How to Choose a Guitar Amplifier for Beginners

Choosing a guitar amplifier has become more challenging for beginners than ever before! With new brands emerging frequently and releasing both innovative models and reissues, the options can be overwhelming. Advancements in technology have also expanded the possibilities, transforming amplifiers into more than just a simple box with a speaker and a power plug. If you’re a beginner taking guitar lessons in Singapore, this article is here to guide you!

Taking guitar lessons can help you choose your guitar amplifier!

As said, buying a guitar amplifier can be really tough. You need an amplifier for practicing after your guitar lessons. There are plenty of options for buying a guitar amplifier in Singapore! Having a guitar teacher can be helpful in this case.

We are a music school offering guitar lessons at Upper Thomson Road, Singapore. Signing up for guitar lessons with us means learning from a team with over 10 years of experience running a successful music school in Singapore. Over the years, we have refined our teaching methods to ensure they are engaging, effective, and tailored to suit students of all ages and skill levels. Our commitment to excellence goes beyond lessons—we organize annual recitals! It provides our guitar students with the opportunity to showcase their progress, build confidence, and experience the joy of performing.

7 Types of Guitar Amplifier Options for Beginners

• Traditional Combo
• Built-in Effects
• Internal Battery
• Impulse Response
• Headphones Amplifier
• Plugin with Audio Interface
• Novelty

We’ve selected these seven options to help beginner guitar students find the right gear for their guitar lessons. In the professional world, you might encounter other choices like head-and-cabinet setups or effects pedals with built-in amp modeling and cabinet simulation. However, this article focuses on a limited range of brands and models tailored specifically for beginners. So, if you’re not a beginner, this one’s not for you!

Traditional Guitar Combo

In the guitar industry, the term “combo” is short for “combination.” A guitar amplifier typically consists of two main components: the head, which processes the guitar signal and shapes the tone, and the cabinet, a box with speaker(s) that projects the sound. However, separating these components can increase production costs and make things more complicated for beginners. To address this, many manufacturers offer guitar combos, which combine the head and cabinet into a single unit. Combos are a convenient solution, sparing beginners the hassle of figuring out wiring or dealing with speaker impedance.

Marshall MG10G 10W Guitar Combo Amplifier

The MG10G might not be the best-sounding guitar amplifier out there, but it’s a straightforward, no-frills option that gets the job done. Many guitarists begin their journey with a modest amplifier like this one and upgrade later as they develop a deeper understanding of guitar tone.

Guitar Amplifiers with Built-In Effects

An amplifier with built-in effects is an excellent way for beginners to explore the world of guitar effects. In our guitar lessons, we’ve often noticed that many students are unfamiliar with effects and need hands-on experience to understand how they interact with their playing. Since individual effect pedals can be quite expensive, a guitar amplifier with built-in effects provides a cost-effective way for students to experiment and gain confidence. This makes transitioning to standalone or multi-effects pedals much smoother.

NUX Mighty Lite BT MKII Amplifier

Battery Inside!

As the world increasingly embraces electric vehicles, guitarists are joining the battery revolution too! While guitar amplifiers with built-in batteries or battery compartments aren’t a new concept, they’ve become much more common today. Many practice amplifiers now come with built-in batteries or battery compartments, benefiting from significant advancements in battery technology. With a battery-powered amplifier, guitarists are no longer tethered to a wall plug, making it easier than ever to practice anywhere!

Boss Katana Mini 7 watt combo amp

Impulse Response

Impulse Response (IR) might sound like a medical term to some and seem confusing to others, but it has been a game-changer in the guitar world. Since its introduction, IR technology has made legendary tones more accessible and affordable for the average guitarist. It enables players to achieve tones that were traditionally only possible in professional recording studios with advanced soundproofing. Many iconic tones, in case you didn’t know, require amps to be cranked to ridiculously loud volumes—so loud that the entire room would shake!

Rather than recommending a specific guitar amplifier for this section, I want to highlight the importance of IR technology. If it’s available in any of the amplifiers you’re considering, make sure to take full advantage of it!

Headphones Amplifier

Headphone amplifiers might just be the perfect solution for bedroom guitarists! Let’s face it: many of us live in close quarters where loud guitar practice can annoy family members or even drive the neighbors crazy. Noise pollution is stressful for everyone.

