The world of guitar amps is difficult to navigate.
There are so many different brands and models out there, which come in different sizes, and have different features and functions. There are also different types of amps to consider.
Will a combo work better for you? Or does a stack make more sense? You might at this point, even be wondering whether a tube amp is in fact the best option for your setup.
These are just some of points that I will be covering today.
In this article I am going to run through everything you need to know about blues guitar amps and the best guitar amps for blues.
I am going to cover the following:
- Why tube amps make a great choice for most blues guitarists
- The key considerations you need to make before buying a guitar amp
- The key features you need to understand before buying a new amp
- Some of the main brands that you should consider when looking for your next guitar amp
This article is not a list of all of the different guitar amps out there that will help you dial in decent tones. Included is a list of some brilliant guitar amps.
More importantly, this article is a guide.
It will give you all of the information you need to buy the right guitar amp to suit your needs and help you create the tones you are looking for.
So without further ado, let’s get into it!
Here is everything you need to know about guitar amps for the blues:
Tube guitar amps & the blues
Before we dive into the world of guitar amps, I think it is first worth stressing their importance within the blues.
In the history of blues and blues rock music, tube guitar amps have played a hugely significant role.
They have been used by almost every notable blues and blues rock guitarist, and have proven popular since they were first introduced in the 1940s.
This is largely because of the sound that tube guitar amps make when they start to overdrive.
When you crank a tube amp, it produces a warm and organic sounding overdrive that is just beautiful. It is the sound of blues and blues rock guitar.
Tube guitar amps also react to your playing. They are responsive to dynamics and to the changes you make to your guitar’s volume controls.
This allows you to play in a subtle and nuanced way that is crucial to expressive blues guitar.
When you then start to add pedals to your setup, you can extend this even further. You can think about the ways that your pedals interact with your guitar and amp, and this really opens up a whole range of different tonal options.
As such, I would recommend a tube amp for most blues guitarists in most situations.
It is however worth noting that there are some cases where I don’t think a tube amp is the best option.
If you are unsure whether this is the case for you, I would recommend reading my recent article: ‘Tube Amp Alternatives: Are There Any Worth Considering?‘ before you continue here.
The basics of guitar amps
If you have decided though that you want a tube guitar amp, then the challenge becomes choosing the right guitar amp.
The first step here is to develop a basic understanding of how guitar amps work.
The way that tube guitar amps function is actually quite different to most amplifiers. Most amplifiers – like those you find in radios, speakers and televisions – amplify signal with as little distortion as possible.
They play the straight forward role of taking a signal and making it audible.
This was the original purpose of guitar amps when they were first introduced. The aim was simply to produce an amplifier that allowed guitarists to be heard.
Yet when guitarists started using them and then increasing the volumes they were playing at, they overloaded their amps. This caused them to overdrive, and it turned out to be a sound that people loved.
It is a sound that has since featured on almost every famous blues and blues-rock song in the modern era. It is a key part of the modern blues sound.
In simple terms, a guitar amp starts to overdrive when it cannot handle the signal that is being pushed through it.
The level at which this happens and the amount of overdrive that is created depends on the components and build of the amp, as well as the guitar you’re using and a host of other factors.
You don’t need to understand the inner workings of guitar amps when you are buying a new one. That will take you down a long and complex path that will do little to better your guitar tone.
Having said that, there are some common features found in all guitar amps which are helpful to know about. These are the pre-amp, power amp, power tubes (also known as valves), and speakers.
It is worth understanding the role that each of these elements plays in an amp and the impact it has on tone.
Pre-amp
This takes the signal from your guitar – which is very small – and amplifies it, before sending it to the power amp.
The pre-amp cannot handle a lot of power, so on certain amps you can overload the pre-amp section and create overdrive more easily and at lower volumes than in the power amp section.
This is important if you want great tone but can’t play at high volumes.
Power amp
As the name suggests, this is the section of the amp that generates power. This is where your guitar amp produces the majority of its volume.
The power amp is much more robust than the pre-amp section. It can handle more power and will require more volume to push it into overdrive.
This means that you can play at a higher volume, without causing an amp to overdrive.
It also means that if you want to cause your power amp to overdrive, you will have to crank the volume on your guitar amp.
Speaker
The speaker pushes sound out of your guitar amp and makes your signal audible. The shape, size and number of speakers in your amp all affect your tone.
In fact there are those that would argue that the speaker is one of the most important components in a guitar amp.
