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Chapter 15
Choosing Your Amp and Effects
In This Chapter
Starting out slow: Looking at practice amps
Checking under the hood: The parts of the amplifier
Deciding on the amp for you
Plugging in your guitar for good sound
Touring classic amps through history
Discovering the world of effects
The guitar may be the single most important piece of hardware in creating
your sound, but it’s still part of a system, or what musicians like to call
a signal chain. Because any chain is only as strong as its weakest link, I need
to explore the two other links in the chain: the amplifier and the effects
processors.
You can play through any amplifier designed for an electric guitar and your
guitar is better heard, and it may even sound pretty good. But eventually you
should own an amp that’s specially designed for the type of music you want
to play: blues.
A good blues amp produces clear, full tones for rhythm, and a versatile lead
sound that can go from warm and smooth to biting and edgy. If you listen to
the great electric blues artists from B.B. King to Stevie Ray Vaughan, you hear
a rainbow of tonal colors coming from their guitars. Much of that variety is
the result of the amp — and the artists’ ability to manipulate it.
A good way to get a handle on blues amps is to explore the amps that throughout
history, either by design or happy accident, have established themselves
as classic choices. Some of these include models by Pignose, Fender, Vox,
Marshall, Laney, and Mesa/Boogie. This chapter deals with different types of
amps, from the practical to the ideal, what to do with them after you have
one connected to your guitar, and how to get certain effects.
TEAM LinG