In the past, headphone amplifiers was an unpopular choice because they often sounded terrible. Poor guitar tone blasted directly into your ears could quickly lead to ear fatigue and frustration. However, thanks to the advancements in IR technology mentioned earlier, headphone amps now sound better than most basic practice amplifiers!

One thing to keep in mind: you’ll need wired headphones, as Bluetooth earphones aren’t compatible due to latency issues. Here’s hoping future advancements will resolve this and take headphone amplifiers to an even higher level!

Nux Might Plug Pro

Plugin with Audio Interface

If you’re tech-savvy and spend a lot of time working on your computer, the plugin and audio interface setup might be perfect for you. However, we don’t recommend this route for beginners due to its steep learning curve. Setting up and configuring the system requires some technical know-how, but the tonal benefits are immense! Imagine practicing with authentic amplifier captures of real-world amps that cost thousands of dollars.

Before diving in, you’ll need an audio interface to get started. The good news is that both the plugin and audio interface are quite affordable, making this an excellent option for those ready to explore the digital realm of guitar tones.

Neural DSP

Presonus Audiobox GO

P.S. There are free plug-ins readily available. If you are a Mac user, Garageband has quite a few good options too!

Novelty

The market is filled with novelty amplifiers, often aimed at collectors or those shopping for unique Christmas gifts. While these amps may look cute and stylish, they’re not designed with quality tone or usability in mind. Typically equipped with small speakers, they lack dynamic response, tonal depth, and sufficient volume.

Since this article focuses on guiding beginner guitar students, we recommend steering clear of these options.

Here are some examples.

Conclusion

Buying your first guitar amplifier can be overwhelming, especially with so many options available. We recommend considering how and where you plan to practice, as well as whether you want your sound to be consistent between your guitar lessons and home practice. By reflecting on these factors, along with the guidance in this article, you’ll be better equipped to narrow down your choices.

However, if you still need help, talk to us. Taking guitar lessons can help you understand what guitar amplifier fits you the best. Consider taking a Trial Lesson with us! I am sure with our decade-long experience, we will be of valuable help to you. Contact us through these easy channels! 🙂

Email UsEmail Us

5 Things to look out for when buying an electric guitar

There are plenty of things to look out for when buying an electric guitar. If you are unfamiliar with the instrument but are tasked with buying one because your child is taking guitar lessons, then this article is for you. Purchasing a guitar should be an enjoyable and exciting experience! However, the huge variety of brands and models makes it challenging to know if you are choosing the right one. Well, we hope to cover all the things to look out for when buying a guitar in this article! So let’s dive in!

Taking guitar lessons can help you choose and buy your electric guitar!

Buying an electric guitar is a chicken or egg situation! You need a guitar so that you can attend guitar lessons. However, you will only learn about what guitar is suitable for you after attending guitar lessons! There are plenty of options for buying a guitar in Singapore! Taking guitar lessons is an efficient and effective approach to help you figure out your options.

We are a music school in Singapore offering guitar lessons at Upper Thomson Road. Signing up for guitar lessons with us means learning from a team with over 10 years of experience running a successful music school in Singapore. Over the years, we have refined our teaching methods to ensure they are engaging, effective, and tailored to suit students of all ages and skill levels. Our commitment to excellence goes beyond lessons—we organize annual recitals! It provides our guitar students with the opportunity to showcase their progress, build confidence, and experience the joy of performing.

5 summarized points on Things to look out for when buying an electric guitar

• Budget
• Body Style
• Neck-to-Body Options
• Pickup Options
• Bridge Options

Budget – Cheap or Expensive Electric Guitar?

To those unaware, plenty of popular guitar brands own at least one subsidiary brand! These subsidiary brands often sell the same model but use cheaper materials, hardware, and manpower costs. This is great for beginners who want a guitar that looks just like their favorite guitarist. Below are some brands and their cheaper alternatives.

• Fender – Squier
• Gibson – Epiphone
• Ibanez – Ibanez Gio*
• Musicman – Sterling
• ESP – LTD – Edwards – Grassroots

Be sure to buy your guitar from a reputable guitar retailer to avoid counterfeit guitars. Buying 2nd hand is an option but do your research before buying. If you are still unsure, you can always check with your guitar teacher in Vinnie Classroom (or the music school you are in). Guitar teachers are first guitar fanatics before they become guitar teachers, so every single one of them will be able to assist you with this.

We recommend students go with the subsidiary brand as they are relatively cheaper than the main brand. However if budget isn’t an issue, the main brand usually offers better hardware and build quality.