It is partly for this reason that many guitarist opt for stacks. This allows them to combine their pre and power amps with different speaker configurations to produce different tones.
There are a whole range of different ways that the design and build of a speaker can affect your tone.
To give just one example, we can look at speaker efficiency.
When guitar amps were first introduced, their speakers were inefficient. As a result, the speakers in early guitar amps started to break up and overdrive.
So part of the sound of those early players came from their speakers overdriving.
However, if you were to take one of those early guitar amps and replace the speaker with an efficient, modern speaker, the amp would sound totally different.
That is just one example. However the same is true if you change the number and size of the speakers, or the materials from which they are made.
Tubes
The final component to consider, which has a huge impact on your tone, is the type of vacuum tubes that are used in your guitar amp.
Again this is a highly technical topic that is beyond the scope of what you need to know when buying a new amp.
Having a little knowledge here is helpful though, as there are different types of vacuum tubes that are used in guitar amps. Each of these different tubes have different tonal characteristics.
Some of the main types of tube you are likely to come across when looking at guitar amps are listed below.
This is not a full list of every type of power tube out there. Instead it is a list of those that you are most likely to encounter when buying a new guitar amp for the blues:
6L6 tubes
6L6 tubes were amongst the first tubes to be manufactured and were used in all of the early and iconic Fender guitar amps. As such, they produce what most guitarists describe as an ‘American’ sound (more on this below).
6L6 tubes are often used in ‘clean’ guitar amps that have a lot of headroom.
As such, they have been – and continue to be used – in big and powerful guitar amps like the Fender Bassman and Fender Twin Reverb.
6V6 tubes
The 6V6 is a smaller and less expensive version of the 6L6. Like 6L6 tubes, the 6V6 is associated with clean and glassy tones and an American sound.
The key difference between 6V6 and 6L6 tubes is that is that 6V6 tubes don’t have the same amount of headroom.
As a result, 6V6 tubes tend to be used in smaller guitar amps, like the Fender Deluxe Reverb and Fender Princeton.
EL34 tubes
At the other end of the tonal spectrum are EL34 tubes.
EL34 tubes were first used by British amp manufacturers like Marshall and Vox in the 1960s. As such, they are typically associated with a ‘British’ sound (more on this below).
In contrast to 6L6 tubes, EL34 tubes overdrive more quickly and are associated with higher gain amps.
These tubes were used (and continued to be used) in large Marshall combos and stacks.
EL84 tubes
EL84 tubes share many of the same tonal characteristics as EL34 tubes. Again, the key difference is that EL84 tubes are smaller and break up more quickly.
These tubes were famously used in the Vox AC30 and are a big part of what gives that amp its characteristic bite and defined top end.
Understanding guitar amps
All of this information might feel like overkill.
However I would argue that having this understanding of some of the key components and characteristics of amps is very important.
It will empower you to make the right buying decisions and prevent you from even considering amps that won’t work for you.
There is a huge amount of information out there about guitar amps – from speaker size and configuration, to the materials used to build them, to the importance of power and output transformers.
If you have a natural interest in that material, then go for it! It will enrich your guitar playing journey, and that is only a good thing.
Conversely, if you have no interest in developing an in-depth understanding of guitar amps, you don’t need to worry.
All you need is an appreciation of the way that the components listed above affect the tonal characteristics and ‘voicing’ of an amp.
The most important point to remember here is that generally guitarists talk about ‘British voiced’ guitar amps and ‘American voiced’ guitar amps.
American & British voiced guitar amps
This distinction is arguably too simplistic.
However it is a much easier way to discuss and compare all of the different characteristics of various guitar amps than it is to speak about individual components, as I have done above.
As you might expect from the name, American voiced guitar amps are those that were originally produced in America and used by American musicians.
These amps have beautiful clean tones and typically quite a lot of headroom. They do not break up and overdrive quickly and when they do, their overdriven tones are softer.
Fender is the company that everyone refers to when talking about American voiced guitar amps.
As a result, players like B.B. King, Freddie King and Stevie Ray Vaughan, represent the Fender sound, along with the countless other guitarists who played and continue to play their amps.
Conversely, British voiced guitar amps are better known for their overdriven tones.
British voiced amps are quicker to break up and overdrive, and they have less headroom. They typically have a more pronounced mid-range.
Marshall, Vox and to a lesser degree Orange are the big British amp companies.
