Amps and Ohms

When you get your first electric guitar you will need an amplifier to go with it. This isn't always an easy choice. If your strapped for money, and what musician isnt, then sometimes the price will decide for you and make things easy. If that doesn't help then this article will lay out a few things you should think about when deciding what wall of speakers should make your guitar scream.

Price

The biggest factor when purchsing anything is price. Americans always want the most for the money, myself included. The best way to get more for your money when considering amps is usually to get a used amp. A great used amp will cost the same as an ok amp at the new price. There are plenty of ways to get a used amp. Check your friends, stores, ebay, or anywhere. There are always musicians and gearhead trading amps and gear so they can get the next best toy.

Tubes?

Tube amps are what all the guitar greats use. Tubes are small glass cylinders that help manipulate the amps tone. It's old technology but in the amplifier world It is still the best way to get the best tone out of an amp. Since they are the best they come with the best price, for whoever makes them that is... Tube amps sound great but they are a little more pricey than their soldi state counterparts.

Speakers?

The more speakers the more sound and air you can push with your rig. There are a lot of differnet speaker cabinets and head to pick and match together. If you are getting a combo amp that has the speakers and amp all in one unit then you wont have to worry about your amp over powering the speakers, however if your getting a head and speaker cabinet setup you'll want to pay close attention to the ohms and wattages.

Ohms & Watts?

Ohms is a measurement of how hard it is to power a speaker. Bigger speakers are harder to push and will have more ohms or resistance. In guitar setups, ohms are usually either 4 or 8, and rarely a 2 or a 16. The amount of power availble to push the speakers is called watts. The more watts, the more power that can be used to push the speakers. However, if an amp is rated at 350 watts at 4 ohms it will be significantly less at 8 ohms. Make sure to have someone check out the gear you are buying so that it is compatible, or do it yourself.

If your speaker cabinet can only handle 200 watts at 8 ohms and your amp is pushing 350 watts at 8 ohms, then you can easily overpower your speakers and blow them if you are not careful. The bottom line is to make sure your Amps wattage is LESS than your speaker's handling cababilities.