Guitar Amps

Recommended Guitar Amps: For Practice

Modeling & the Gig 

Guitar Amps

I have tried to find the perfect amp for playing guitar. There are lots of “good” amps out there to choice from. They all serve a purpose. Yes they all amplify your guitar, but when you get down to it you need a specific amp for a specific job. Your not going to take a mini amp for practicing to the gig, and vice versa. So what I wanted to narrow down on this page is 3 Criteria’s …

What is the Best amp for the Job? My recommendations for the best amp for practicing at home is Roland Micro Cube. For the Gig Blues Junior, and For the studio and home audio, Amplifi by Line 6.

Find out why in this article these are my Top Picks for the Best amps.

 My Top Pick Best Practice Amplifier 

There are several different amps that can work well at home, but I choose the Roland Micro Cube GX (available on Amazon.com) as the Best. Ever since I saw this amp being played in the music store. I guess you could say it was love at first sight. Then I had to have one, so I bought it. I still have it and have no regrets.

First off you will be shocked after you plug it in, and listen to the volume it puts out. Yes, it’s a mini amp, maybe in size, but in tone, and sound it’s full throttle.

The size makes it ideal for portability. Easy to take anywhere you want to go, and doesn’t take up a lot of room. It also is light in weight. Weighing in at 6lbs is another plus.

Here are Some of the Roland Micro Cube Pro’s & Cons

The Roland Micro Cube has all the bells and whistles. First off the Roland Micro Cube comes with a built in chromatic tuner. Never play out of tune again.

I said it was small in stature. The Cube has a 5 inch speaker. It is a 2 Watt amp that comes with 8 amp models, and 8 Special effects.

Before I continue with the pro’s of this excellent amp. I want to explain the functionality of the amp models, and the 8 special effects.

When you are speaking of modelling. Instead of getting one amp, now you really have 9 amps. Since 8 are built in. The model of the amps are preset from the factory. Roland Uses the Patented COSMS amp model. This makes it easy for you to dial in your favorite amp sounds. (With a simple turn or a knob).

A lot of mini amps don’t offer such a variety of sounds. Not to mention Effects like a  DSP Effects, Flanger, Chorus, Tremolo, Phaser, Delay, Reverb, Octave.  This should keep you busy for a while.  Having fun and coming up with your own sounds.

 

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Roland Micro Cube GX 8 Amp Models

  • R- Fier Stack
  • Classic Stack
  • British Phase
  • JC-120 Jazz Chorus
  • British Panel 2×12
  • British Combo
  • Little Big man

Sourced from Roland

No matter what Genre you are trying to capture. This amp will provide the sounds. Anything from Classic rock to that early British invasion, and everything in between.

This amp is very portable it has an AC adapter, but can also run on AA Battery’s. Which is ideal for a road trip, or on vacation. The GX plays up to 20 hours on AA Battery’s.

I-Cube Link – Jam Practice & Record 

The Amp comes with a 1/4 and 1/8 inch jack in for use to connect a CD player or aux. devise. Then there is the I – Cube Link To connect your IOS device. This is great for practice or to record while your jamming. It has a built in interface for IOS devices. Opening up a new realm for practice.

So You can see why with all the bells and whistles I choose the Roland Cube GX.


Line 6 Amplifi is it an Amp Or a Home Entertainment System?

Line 6 is world renowned for specializing in modelling in the music industry. The Amplifi is a perfect example of this. I also have an Amplifi 150 (available on Amazon) that is incredible. It is a high powered guitar amplifier that uses a Bluetooth stereo system. That integrates an IOS app to completely revolutionize the way you play guitar and listen to music.

This is a perfect amp for practicing in the studio or at home. The amplifi allows you to make, share, and download unlimited tunes. The amplifi is preset from the factory with different amps, and effects. That you can set, and adjust to your taste. Or if you want to use them as they are the choice is yours. Making the tone, and sound of your guitar perfect.

Using the Free Amplifi app you can conj our up the perfect sound for your next gig. With an infinite amount of tones. Control your amp wireless.

Amplifi Chooses the Tone 

When you pick a song from the music library of your smart devise. Amplifi will match the tone that your guitar will play. When you play with the song. Whats cool is it sounds just like the guitar part in the song.

For example if you are playing a Beatles song. Maybe they played the song with a distinct sounding guitar. Like a Rickenbacker, but you don’t have a Rickenbacker. Well you can play the song, but it doesn’t have that same tone. Why because your not using a Rickenbacker.