Marshall amps were famously played by a whole range of (mostly British) guitarists, including: Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Gary Moore. Jimi Hendrix and Paul Kossoff also used them, as well as Peter Green in his early career.
Marshall have created some of the most iconic guitar amps ever made.
Vox amps were first made famous by bands like The Shadows and The Beatles. Blues and rock guitarists like Rory Gallagher and Brian May then started to play them a number of years later.
Combos vs. stacks
The final important feature of guitar amps you need to consider, is whether you want to have a combo amp, or a stack.
A combo is a self contained unit that has all of the elements required for amplification. It contains the pre-amp, the power amp and the speakers, all in one shell.
A stack is made up of a head and a separate speaker. The head contains the pre-amp and the power amp, but the speaker is in a separate unit.
You can have a half stack – which is a head and a single speaker cabinet, or you can have a full stack, which is a head with multiple speaker cabinets stacked on top of each other.
From a purely tonal perspective, stacks offer a level of versatility you can’t achieve with a combo amp.
You can use the same amp head with different cabinets and speaker configurations, and this can totally alter your tone.
As such, you get more tonal possibilities with a stack and multiple speaker configurations than you do with a combo.
Taking a practical approach to tone
Despite this extra tonal versatility, I actually think that a combo amp is a better choice for most guitar players.
This is partly from a practical standpoint. Combos take up much less room than stacks, and are also easier to transport.
So regardless of whether you are regularly gigging or playing at home, using a combo is much easier.
More importantly perhaps, I don’t think that the benefits of using a stack are relevant for most guitarists. As mentioned above, the main benefit of a stack is that you can play the same amp through different speaker configurations.
This is great for tonal versatility, however it presents an obvious practical challenge for non-professional guitarists – the issue of space.
If you are doing most of your playing at home, then storing a whole range of different speaker cabinets is likely to be problematic.
Even if you do have the space though, I am still not sure that it makes sense to prioritise different speaker configurations over other elements of your rig.
Unless you have already built your perfect setup, I would recommend that you look at your guitar, pickups and pedals before you rush out to buy more speaker cabinets.
Not only will changing those elements of your rig have a profound impact on your tone; you will be able to make those changes without incurring so much cost, and definitely without taking up so much space!
A guide to guitar amps for the Blues
With all of this information in mind, we can now start to look at some of the best guitar amps out there for the blues.
Although a huge part of choosing the right amp comes down to personal preference and context, there is a shortlist of guitar amps out there that I would recommend.
Most of these are aimed at guitarists who are predominantly playing at home.
As such, for the most part they are smaller and lower wattage guitar amps. However I have included some exceptions to this and noted where this is the case.
Here are some of my recommendations, across a range of different brands and prices:
Fender
Over the years, Fender have produced some of the most iconic guitar amps of all time.
In fact they were one of the first well known amp manufacturers, and their amps were used by most of the early blues guitarists.
Generally speaking, Fender guitar amps have beautiful clean tones and a lot of ‘headroom’. This means that you can play them at a greater volume without their sound breaking up.
When Fender amps do break up, they produce a warm and softer sounding overdrive. Fender amps are ‘American voiced’ amplifiers.
They have been used by too many famous blues guitarists to mention here. Some of the most notable include, B.B. and Freddie King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert Collins, Peter Green and Derek Trucks, amongst countless others.
Many of the iconic Fender guitar amps – like the Fender Super Reverb – are large and powerful. Although there are reissues of these models, they are probably a bit too loud for home use.
As such, I think a lot of the Fender range is inappropriate unless you’re gigging.
They do however have some smaller models that are excellent for the blues:
- Fender Blues Junior IV
- Fender ’68 Custom Princeton Reverb
- Fender Pro Junior IV
- Fender ’65 Deluxe Reverb
- Fender ’57 Custom Champ
- Fender ’65 Princeton Reverb
If you are gigging and are looking for something with a bit more headroom, then the Fender ’65 Deluxe Reverb would also make a great choice.
Marshall
In very simplistic terms, you can look at Marshall guitar amps as being the antithesis of Fender amps.
In 1960, Jim Marshall and his son Terry opened a music store in London. It quickly became popular with a number of notable British musicians, including Pete Townshend of The Who.
Some of these musicians – who were playing a heavier style of rock music – started to complain about the guitar amps that were available to them.
2 years later, Jim and Terry Marshall released their first amp, the JTM 45.
