When people begin learning to play the guitar most of their focus is centred on the guitar itself with sometimes little consideration given to how important it is to have good acoustic guitar amps. This is a big mistake for guitarists that are looking for a thick, rich sound from their guitar. It should also be noted that a great amp can give you a great result however an excellent guitar plugged into a bad amp will sound terrible no matter how good you are.
When considering buying your first acoustic guitar amplifier there are a few things that you should think about before you commit to a particular brand or type. These things include the cost of the amp, what size amp suits your situation, what features does the amp have and it is important to go to the music shop and plug in some amps and play to see how they sound.
The cost or budget that you have for an amp is going to be significantly less than you would spend on the guitar however there are a great range of amps for around the $100 mark which are great for beginners. These amps are generally ok if the guitarist is practising by themselves but are limited when it comes to playing with other guitarists and other musicians as they cannot be heard well over other larger and more powerful amps.
The size of the amp as I have just mentioned does matter as playing with a smaller amp is generally not suitable for jamming with friends especially if there are multiple guitarists and a drummer for example. Depending on the situation that you will be playing, the size and power of an amp should increase especially if you are going to be spending a lot of time playing in a group.
Some of the features that mid range acoustic guitar amps will have include an equalizer with three bands – high, medium and low, an overdrive button, reverberation control, headphone input and a master volume dial. As well as considering these features it is also important to know that amps come in two main types tube and transistor with the tube amps being more expensive. Deciding which one will depend on how much you wish to spend as well as how good the sound of the amp is when you give both acoustic guitar amps a try in the store.