The Guitar

Best Beginner Guitar Amplifier   by Jg6075

Beginners who want to learn the electric guitar are going to need amplification. Playing an un-amplified electric will encourage bad habits such as an unnecessarily heavy pick attack. Of course, the number of amplifiers available rivals the number of guitars available, so choosing one can be a daunting task. Beginners likely won’t need more than an amp that will fill a bedroom or similar practice space, so it’s fine to save the money and skip the amp stack for now. If you buy a starter pack from one of the major guitar brands, a practice amp will likely be included. If you’re buying separately, here are a few options that could make shopping for an amp a bit easier. I’ve noted which amps on this list include auxiliary inputs, which means CD/mp3 players can be plugged straight into the amp for play-along opportunities. This is always a useful option since playing along with real songs is one of the best ways to improve.

Fender Frontman 15R

The Frontman is a solid-state amp that comes in a few varieties, from higher-powered amps down to the beginner-level bedroom 15-watt amp featured here. This amp comes with all the famous Fender “Blackface” cosmetics and looks classy despite its small size. It has two channels – clean and distorted – to suit your practice needs. The amp that comes with Squier starter packs is essentially a rebranded Fender Frontman. Included auxiliary sound input.

Orange Crush CR20L

The Orange Crush line has earned some recognition as a solid line of practice and portable amps made by one of the more well-known British amp manufacturers. The Orange Crush retains the cool signature orange color and look of its larger siblings and also packs some features that make it a nice practice option, including a built-in tuner. You could also consider its 35-watt big brother, the Orange Crush PiX 35LDX. Included auxiliary sound input.

Ibanez IBZ10G

Ibanez’s entry into the beginner amp market has a lot in common with the Fender Frontman in that it’s the amp that gets packaged in the Ibanez starter pack. There’s not much to say about it, but it’s small, light and affordable. It also has earned some praise for being capable of delivering some crunchy “metal”-type distortion, notable since the amp is only 10 watts.

Marshall MG10

This is another 10-watt practice amp. Most lists of amps would be incomplete without an appearance by Marshall, and this is no exception. The mother of all British amp manufacturers makes a line of solid state amps called MG and the MG10 is the baby of the family. There isn’t much to set this apart from the others on this list other than the fact that it bears the Marshall name and styling, but if the price is right, this would make a fine beginner/bedroom amp. Included auxiliary sound input.

So there you have it! Finding a good beginner amp is one of the toughest parts about getting started, but these choices should help you greatly. For more specific, genre-oriented amp suggestions check out this article about affordable rock/punk/blues/metal guitar gear. Good luck and happy shredding!

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Cheap Guitarists.com offers news, articles, reviews, and deals for the budget minded guitarist. For newbies, we also provide information on best beginner’s guitars.
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