*Ibanez does not have a subsidiary brand, they simply name the budget models “Gio”. 

Body Style – look out for these electric guitar shapes!

The instrument’s body shape and its genre or kind have been a constant contentious issue, significant for tradition or some might say adaptability. Despite the fact that the Stratocaster is overwhelmingly regarded with rock and blues, hollow-bodied guitars with jazz, the aspect of the matter is that the shape has little relevance to the music. In the end, it is the player, not the shape, who is the true music maker. Regardless, here is a list of the most common guitar body shapes and their commonly associated music genre.

You can use any guitar design for any music genre. This is a guide to the commonly seen guitar design and its style.

We recommend beginners to choose a design that makes them happy every time they look at it! This will help motivate them to practice more frequently!

Neck-to-Body Options

• Bolt-On Neck: These guitars bolt the guitar neck onto the guitar body. The benefit of doing so is to allow easy replacement of a new guitar neck should you drop and break yours.
• Set Neck: A set neck basically means the guitar neck is glued onto the body. The benefit of doing so allows better tone transfer through the guitar strings and body. In return, a set-neck guitar typically has a longer sustain and thicker tone.
• Through Neck: In this design, the neck and body are constructed out of a piece of continuous wood. The benefit of doing so is to allow the same tonal quality as Set Neck while making the overall design stronger and more resistant to breakage.

While Set Neck and Through Neck offer better tone and sustain, many guitar manufacturers still prefer to build their guitars using the Bolt-On Neck design. Dropping a guitar and breaking it is quite a common sight! We recommend the Bolt-on neck for ease of replacement and adjustment of the guitar neck angle when necessary.

Pickup Options

Electric guitars come in various pickup configurations, let’s look at some of the common types of electric guitar pickups.

• Single Coil: Clear and bright, typically good for clean or low gain setup. Produces 60hz cycle noise when used in higher gain or distortion settings.
• Humbucker: Double single coil connected in a way that allows hum cancellation, great for higher gain or distortion settings. However, it has a thicker clean tone that is not suitable if you want to play genres such as funk.
• Noiseless Single Coil: These are humbucker disguised as a single coil. While they do retain a brighter tone like a single coil, they are really closer to a humbucker. They can also be designed as 2 skinny single coils that fit into the space of a standard single coil. Alternatively, they can also be designed with rails instead of poles.
• Mini Humbucker: They have a smaller dimension compared to a standard single coil and typically have more mids and treble tones.
• P90: A fat single coil! The P90 was designed by Walt Fuller for Gibson after WWII. The main musical influence back then was Jazz, hence you will usually see the P90 fitted on Jazz-style guitars. However, there is no stopping you from using the P90 with any other music genre!

We recommend configurations such as SSH, HSH, or HH for beginners as they offer the most tonal flexibility. S for Single coil and H for Humbucker.

Bridge Options

• 6-point tremolo: These are the most commonly seen bridge design. They allow a relatively stable tuning while having some pitch bending. However, don’t expect to do dive bombs with this design.
• 2-point tremolo: Having 2-point instead of 6-point allows the bridge to be floatier. This gives the possibility of bigger pitch shifting and even dive bombs on some models.
• Fixed Bridge: These look just like the 6-point tremolo design but do not allow any movement. This allows stable tuning and better sustain and tone.
• Tune-o-matic: These are also fixed bridges. The saddle and tailpiece are separated, allowing better string tension control and much quicker string height adjustment.
• Floating Bridge: These come with a locking nut to help maintain the tuning stability. The design allows massive pitch bending. You can press the whammy bar all the way down and loosen your strings entirely in an instant. However, this design has a steep learning curve and is not recommended for beginners.

We recommend beginner guitar students either the 6-point, 2-point, or any fixed bridge design as they have the least tuning stability issues.

Conclusion: Things to look out for when buying an electric guitar

If you are confused and not sure what is the most suitable for you as your first electric guitar, we suggest you copy your favorite guitarist. Most guitarist goes through the process of trying out multiple styles of electric guitar design before they settle down for one that fits them well. There will be some wrong choices along the way but that is also what makes the journey interesting.

Taking guitar lessons can help you understand what electric guitar fits you best, consider taking a Trial Lesson with us! I am sure with our decade-long experience, we will be of valuable help to you. Contact us through these easy channels! 🙂

Email UsEmail Us