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| Electric Guitar Amps | |
 Electric guitars do not produce any audible sounds, they have electro-magnetic "Pickups" that convert the vibration of the strings into an electrical signal. The electric guitar is plugged into an Amplifier (Amp), which produces sounds from the vibration signal it receives. All electric guitars require an amp or other electric amplification device. Acoustic-electric guitars, however, do make audible sounds - as they are essentially acoustic guitars with a built in pickup microphone. You can plug an acoustic-electric guitar to an amp to increase the volume, or to use guitar effects with it. Guitar amps are rated in Watts, which is the amount of power they draw. The amount of power is directly proportional to the volume level a guitar (also called the AXE since the shape of electric guitars are somewhat axe-y) amp is capable of; the higher the wattage, the louder the amp. For home (means a house, or an apartment unit in a building) use a 10 or 20 Watt amp should be sufficient. Concert halls use multiple 1000+ Watt amps, but they are huge spaces. Guitar amps have a speaker in the casing; and amps with higher power ratings have larger speakers, which increases the overall size of the amp case. You may have noticed huge stacks of speakers behind your favorite rock guitarist (see picture above). 
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 The original guitar amps (and all electronic devices of that day) used Vacuum Tubes, which were the precursors to our modern day miniature transistor. Vacuum tubes were delicate (they were made of glass) and prone to overheating. Today, most giutar amps are "solid state" - using transistors and other silicon chip technology that is sturdy and uses less power. However, the sound quality from a tube amp is far superior to modern solid state amps - so tube amps are still available. Today's tube amps tend to be more expensive, and cost more to maintain (in replacing burnt out vacuum tubes) - they are usually the choice of professional musicians. For home and hobby use, cheaper solid state guitar amps are just fine. 
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 Several types of guitar amps are available today, and come with many features and effects built-in. Volume and tone controls, of course, are standard - that is how you control the amount and tone of sound. The Reverb effect is available in many guitar amps, this simple and elegant effect provides a warmth to guitar music. Another effect that is commonly available in guitar amps is the Distortion effect. Using Pre and Post Gain controls, guitarists can alter the sound of their guitar - from a flat "thunk" to a screeching "wail". If you are lucky enough to have a spouse that also plays guitar, some amps have Dual input jacks - so both of you can play together. For the opposite case, where the spouse keeps yelling at you to TURN THAT DARN THING DOWN, some amps have a Headphone jack - so you can plug in and tune out. Can you dig it? I knew that you could. And for those play-along guitarists, some amps have a CD Input jack - so you can plug your CD player in and play along with your favorite music. Guitar Effects<<<Previous Next>>>Guitar Care
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| Electric Guitar Effects | |
 When Les Paul invented the first solid body electric guitar (also called the AXE since the shape of electric guitars are somewhat axe-y) in the 1950's - blues musicians immediately embraced the new contraption. Since electric guitars require an amplifier (amp) to produce the sound, it is an easy matter to electronically alter the signal to change the sound. They recognized the possibilities of being able to make funky sounds with it. Click for Electric Guitar Types information. One of the first "effects" to be invented was the Reverb effect, essentially an electronic echo that diminishes rapidly. Many guitar amps today have reverb built in, it is a simple and elegant sound effect that adds a warmth to the guitar sound. Effects for electric guitars are usually created by plug-in devices, these usually take the form of a "Pedal" (as they are stomped on to activate the effect, or control it). Rock and metal guitarists often use several effects pedals connected in a daisy-chain. Newer models of effects pedals are computerized (digital) and a single device can create all possible variations of effects by itself. 
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 All present western music (rock, jazz, R&B, rap, etc) has evolved from blues, and the ability to alter the sounds of an electric guitar have been passed on to each new genre. Heavy metal, for example, almost exclusively uses the Distortion effect with electric guitars. The distortion effect does exactly what its name suggests, it distorts the original guitar sound and produces a completely new sound - bordering on screeching. Jimi Hendrix has created mind bending wails from his guitar with distortion. Many amps today have distortion effects built in, it is a very popular effect used in rock and blues music. While many variations of distortion exist, most are are "Gain" control effects. Two controls, "Pre-Gain" and "Post-Gain", alter the sound on the pre and post edge of the sound wave. This can create sounds ranging from a flat "thunk" (bluesy), to a screeching "wail" (metal). 
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 The Wah Wah effect was made popular during the sixties by bands such as Cream. The Wah Wah effect is activated by the guitarist's foot (by rocking the effect pedal), and alters the tone of the sound (going from low treble to high treble) - this creates a voice-like wah-wah-wah effect. New digital wah wah effects devices also have "Auto Wah", in which no pedal pressing is required - the computer in the device automatically varies the sound for you. Some popular rock songs use a wah wah pedal, but it is kept stationary in halfway position - this makes a unique funky sound. Many other effects are also available; such as producing an acoustic guitar sound from an electric guitar pickups, signal duplication (sounds like two guitars are playing), rotating speaker modelling (mimics rotating cone speakers used by some musicians), and many more effects. Electric Guitar Types<<<Previous Next>>>Guitar Amps
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