Guitar Amps
Pedal platforms to paint-peelers, Sweetwater has the heads, cabs, & combos to shape your guitar tone, plus acoustic amps, practice amps, & accessories to round out your rig.
48-month financing* on select brand purchases.
Featured in Guitar Amps
Top Guitar Amp Brands
- Aguilar
- Ampeg
- Amplified Nation
- AmpRX
- Ashdown
- AtlasIED
- Audix
- AxLabs
- Benson Amps
- Blackstar
- BluGuitar
- Bogner
- Boss
- Bugera
- Celestion
- ClearSonic
- D'Addario
- Danelectro
- Darkglass
- Diezel
- Dr. Z
- EarthQuaker Devices
- Electro-Harmonix
- Electro-Voice
- Eminence
- ENGL Amplifiers
- EVH
- Fender
- Fishman
- Friedman
- Fryette Amplification
- Gallien-Krueger
- Gator
- Genalex
- Gibson
- Groove Tubes
- Hamilton
- Headrush
- Hotone
- Hughes & Kettner
- IK Multimedia
- IsoAcoustics
- ISP Technologies
- JBL
- Jensen
- JHS
- JJ
- K&M
- Kemper
- Laney
- Line 6
- Mackie
- Magnatone
- Markbass
- Marshall
- Mesa/Boogie
- Mojotone
- Morgan Amps
- Motion Sound
- Mullard
- NEAT
- NUX
- On-Stage
- Orange
- Peavey
- Phil Jones Bass
- Pignose Amps
- Positive Grid
- PRS
- PSVANE
- Quilter Labs
- RAB Audio
- Radial
- Revv
- Rivera
- RockBoard by Warwick
- Roland
- Seymour Duncan
- SKB
- Soldano
- Sound Shields
- Sovtek
- Suhr
- Supro
- Synergy
- Taylor
- TC-Helicon
- Telefunken
- Tone King
- ToneWoodAmp
- Traveler Guitar
- Tung-Sol
- Two Notes
- Ultimate Support
- Universal Audio
- Victory Amplification
- Voodoo Lab
- Vox
- Warm Audio
- Yamaha
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About Guitar Amps
Some of history’s most recognizable guitar sounds owe as much to the amp as to the guitar. Can you imagine Jimi Hendrix without his Marshall stacks, the Beatles without their Vox ACs, or Santana without his Mesa/Boogie Marks?
At Sweetwater, we know choosing a guitar amp is an important step in finding your voice. That’s why we stock numerous amps and have hundreds of gear experts on-site to help you dial in your signature sound.
Combo Amps vs. Amp Heads and Cabinets
A combo amp puts the amplifier and speaker in one enclosure for easier transport and quicker setup. A head-and-cabinet setup separates the two, so you can mix and match, such as a head with a 4x12-inch cabinet for a large stage or a 1x12-inch cabinet for a more manageable rig.
Tube Amps vs. Modeling Amps
Tube amps use vacuum tubes to amplify your signal, and the way tubes respond when pushed hard produces the harmonic richness and natural compression many guitarists look for. Modeling amps use digital processing to re-create either a range of amp and cabinet tones (as with the BOSS Katana-50 Gen 3) or a single classic tube amp’s character (such as the Fender Tone Master Deluxe Reverb). They tend to be lighter and easier to maintain because they use fewer tubes or none at all.
Choosing the Right Wattage
Wattage affects how loud a guitar amp gets before it starts to break up. A 5W to 15W amp can deliver satisfying tube saturation at volumes that suit a home or apartment, and brands such as Orange and Positive Grid offer lower-wattage combos for practice. Amps in the 30W to 50W range often offer increased clean headroom for rehearsals and smaller gigs. For larger venues, 50W to 100W amps often provide the projection, and higher-gain heads from ENGL and Mesa/Boogie suit heavier styles.
Guitar Speakers and Cabinets
Speakers convert your amp’s electrical signal into sound waves, so differences in size, magnets, cones, weight, and power handling can noticeably affect your tone. Open-back cabinets tend to sound airier, which suits clean and blues tones, while closed-back designs typically deliver more pronounced bass and suit higher-gain styles. Matching the impedance of your head and cabinet helps protect your amp.
Acoustic Guitar Amps
Electric guitar amps are often voiced to color your tone, which isn’t what you want from an acoustic-electric. Acoustic guitar amps typically use full-range speaker systems and transparent preamps to reproduce your instrument’s natural resonance. Many add a second channel for a microphone and onboard effects, as on the BOSS Acoustic Singer Live.
Guitar Amp Accessories and Maintenance
Cases, covers, and stands help protect a guitar amp in transit and in storage. Replacement speakers let you change a cabinet’s tone without buying a new rig, and spare tubes are worth keeping on hand for a tube amp. If you have questions about which amp fits your style, give us a call.
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