Tonally, this amp was very different to the popular Fender guitar amps of the day. It broke up into overdrive more quickly and had a more biting and aggressive sound.
It is for this reason that Marshall amps quickly became popular with a whole range of blues and rock musicians including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Billy Gibbons and Jimmy Page, amongst many others.
As a result of Marshall’s history and because of the many British guitarists who used them, they are described as being ‘British voiced’ guitar amps.
Historically the company was famous for huge stacks. In more recent years though, they have released a range of smaller amps aimed at producing British blues rock tones at lower volumes.
Some of the best amps on offer here, across a range of different prices are as follows:
Regardless of their size, Marshall guitar amps typically break up quite quickly.
So if you are looking for a more overdriven and grittier sound, without disturbing your neighbours, one of these amps could be a great choice.
Of course, the 20 watt options are quite a bit larger.
So if you are doing all of your playing at low volumes, those wouldn’t be my first choice. However if you are looking for a relatively small guitar amp that you can play at home and also gig, they could work well.
Of these slightly larger combos, there are head versions of the Studio Vintage Plexi and the Marshall Origin 20W.
There is also a 1 watt head version of the Marshall DSL1CR. So if you want to build a stack, one of these smaller heads could work well. You could then pair it up with one of Marshall’s smaller vintage style 1×12″ cabinets.
Vox
Vox is another notable British amp company.
They initially rose to fame in the late 1950s when the Vox AC15 was used by Hank Marvin of The Shadows.
Bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds then went on to use various different Vox guitar amps.
Within the blues, Vox amps have been most notably used by Rory Gallagher. Gallagher played a Vox AC30 for most of his early career to craft the fiery blues tones you hear on albums like On The Boards and Deuce.
Gallagher’s use of the AC30 inspired Brian May, who has used the same amp ever since.
So if you are looking for a similarly biting and fiery tone then, a Vox amp could be a great choice.
The AC30 is a very powerful amp that is too loud for guitarists playing at home. Fortunately though, Vox have some great low volume alternatives:
If you are looking for a small guitar amp that breaks up at a low volume, then either of the AC4 models would work very well.
You will be able to add that characteristic Vox bite and aggression to your tone, but at a much lower volume.
The AC15 is still a pretty loud and powerful amp. As such I wouldn’t recommend it if you are only playing at home.
If though you are looking for something that doesn’t break up so easily – but which you can push into overdrive – then the hand-wired version of the AC15 could be a brilliant choice.
It has 2 channels and also a master volume control.
Supro
Supro amps have been used by some of the most notable bands and artist in blues and rock since they were first released in the 1930s.
Of these, Jimmy Page is arguably the most famous.
He used a Supro on many of the early Led Zeppelin recordings, and used a Supro amp to play the iconic guitar solo on ‘Stairway To Heaven’.
Supro amps have since proven popular with guitarists like Joe Perry, Joe Walsh, Lenny Kravitz and Dan Auerbach.
After the company was revived in 2013, Supro have produced some brilliant small guitar amps that are perfect for home use. Some of the best are as follows:
As you can see, the Blues King comes available in 3 different sizes. So if you are looking for a great and affordable small guitar amp, any of those could be a great choice.
All you need to do is decide which size of amp would best suit your setup.
Alternatively, if you are looking for something that is a bit larger and has more headroom, then either the Supro 1648RT Saturn Reverb or the Supro 1965T Black Magick would work well.
Orange
Orange amps are arguably better associated with heavy rock and metal tones than they are with the blues.
Yet despite that, over the years they have been used by a range of famous blues and rock guitarists.
Jimmy Page is the most notable Orange patron.
More recently though, musicians and bands like Marcus King, Fantastic Negrito, Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown and Blackberry Smoke have also used Orange guitar amps.
Many of the popular Orange guitar amps are large stacks, and as such are inappropriate for home use.
Having said that, the company has brought out a range of smaller combos and heads. Some of my top recommendations here are as follows:
Orange amps produce heavy tones. In fact I would argue that their dirty sound is more distorted than it is overdriven.
As such these amps wouldn’t be my first choice if you are looking for a lower gain, more vintage sound. If you are looking for extra gain though, then any of these amps would work well.
Blackstar
Completing the line up of British amp manufacturers is Blackstar.
Unlike the other amp manufacturers listed above, Blackstar is a much younger company. They released their first guitar amps in 2007.
Like Orange, Blackstar amps are popular with guitarists in search of heavier guitar tones.
