Whats Best High Quality Guitar Amp

What is the best beginner guitar amp?

Yes everyone knows Marshall make fantastic amps, but for a beginner guitar amp, do you need a huge Marshall stack? Nope you don’t.Get a small combo with amp modelling and effects, you’ll have hours of fun playing, and it wont take up too much space in your house. You don’t need anything more than 30 watts.There are some great sounding inexpensive practise amps out there, but beware, there are also some pretty awful ones that make your guitar sound ‘synthetic’.Amps I recommend include Line 6 and Roland Cube. Scroll down the list in this article to number 13 to read a review of the Cube Top 15 Must Have Guitar Accessories & Gear (For Beginners +)I actually used my little Roland 30x practice amp a few years back playing at Glastonbury on one of the smaller stages with a new artist. It sounded fantastic!Orange and Vox also do some pretty sweet sounding smaller practice amps if you don’t want the bells a whistles and one sound. Check out the Vox Pathfinder. It’s 10 watts, so won’t annoy your neighbours.Keep rockin’!

What's the best way to record electric guitar? I want the best quality possible. Should I use software amps?

OP: “What's the best way to record electric guitar? I want the best quality possible. Should I use software amps?”What’s the best hammer? If you’re laying railroad, a big spike driver is best. But you’d be a fool to use a spike hammer to hang a picture in your living room. It all depends on the job specifics…Without knowing if you’re going for clean tone, overdriven, or if you’ll be playing backing chord stuff or, lead work, etc… the specifics are hard, but I’d say just keep a few things in mind, and you’ll be able to confidently make the decision yourself.Some jobs aren’t about creating the Mona Lisa, it’s about getting it done well, fast. Digital stuff is super flexible, and super easy to work with. When the Beatles set up for Ed Sullivan they did sound check, and used chalk to mark where they wanted their amp knobs. They then did their thing checking out the city, and when they came back and it was go time- they were horrified to see Sullivan’s crew had wiped and cleaned the amps. All the knobs had been moved to face the same way, so as to make them as pretty as possible for the TV broadcast. If it was a software setting, it all could have been fixed with one mouse click. Also, is there the possibility that whatever you’re recording could take several days? Or worse, take place across several locations? It’s not easy making an amp sound exactly the same as it did on a different day. Sound is vibrating air, and air behaves different when it’s humid, or dry, or the barometric pressure changes. Likewise- amps and outboard gear is wicked heavy- software based stuff is light.The “best” digital amp modeler is an imitation of a piece of hardware. It’s not unlike people who try to sing like Michael Jackson, or play like Van Halen- even if it’s successful, it’s a successful imitation. Which is best? Vintage gear is going to do what it does better than an imitation of it. It’s sort of tautological. It’s equally true for digital doing digital stuff too. Digital can also synthesize an ever rising X% of what proper amps and rooms do too. If all you need is 99%, just go digital. Think on what the job calls for and the choice will be obvious.Last thought. You could use both an outboard amp, and almost certainly a bunch of software too. It would be very flexible. You could track your outboard amp and then put your overdrive and effects on after tracking. Then as the mix comes together, you can mold the guitar dynamically. Good luck!

What are the best brands of guitar amplifiers?

There is no such thing as a best amplifier. It's all about what kind of music you want to play and what sort of sounds are in your head trying to get out. Different amplifiers have different characteristics. Some have amazing cleans, some are known for their heavy distortions, some take pedals very well, some are built trying to be a "jack of all trades."  Only way to know what amp is best for you is to plug in and try them out. Try to "A-B" them,  trying one amplifier and then plugging into another immediately after with the same settings, playing the same thing. It will give you a good idea about how their characteristics differ. If you have favorite pedal effects that you  know that you're going to want to use, make sure you try those two.  Petals can sound quite different going into various amplifiers. Here are a few general characteristics of the major brands:Fender- known for their shimmering clean sounds, can do great blues overdrive but have a hard time with heavy distortion. Marshall- pretty nice cleans and iconic overdrive from the 70s to today.  If you like rock guitar, your heroes probably play Marshalls,  but you may not be able to afford the ones they're playing.Mesa- interesting characteristics from heavy-metal through amazing cleans and blues tones, depending on the different amplifier models, very well-built but also expensive. Blackstar- these are made by some guys that used to work for Marshall. They try to straddle between the Mesa and the Marshall tones and do a pretty good job with both. And then there are many, many smaller brands, all with different tone characteristics and personalities.  Get out there, plug-in, and start  twisting knobs.

Who makes the best tube guitar amplifiers?

I think it is important to not only talk about brands, but to consider amp circuits.  There are lots of different circuits, but we can break it down into a few simple categories or classes; A, B, and AB.   Class A amps use 100% of the signal 100% of the time, meaning the full signal is sent through the circuit at all times.  One single ended device produces the entire wave form and the tubes are always in the ready state; there is no “wake up” idle time.  The circuit is simple, but inefficient.  The tubes run hot and thus will eventually wear out.  The power needs are high and as a result the production costs are high.  Engineers went on to design much more efficient circuits, but more efficient does not necessarily mean better sounding.  I should note most audiophiles believe Class A amplifier circuits produce the best sound quality.  Nearly all high end “boutique” amps are hand-wired Class A single-ended triode circuit amplifies, but I digress.   The Class B circuit only amplifies the top half of the input wave cycle and no current flows when the device is idle.  This is more efficient, but there is a slight lag time between when the signal starts and the tubes “wake up” to produce sound and because it only amplifies half of the signal it does not sound that great.  Class B circuits tend to be inexpensive because the power needs are smaller and the sound quality is not suited for quality applications.     The Class AB circuit creates the same top half waveform as a Class B circuit, but it also creates a sperate bottom half waveform.  This amplifies the entire signal, like a Class A circuit, but maintains high efficiencies like the Class B circuit.  It experiences the same lag time, but sounds much better than the Class B circuit and is still cheap to make.   The tubes run cooler and last longer.Also Class A amps are louder than Class AB amps.  Because Class A circuits amplify the entire waveform you get more volume out of each watt. When purchasing an amplifier, it is always a good idea to know what kind of amp circuit you are listening to.  Put a 25 watt Class A amp next to a 50 watt Class AB and listen to how they sound next to each other. Then decide which is best for you.

What are the best headphones to plug into a guitar amp? What headphones best reproduce the sound created by your amp?

As others have noted, with a few exceptions, the headphone out jacks on guitar amps don't emulate the sound of your speaker, so what you get in your headphones is pretty clinical, at best. There are some amps these days that include speaker emulation in their headphone outs. I think most of the Roland Cube series have this feature. Another option is to use a guitar/computer digital interface. I have an old Line6 TonePort UX2 (they rebranded it POD Studio, at some point) with an excellent headphone out and lots of amp/cab/mic models that is perfect for practice and, even, near-silent recording. I used to practice and record a lot in the dead of the night with this thing, while my wife and infant son slept. But this requires a computer and a free USB port, so it might not be what you're looking for. As another offbeat option, my Digitech JamMan Studio has, in addition to its looping abilities, a dedicated headphone out, along with volume controls for the instrument and loop. And it's perfectly good for practicing (and you can run the rest of your pedals into it, to shape your sound). It's not as versital as the Line6, but it's still pretty solid, and it keeps you from having to get a laptop involved (which I prefer to avoid).Guitar Center has a category for headphone amps:http://m.guitarcenter.com/Catego...