Do I need an amp for my guitar?

While it won't stop you from playing your guitar, having an amplifier will certainly help you enjoy your guitar playing experience even more!

How expensive is a good guitar amp?

It doesn't have to be expensive! A good amplifier can be purchased these days at prices under £100.

What type of amp is best for electric guitar?

Valve or tube amps are the classic choice for many players but solid state amps and modelling amps deliver tones that are often indistinguishable from valves!

What are ‘clean’ amps and ‘dirty’ amps?

A defining feature of many genres of guitar playing is how much ‘overdrive’ or ‘distortion’ the amp is producing. Genres like funk, soul and country tend not to use any overdrive - we call this a ‘clean’ tone. Genres like rock, metal and blues tend to require a lot of overdrive - we call this a ‘dirty’ tone. Many electric guitar amps have two or more channels so that you can have both!

I’m a beginner, which guitar amplifier is right for me?

We think solid state amps are much more fun for beginners. It’s exciting to have a broad palette of tones and effects to play with to try and emulate as many iconic guitar sounds as possible. It’s a bit like having a hundred TV channels, after a while you’ll realise you only watch two or three: this is the right time to think about getting a valve amp and committing to one particular sound.

What does ‘headroom’ mean?

‘Headroom’ is how loud your amp can go before overdriving. High-powered amps tend to have more headroom than low powered amps, meaning they can be loud and clean at the same time.

Can I use headphones?

You can use headphones with solid state amps but rarely with valve amps.

What is a good size guitar amp for home use?

Up to around 20 Watts is more than enough power for home use. Modern amplifiers come at low wattages and include headphone outputs to let you get the most out of your amp at low volumes.

What does ‘high gain’ mean?

The amount of overdrive an amp can produce is known as gain. ‘High gain’ guitar amplifiers are commonly used in metal to produce that heavy, distorted sound.