that there is, but consider buying a nice quality cable and also the input must be such.
The gold-plated connections are the top. Maybe you might prefer an amp with multiple inputs, separate control instruments, but be careful that there are also other connection possibilities.
How about maybe inserting a CD player or external support to be able to play on it? Even more fundamental is having a headphone input so that you can also play in condominiums without problems and even at night without disturbing the sleep of others.
Dimensions:
If you intend to leave the amplifier in a studio or in your room, then the size may not be very important.
Otherwise, it is the case in which you carry the accessory with you.
Small dimensions and transportability become fundamental to have more comfort.
There are suitcases that are equipped with wheels to facilitate movement.
A combo-type amp is more practical because it contains everything in the same case.
Conclusion
The choice of the best guitar amp is all about a simple question: what music do you play?
If you like country, blues or soft rock, you need to look for amplifiers that produce a nice clean sound with a slight overdrive. While, if you play metal or other extreme genres, you will need an amplifier with a big overdrive.
Many amps are part of a happy medium, but having an idea of the kind of sound you’re looking for can help you greatly narrow down your choices. You need to know what you want to get it.
Based on the answer you gave to this question, you should have understood if you need an amplifier with great power, or something more delicate.