Many professional players use pedal boards that they customize with several effects pedals.īy having digital effects built into the amp, it allows you to experiment with several effects without having to buy the pedals separately. Some amps feature an array of digital on-board effects that you choose from. Eventually, though, guitarists may have a need for them. Digital effectsĮffects can be a useful feature in many different guitar amps, but it’s best for beginners not to get carried away. While not every guitar amp features reverb, it can be found on most practice amps. Reverb is a standard effect that sounds like an echo in a big empty room. For instance, heavy metal and punk bands usually have a thick, distorted tone. This controls the amount of distortion in your sound. These controls will help you sound good in any environment, as you can shape the amp’s frequencies to sound best in whatever room you’re playing in. These controls help you achieve your desired tone. These controls are usually labeled treble, mid, and bass. EQ controls and settingsĪll amps will have some sort of “equalization” (or EQ) built in. A basic understanding of amp tones and effects can help you make your final decision. The kind of music you want to play will affect what kind of guitar amp you want to buy. Save the full stack 100-watt amp and multiple cabs for when you hit the big time! A cab with one or two 12-inch speakers will probably be fine for live shows.įor really big venues, a 4x12 cab is sometimes used, especially for heavier bands. When you see bands play arenas, they often use dummy cabs onstage for looks - most don’t even contain speakers! The most power you’ll generally need to play live in most situations is 30–50 watts. The only real consideration is being able to compete with the natural volume of the drum set. You’ll usually also have onstage monitors that will provide sound to you and your bandmates. The same pretty much holds true for playing live: Gigantic amps are no longer needed, as most venues use microphones on the amps to better control the sound that the audience hears. Some guitarists will use multiple amps in the studio and blend their sounds to get the perfect tone. For instance, Jimmy Page used a small 15-watt Supro combo amp in the studio to create the huge guitar sounds on the early Led Zeppelin records. If you want to use your amp in a recording situation, smaller is usually better. Reading guitar tabs is a great habit to incorporate into practice, and practice is only made easier with School of Rock’s Method App. The practice amp is for practicing at home at a reasonable volume - save the big amp for the stage. Likewise, most practice amps have a single speaker between 8 inches and 12 inches in diameter. You don’t need a lot of wattage to sound good. Having a high-powered amp at home is like having a race car that you can’t drive over 20 mph. playing on the roadįor home use, you really don’t need a guitar amp that uses more than 20 watts of power. Remember: In most cases, your amp will be connected to the PA system. For most gigs, one 12-inch or two 12-inch speakers are fine. Popular speaker configurations include one 12-inch speaker, two 12-inch speakers, and four 12-inch speakers. When choosing your speaker configuration, two factors to take into consideration are the wattage of the amp and impedence. You want to make sure the speakers are rated for the amount of power the amp will produce. If your guitar amp never gets turned up past 3, you should probably use a smaller amp. Most amps sound best when they can be turned up about halfway.
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