Best possible guitar amp?

Question

What is the best possible guitar amp I can buy within the price range of $250? It's been suggested I go for a Peavey or Mesa Boogie, but I hardly know what I'm doing when it comes to amps, I just know how to play. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Bugera V22.

Answer 2

Anyone that used Peavey and Mesa Boogie in the sae sentence is someone you should never take amp advice from again. Boogie's cost in the thousands, there is no $250 Mesa Boogie. Tube amps do have a better tone to most all guitarists, but if you're an absolute beginner you may not notice the difference all that much. In my opinion every guitarist needs a practice amp and a gigging amp. If you are just playing at home now, get a good quality practice amp. When you get better and start playing out with others you can pick up a 30 to 50 watt tube amp for $500 to $1000 or so. If you are already jamming with other folks and need a more powerful amp, I can't really make any suggestions in that price range since it will have to be a solid state and I just don't buy solid state amps. If you are just looking for a home use amp this one is awesome. I collect tube amps and do own one of these myself, I love it.



http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Vox-AC4TV-4W-1x10-Tube-Guitar-Combo-Amp?sku=476326

Answer 3

Tube Amps usually give the best Tones. With $250 you can probably buy a good 50watt tube amp. I'm guessing you'll probably want a speaker/cabnet to come along with the amp. In this case, 250 dollars will get you a slightley less quality capable amplifer, but it should defenitely still be ok.



Now let me explain why tube amplifiers are usually considered best. The reason is because they produce the sound from literally glass tubes. Other amplifiers usually produce sounds using circut boards or a mixture of the two. I'm not quite sure why circut board amps cannot produce better tones, but then again it's only opinion. Maybe certain people like those better. None the less, the majority of guitarist prefer tubes that is why they are sold more. For $250, look for a 50w amplifier. Since i've only used hiwatt & Marshall amplifiers I can only recommend those two, but there are always way more in the market you can try out. Also keep in mind to get at least a 30w amp because anything below begins to lack serious tone.

Answer 4

When there is nothing plugged into the amp, it terminates it's input. That's why it's silent. What kind of guitar are you using? If your guitar has single coil pickups on it, then they will always have a tendency to pick up electrical noise. A guitar with humbuckers is going to be a lot quieter, but will never be totally silent (as there are paths for the interference to get in through the control cavity, etc). One last test you can do...with your guitar plugged in, can you hear a difference in the noise when you switch between pickups? If so, you might have an issue there (although there's no pickup for a reasonable price that's going to completely reject electrical noise). If you turn your volume control on your guitar all the way down does the noise go away? If so, then it's definitely in the guitar. A noise gate, as previously mentioned, will take care of this for you. It's like a volume control that automatically turns down the signal when you're not playing. The downside is, though, that it can cause the tail end of a note to "sputter" if it's not adjusted just right (or is a cheaply made pedal). At the end of the day, it's all about the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N). If your guitar sound is 70 or 80dB louder than the noise, it's not going to be noticed. In fact, I routinely work with 45-50dB S/N's in the studio, and nobody is complaining. Since you mention dropped C tuning, you're likely playing metal, and likely using a lot of distortion. Noise comes with the territory. I did monitors for a Death Angel show one time (and one time only). The guitar amps on stage sounded like white noise generators. But, when they started playing you didn't notice it. (Note: The sound pressure level at the front of the stage was 122dB. About the same as a jet taking off...it was brutal).

Answer 5

Mashall, Peavey, Fender, Orange





Ive tried out these amps myself. They are pretty good :)

Answer 6

u can never go wrong with a marshall amp