With the Amplifi it matches the tone. So that now when you play “Day Tripper” it sounds exactly like it. That’s the power of the Amlplifi.

Lets say you don’t want that tone. You can override it, and change the tone. You can even make your own tone. Then save it to your favorites in the app, or to the amp itself.

Amplifi Editor Mode for Perfect Tone

On the app you can make adjustments to the tone coming out of the amp. This is done in the editors mode. Some of the things that can be done are:

  • Select the type of amp that you are using.
  • Set the setting on the amp
  • Adjust Drive, Bass, Mid range, Treble, Presence, Volume, EQ & more.
  • Change and select settings of Effects

Some of the Effects that can be added, and removed by the touch of the screen are: Waw , Delay, Modulate, Stomp, Tube Screamer, Gate, Compression, EQ. Then when each of the effects are on they can be adjusted to your specifications. It’s all done remotely.

 Amplifi Modeling Amps

You can choice from a wide variety of amps such as:

American, Clean, British, High Gain.

Clean Amps

Clean amps – Under each Block type there are amps. For example there are clean amps. 9 different amps to choose from. From Acoustic to Super Clean, and everything in between.

American Amps

25 American amps such as a 1963 Blackface Vibro, 1960 Tiny Tweed, or 1958 B-Man. There are 25 American Classic amps. That if you had to by each individual amp well you would be in the amp business. These are just a few of the great sounds that you get with the Amplifi.

British Amps

Then there is the British Amps. There are 18 to choose from. If your into the blues, Beatles, or Just British Rock. You can get the sound right here. I’m not kidding the tones just keep coming.

High Gain

After that there are more amps to choose from. The High Gain amps like the 1993 Solo 100 head, 2003 Deity Crunch, Line 6 Fuzz and more. 26 to choose from. All of the setting on the amps can be adjusted to your perfect tone.

Really you can pick and choice all the tones, and amps. You will never run out of different sounds. All of the sounds, and tones that you create can be saved for later use.

That’s in short how the amp works. But like they say on television “That’s not all” The Amplifi also can be used as a home entertainment System. It has a posh sleek look to it. That makes it fit right into the living room.  No one would be the wiser that it is a guitar amp.

To answer the question is it an amp or a home entertainment system? It’s both. In fact since it has Bluetooth capability it plays music from your ios devise. The sound is impeccable. There are 3 models of the Amplifi.

  1. Amplifi 150
  2. 75 watt
  3. 30 watt

Here is a rundown of the 3 Amplifi’s. They are all the same as far as what they are capable of doing with tone. But there are different speakers, Drivers, Watts, and Size.

The Amplifi 150 is the one I use. It has 150 watts, and 5 speaker stereo design. One 12″ Celestion Speaker, Two Mid frequency speakers, and 2 High frequency speakers. With Bluetooth streaming for audio. You can use a smart device, Andriod, IOS, Mac, Pc. to work it. Use the amp like any regular amp it has knobs that control volume and tone also.

Connections are 1/4 for your guitar. 1/8 stereo auxilary input. 1/4 headphone output. A Tap Tempo/ Tuner, and a USB connection.

The Line 6 Amplifi 75 

The Amplifi 75 (available on Amazon) is 75 Watts, and has 5 speakers. Primafily the difference between the Amplifi 150 and 75 is size. The speakers on the Amplifi 75 are: one 8 inch Celestion speaker and 4 drivers. Two mid frequecy and 2 high frequency. The Amplfii is smaller than the 150 model. other than size of amp and one speaker the 75 has over 200 amps and effects just like the Big 150 watt.

Amplifi 30

This is really about half the size of the 150. It would really look good in the living room. The Amplifi 30 has 30 watts and 4 speakers stereo design. Compared to the 5 speakers of the 75 and 150.  All of these amps have that clean look, crisp sound that would compliment any living room. Click over to amazon to compare the prices of the 3 amps.


Fender Blues Junior is My Top Pick Amp for the Gig

Do you need an amp for all occasions, home, studio, practice or at the Gig? Then take a look at Fender Blues Junior. Th is is a powerful 15 watt tube Combo amp. With warm Classic Tone. Even down to the Tweed skin it resonates “Classic”.

There are a lot of warm tones that you can get from this amp. Some are Bright and Creamy. The amp is portable weighing in at 21 lbs. it stands about 18.5 inches high. Which is a plus it won’t break your back carrying it.

This amp is loud, good for small to medium size venue. If you are playing in a Big Venue just mic the amp. It will do the job. It is very affordable click to check the latest pricing at Amzon.com.