The Best Electric Guitar Amp for Beginners (Review)

The Best Guitar Amp for beginners is the Fender Champion 20. After hours of research that’s what the leading experts will have you believe. So lets find out why the best electric guitar amp for beginners is the Fender Champion 20.


Maybe your wondering why the Best guitar amp for beginners is the Fender Champ 20. In this article I will explain why the Champion 20 by Fender really is the best electric guitar amp for beginners. Let’s start with the variety of sounds that are readily available without having to worry about adding pedals. After testing a barrage of different amplifiers the Fender Champion 20 past all the tests. And it’s simplicity for beginners makes it the clear winner.

If your interested in what amps were tested, and what the outcome was. Please continue reading and see what the runner ups feature.


What the Amp Must Have to Pass the Test

When you first are learning the guitar a lot of people would recommend starting with an acoustic guitar. In fact there is a complete article on this topic. 5 Reasons You Should Learn Acoustic Guitar Before Electric. One reason to choose an acoustic guitar is: There is a lot less learning curve. Rather than trying to learn to play the guitar, and also learn how to get the right sound out of an amplifier. But that’s a different story.

After a lot of research the specialists found out that the technology is such, that even a beginner guitar amp that is a little more than $100.00. Has a lot of versatility in tones. Yes, you can get a good sounding amp at a reasonable price.

The main thing is you want it to sound good. And without a whole lot of knobs to figure out how to make it sound good. So in other words Simple is the key to a good beginner guitarists amplifier.

What you want to look for in an amp are 4 things.

  1. No noises that shouldn’t be there. Such as crackling, buzzing etc.
  2. The speaker should be loud enough to play with accompaniment, yet small enough for home use.
  3. Again the amplifier must be simple and easy to use.
  4. The amplifier must sound great to use with different genre’s.

In order to have versatility in the amps that were tested. There also needs to be a measure of simplicity.


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What Amps Are Under Review?

  1. Fender Champion 20
  2. Line 6 Spider V 20
  3. Orange Crush 12
  • Peavy Rage 258
  • Blackstar Core Stereo V10
  • Marshall MG10
  • Line 6 Spider Classic 15
  • Vox Pathfinder 10
  • Marshall MG15
  • Monoprice 611815

How to Test the Amps

Since these are beginner amps if you use a good quality starter guitar then you might get closer to a true value. Some beginner Guitars are better suited for different styles of playing. For instance Metal vs Country. Another example is Affinity Strat vs Yamaha Pacifica, both beginner electric guitars.

And then just try each aspect of the amplifier. Testing for what amplifier sounds the best. What tones and effects each amp has. How difficult is the amp to use.


Link to Reverb and Get the Latest Gear

Playing With the Fender Champion 20

The best guitar amp for beginners has several different voicing that add to the sound of this beginner amplifier. Here are a few of the different sound options.

  • 1948 & newer Fender Tweed – Just like in the 60’s.
  • Clean Fender Blackface – Clean tones with an edge of bluesy
  • The Fender Brittish sound – has a bluesy crunchier sound.
  • And Fender Metal – Just like it says Metal. Matalica here you come!
  • There is an FX for Reverb
  • (FX) – Chorus
  • Fender (FX – Flange
  • Fender Delay W/ Reverb
  • A Fender Wah – Without a Pedal
  • The Fender Vibrato (FX)
  • Fender (FX) – Tremelo No need for whammy bar

That sure is a lot of unique sound all in one amp. Click Here for the Current Price on Amazon.

Other amps that are runner ups that are good amps. That offer some similar effects and sound good. But were not as easy to use are the Line 6 Spider Classic and the Blackstone Core V2. Although these are great amps. It comes back to simplicity. The Best Guitar Amp for beginners:Fender Champ is easy to read and understand the knobs.

Fender Champion 20

Sounds Great & Easy to Dial in your Tone

More Features of the Fender Champion 20

All with the turn of a knob you can dial in the Bass, Treble, and Mid range. There is a knob for gain. After you set your choice of amp model. Then you can dial in as much Gain or Distortion as you want to hear. Of course you get a volume knob so you can jam loud enough to play with a drummer and other accompaniments.

Then there is a knob for FX. So you can increase and decrease the level. We talked about the many sounds of the FX knob. Change from Wah to Tremelo all with a swift twist of a single knob.

There is one input for your guitar, and Aux input to plug an smart phone in and start jamming with your favorite band. If you want to jamb out in the middle of the night and not wake anyone up plug your headphones into the headphone jack.

This is a 20 Watt Amplifier with one 1×8 speaker. And lots of bells and whistles. Fender has rapped it all up into one simple easy to use amplifier. That is very inexpensive. Click here for current price on Amazon.


Line 6 Spider V 20 is the Runner Up

As Previously noted the Line 6 Spider V 20 has a lot of sounds in its own right. The spider V 20 combo amp by line 6 has the tone that will take your playing to the next level. Great for the beginner guitar player or for the professional. Practice made perfect! With tones for modern music and Rock. It too has the capability of dialing in your own signature sound. By using the built in special effects.

With 16 Amps and effects presets for Rock, Blues, Metal and Country. Just One knob to control Clean, Chime, Crunch, Chunk, Insane, Vibe, Ambient, Bass and Acoustic. And a Drive knob to adjust the amount of Gain. Knobs for Tone, Volume, and Reverb.

