Help me buy an amp

just recently bought myself a guitar. Now the next step for me is to buy an amp..... so I have some questions:

1. How do amps differ from speakers other than the fact that they have controls?

2. Why do they have that hard grill at the front instead of the soft material that speakers have?

3. How much should I pay for a decent amp?

4. What should the physical size of a decent amp be?

5. Do I really need an amp or could i just put my guitar through an FX box then straight into my external sound card box?

6. What is a good guitar lead e.g. should I worry about gold connectors or just use an ordinary lead?

1. a guitar amplifier is an amplifier and speaker/speakers built in to one unit. depending on the components used, different guitar amplifiers add a different "colour" to your guitar sound. when recording the guitar via microphone picking up the amp, a variety of tones and characteristics can be achieved by using different amp/microphone combinations. so your guitar amp is much more than just a speaker to make your guitar louder - it's an important tool for your whole "sound".

2. not all guitar amplifiers have a hard grill - some of them do have soft material covers. i think they use the grill more because it protects the speaker cones better and it's more hard wearing.

3. totally depends on your budget - you can get a "decent" amp for not that much these days. you should think about the type of sound you're looking for and the application (live gigging, studio work, bedroom recording etc) and choose a reputable manufacturer that you like the look of that fits the bill. if you're on a budget, you shouldn't need to spend more than £150.

4. again, totally depends on the application, but i guess a good size to start off with and for home\bedroom use would be about 30cm - 50cm x 30cm - 50cm.

5. you could put your guitar straight into your sound card and add effects etc using software, but you would miss out on the tonal characteristics added to your sound by an amplifier and microphone. you will end up putting your guitar through your computer anyway most likely, but with an amp, you can have a microphone [picking up your guitar] going into the sound card instead of the guitar direct.

6. don't worry about leads too much, just get something that looks alright and isn't stupidly expensive.

I recommend looking into the Marshall MG series of amplifiers.

Marshall MG30DFX - about £150 and got FX built in.

ORANGE IS GREAT

i agree with most of what bcm said, except for the amp recommendation. for the sound that you're looking for (i'm guessing from that other thread)

these are the amps i've had experience with:

Fender Frontman 15G - ~$150

these amps are great, for a little 15w practice amp they are capable of some really lovely tones. i'll provide an audio example:

all of the guitar in that track was recorded with one of these amps. here's a more surfy twang that i managed to obtain in combination with my trusty behringer reverb:

Fender G-DEC Junior - ~$320

i don't have any audio examples of these, but they're pretty decent if you want an all-in-one effects unit/amp. they're a bit annoying to program/switch through presets, but i think you can get a footpedal for them that makes it easier. some of the reverbs and delays in these are just incredible.

Fender Blues Junior - ~$950

these amps are the shit. i just got one a couple of months ago (in tweed as opposed to the black one pictured above, zole), and they're freakin' amazing. it's a valve amp so it has a much 'warmer' or 'smoother' sound than the frontman 15G. and it also has a spring reverb unit, you may or may not find these useful - i personally love spring reverb, but it does have a very characteristic 'splash' sound that isn't useful for some applications.

oh man you little fender slut.

My friend was selling his Mesa Strategy 500. Not sure if he's yet found a buyer.

  Glass Plate said:

oh man you little fender slut.

damn right.

*plays mustang through fender curly lead into blues junior*

oh, with a fender strap too, ahah.

Get one of these :) It even has midi built in and runs in stereo ooooo

No but seriously i love the peavey studio pro 112.

about 150 bucks

I had one for a few years and its an amazing band for the buck.

Then get that and a cheap or nice multi fx. Nice being like the zoom g9.2tt

and cheap being all the stuff that costs less.

I recommend a small tube amplifier with spring reverb if possible.

I have a Fender Champion 600, which I use with a Tapco spring reverb unit. Total cost < $265 USD.

If you don't need an actual amp, and are just recording direct, get a Line 6 Pod. I've seen it in studio racks from New Order to Metallica.

thank you to everybody :smiling: