What are guitar amps? These are amplifiers that amplify the sound coming from the guitar and passing through them. The amps drive the guitar loudspeaker. When a guitar is played some sound waves are generated. These waves are then converted into an electrical signal, and fed into the guitar amplifier. Sometimes the input of the guitar amp is not compatible with the minute signal emanating from the guitar; in such a case the signal is first sent to a pre-amplifier. From the pre-amplifier the output is fed into the guitar amp.
Stages Of Work
The guitar amp works in four stages. These stages are the input stage, signal modulation stage, signal amplification stage, and the output stage.
In this stage the signal from the guitar or the guitar pre-amp is fed into the guitar amp. The amplifier has some input female jacks; the signal cable is attached into these jacks. Sometimes the guitar signal is very weak, and cannot be fed into the guitar amp directly. In such situations the signal is made to pass through the guitar pre-amp before reaching the main amplifier. The impedance match between the available input signal impedance and the particular guitar amp's input signal impedance must be ensured. If there is any such impedance imbalance, it invariably causes distorted guitar sound on the loudspeaker.
Most amplifiers come with a pre-amp stage incorporated in to them. It removes the hassle of passing the guitar signal through a separate pre-amp. With such amplifiers the signal from the guitar can directly be routed through the amp itself.
Signal Modulation
The electric guitarists do not like the idea of plain music coming out of the loud speakers. They are happy if the guitar sounds can be jazzed up. The twangy, the funky, and the heavily distorted sounds are well liked by them. For example if a guitarist wants to incorporate the heavy metal rock sound into his guitar sounds, the input signal will need to go through the required heavy distortion. Similarly to produce wa-wa sounds or reverb etc., the input signal must undergo modulation before the sounds are finally amplified. The equalizers and tone control knobs too need to undergo the signal modulation stage.
Signal Amplification
It is at this stage that the actual amplification happens. That is why this stage is known as the business stage of a guitar amp. The outgoing signal at this stage is the same as the incoming signal from the modulation stage. The only difference is that the output is of much greater amplitude. In short, the signal amplifier simply and faithfully amplifies the incoming signal.
Output stage is the last stage of a guitar amp. In some amp there is a sub-stage of output driver stage, but some have just a simple output stage. If your guitar amp is not of a good quality, it will just feed the outgoing signal from the amplification stage directly into the loudspeaker. The good quality guitar amps ensure that there is a signal conditioning output stage that matches the output signal to the input specifications of the loud speaker.
A serious guitarist is supposed to have a good working knowledge of guitar amps. If you are knowledgeable, you will always go for a good guitar amp. A good guitar amp makes all the difference to the reliability and predictability of the musical sounds that finally come out of the loudspeaker, when you play your guitar.
Used Bass Guitar Amps
The constant breakthroughs in terms of technology and built in features now incorporated into many amps are great for the consumer in terms of cost. It also makes it easier to decide the whole vibe of what amp, effects gear or modeling equipment to haul around with you to a jam session or a gig a lot easier decision to make in most cases.
Except for the diehard guitarist. And there is lots of excellent competition in the field of amps nowadays.
In the beginning all amplifiers were powered by vacuum tubes the same technology was used in most home stereos, radios and televisions until the mid-1960s. Tubes created all the great sounds that we learned to associate with electric guitar music. But by the mid seventies solid state technology was starting to sway much of the market with new amps that could produce great volume with little or no distortion and required no maintenance with more durability.
Note: The term valve is the same thing as a vacuum tube in amplifier speak.
Most of the modern designs are called hybrid, which means there is a tube/s in the preamplifier section, and the power amplifier section uses solid state circuitry for its power supply. In my opinion an overdriven preamplifier tube definitely sounds better than the popular pure solid state overdrive circuits, however, it does not sound as deep and warm as a full tube powered amplifier to me. The opinion at GPC is that the hybrids are a real breakthrough in terms of getting quality sound using tubes and solid state circuitry in harmony to get the great tube sound and solid state reliability every body wants in one cabinet.
Take it a step further to built in Digital Modeling. Another field gaining steam fast is digital modeling amps. Great for the home player or fantastic for the studio artist. The Fender Super Champ XD Guitar Combo is a super deal for the money with a power output of 15W RMS into 8 ohms, one 12AX7 and two 6V6 tubes, one 1 8 ohm Fender Special Design speaker and a voicing knob with 16 different preamp voices emulates perfectly any style of music and it has 16 different effects built in to it with an effects level control knob. The convenience of changing your sound on the fly keeps your focus on playing the guitar.
Other amplifiers such as the Fender Cyber Twin SE Amp and the Vox Valvetronix AD50VT 50w 12 Guitar Combo cost more but are similar or better in most cases due to cost and intended usage. I would recommend the more expensive models for professionals or hi end players. They provide the same amazing versatility at a higher price. The main reason for a bigger amp would be a larger venue, not necessarily sound quality.
Some of the modern features include, in addition to simulating many popular amplifier sounds, entirely new ones can be created and saved and can be looped to play over and over. It is important to mention that you can still buy an amplifier without all of the high tech built in features and add the equipment you prefer.
Not mentioning the new line of practice amps would be a disservice. The Fender G-Dec is so popular now that it comes in several models and It packs amp modeling, guitar effects, a drum machine, MIDI synth, and phrase sampler into one combo amp. It is set up to be your own personal backing band, ready and waiting for you to step up and play.
You can actually hear sound bites from different amp settings here under sound clips. Another example of using the internet to choose and purchase your guitar equipment. GPC highly recommends the G-Dec for beginners especially. I am not a beginner but I have an original G-DEC and use it to practice with very often due to it's small size, versatility and simplicity of use.
The newer amplifier combos are very encouraging and very usable in live or recording studio situations. The versatility alone makes these systems almost a natural choice for musicians who need to cover a wide range of amplifier sounds and digital effects with a single setup, for example if you play covers, or need to record quickly and can not afford to waste studio dollars connecting different amps and cabinets.
Realistically speaking, lots of people can't hear the difference between hybrid amps or full tube amps. Personally, the hybrid amps sound so good that unless one is a professional guitar player with unusual demands or you like to use the extra gear as many guitarists still prefer, the future of hybrid amps and amps with built in processing equipment looks bright and encouraging. GPC always recommends getting the best amp you can afford. Don't buy the cheapest one if you can avoid it. Take advantage of free shipping, the lowest possible legal prices and a 45 day return policy. You may even qualify for an no interest for one year credit card. Why not shop at home and save your time and gas from now on? Of course if your giving a gift and not sure what to get, buy a gift certificate. Every guitar player loves a gift certificate.
A question worth pondering. How does a self tuning guitar react when you bend a note? Let me know if you have an answer, or I'll have to find out myself.
Both Logan N Young & Daniel Lehrman are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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