Each preset has its own amp and effects configuration. You can dial in a selected preset with the FX Buttons (3), and controls adjust the sound.

Edit your Tones, You can change the distortion level with the drive knob. Then the Tone knob lets you dial in the tone from a Dark to brighter tone.

Then you can control the overall level of sound from the amplifier with the volume control. There is also a control for reverb.

Smart FX

3 presets for Fx which are color coated. Dynamic is yellow, Drive is orange. Modulation is blue, and Delay is green. There is also a purple color for Filter/pitch/Synth. You can toggle between the FX switch to turn on/off the various effects.

The Spider V 20 comes with a built in Tuner. The FX buttons indicate the pitch of the string.

After dialing in your unique tone you can save it to the amplifier for future use.

Line 6 Spider v 20 has the capability to store and share tones via a computer. Also edit the tones. Which will maximize versatility and creativity. While creating your signature sound.


Features of the Line 6 Spider V 20 Amplifier

  • 20 W 8 inch Speaker
  • 16 presets With 3 simultaneous stompbox effects
  • Reverb
  • Built in Tuner
  • Micro USB port for editing, Recording with Mac, PC, IOS, and Android
  • Compatible with the FBV footswitch (optional)
  • Downloadable software for editing tones and storing
  • Classic amp models with modern rock tones
  • 2 effects selector knobs to adjust and mix special effects
  • 4 Amplifier Simulations- Clean, Crunch, Metal, Insane
  • Line in for Phone- To play along with your favorite bands.
  • Input for headphones
  • Built in Tuner
  • Knobs for setting drive, bass, Mid, Treble and volume

Click for current price on Amazon for Line 6 Spider V 20 Guitar Amp.

The Spider V 20 amp by Line 6 and the Fender Champion 20 have a lot in common even down to the price is very much in the same ball park. Both are great guitar amps for the beginner. The difference in the amps is that the Fender amp is a lot lighter a more portable amp.

And it is easier to use. So all things being equal the Fender Champion has a slight advantage over the line 6 with it being so easy to use. See what the Reviews are on Amazon.


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Discover a step by step proven process so that you can play guitar like your favorite guitarist

Orange Crush 12 Has Warm Sound & is Simple for Beginner Guitar Players

The Orange Crush 12 has that warm sound that every beginner wants to hear. But without all the fuss and confusion. If you just want a nice sounding amp and don’t need all the versatility of the other two amps. Then the Orange Crush 12 is the Amplifier for you.

If you are learning to play guitar that in itself is a learning curve. Why be bothered with also having to learn how to dial in a nice sound with your amp. Keep it simple with traditional amp dials and knobs.

The Orange Crush 12 comes with controls for volume, Trebble, Middle, Bass, Overdrive, and Gain. There are even pictures above each control to insure you are using the right knob. There is a jack for headphones, and an input jack to attach your guitar.

This amplifier is small and light weight so taking it with you is not a problem. The speaker is 12 watts and 6 inches. Which makes it the perfect practice amp for the price.

Click to See the Great Reviews on Amazon for the Orange Crush 12.


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The Competition

  • Peavy Rage 258– Amp is unique it weighs 16 lbs. It has 2 channels and 3 different amp voicing. They are Vintage, Stack and Modern. Traditional gain knob, master volume control, 3 band EQ, and headphone/record jack. This amp has a 25 Watt Speaker. Puts out a great clean sound, but the controls are confusing.
  • Blackstar Core Stereo 10 – 6 amp voices are included in this amp. It’s compact and weighs 8.1 lbs, with a 10 W speaker. 12 built in effects. This amp has a line input to connect Mp3 for jamming with your favorite band. USB Functionality store patches via computer. Great sound, but difficulty understanding the controls.
  • Marshall MG10– A Small combo amp for practice with a 10 Watt speaker. Which is 1 x 6 inch. 2 channels- clean, and overdrive. EQ control, Line in for MP3, and headphone jack. Allthough marshall makes great amps the overall rating is not to good on this one. Source
  • Line 6 Spider Classic 15 A practice amp that has 15 Watts of power. With high gain and two FX effects and 4 amp models. Clean to heavy distortion. The amp allows you to save up to 4 presets. This amp controls are to confusing, and the insane distortion knob sounds would hardly ever be heard in a song. Virtually useless. source
  • Vox Pathfinder 10– With the Vox style tchis amp is has 10 Watts of power. The speaker is 6.5 inches. It has a simple control with clean and overdrive; Volume, bass, gain and treble. With a bright bright sound that some people may like and others may not.

3 more Competitors

  • Marshall MG15GFX – This amplifier has an 8 inch speaker 2 channels. Clean and Overdrive, and has modern digital effects. 2 jacks built in, one for mp3 player and another for headphones. This is a small Marshall amp with easy controls for practice.
  • Monoprice 611815 A 15W Tube Amp Small but packs a punch. With a 1 x 12 Celestion speaker. It has superior guitar tone and a vintage look. The cabinet front speaker cover is cloth, a leather handle, and like leather casing with chrome corner plates: Sweet! This is a really good Value.

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