Billy Gibbons has used some of the Blackstar guitar amps in recent years and blues rock guitarist Jared James Nichols also endorses the amps.
Some of the best blues guitar amps they offer are as follows:
As is also true of Orange amps, Blackstar guitar amps would make a great choice if you are looking for heavy blues and blues rock tones.
These amps are also very competitively priced and offer a lot of value for the money. So if you are budget conscious, a Blackstar amp could be a great choice.
Boutique guitar amps
In more recent years, there has been a huge surge in the popularity of boutique amp manufacturers.
Boutique guitar amps are hand-wired and made with higher quality components than batch produced amps. They are often built to replicate a certain sound, or are modelled on amps from a particular era.
So they can make an amazing choice if you want vintage blues tones, or if you want to recreate a very specific tone.
It is worth noting that many of the companies listed above produce ’boutique guitar amps’. It is also worth noting that the term ’boutique’ is used quite loosely.
There are big boutique amp companies that have large teams and operations. There are also tiny boutique amp companies where all of the guitar amps are built by just one person.
Proponents of using these very small guitar amp companies argue that the build quality and components used are superior to those of larger companies.
Whether this is strictly true – and whether the tone of these guitar amps is significantly different – is a topic that remains up for debate.
It is worth being aware of these differences however and their implication on the price of different boutique guitar amps.
As with regular guitar amps, it is also worth recognising the inherent tonal characteristics of any boutique guitar amp. There are a huge range of different boutique companies and amps out there.
To categorise each of these companies as either offering American or British style guitar amps is of course overly simplistic. However it is a useful way of roughly navigating all of the different boutique companies out there.
American voiced boutique guitar amps
If you are looking for beautiful clean tones and for an amp that will provide a great platform for guitar pedals, then one of the following companies would make a great choice:
Two-Rock
Two-Rock are one of the most established boutique amp brands out there. Doyle Bramhall II, Matt Schofield and Joey Landreth are just some of the notable blues guitarists to use Two-Rock amps.
Their guitar amps are quite powerful, so they might not be suitable if you are doing most of your playing at home.
If you want beautiful Dumble style clean tones though, one of their amps would be an amazing choice.
Milkman Sound
If you want beautiful blues tones at a lower volume, Milkman amps would be a great choice. They offer a range of small, low watt guitar amps perfect for playing at home.
John Mayer has previously endorsed Milkman amps, and they have since proven popular with guitarists looking for vintage style American tones.
Tone King
Similarly, a Tone King guitar amp would make a great choice if you are doing most of your playing at home.
Although their amps come in a range of sizes, they all have attenuators built into them. In this way you can dial in a killer tone without disturbing your neighbours.
Morgan Amplification
Finally, I would also recommend looking at Morgan guitar amps.
Virtuoso guitarist Josh Smith uses their amps and illustrates the extent of their versatility.
He uses them to go from a super clean jazz tone, all the way through to heavy fuzz tones. Either the PR12 or JS12 would be a great choice if you are doing most of your playing at home.
British voiced boutique guitar amps
Conversely, if you are looking for a slightly more overdriven and aggressive sound, I would recommend looking at one of the following boutique amp companies:
Friedman
In recent years, Friedman have become hugely popular with guitarists looking for heavier tones.
Yet whilst many of their endorsed artists are playing quite heavy styles of music, I do think that Friedman offer some great guitar amps for blues players.
Their amps overdrive and break up at a low volume, which is great if you have to play at low volume. They also offer a number of small guitar amps which are perfect for home use.
Bad Cat
Bad Cat offer a range of British voiced guitar amps that are designed for guitarists both gigging and playing at home.
Their amps give you the option to switch between different pre-amp tubes to cause a different type of break up at different levels.
They also have a master volume control which allows you to dial in the tone you want but at a lower volume.
Rift
Unlike many of the boutique brands listed here, Rift offer a diverse range of guitar amps.
Many of these are American style amps, based on early Fender Tweed amps. However the company also produce a number of brilliant British voiced guitar amps based on the amps used in the British invasion of the 1960s.
Hamstead
Finally, I would recommend looking at Hamstead guitar amps. They have 2 British voiced guitar amps – the Artist 60+RT and the Artist 20+RT.
Although both of these guitar amps are larger and slightly more powerful, they both have multiple power modes. In this way you can play them at a lower volume and still get great tones.
How to buy the right guitar amp
As you can see, there are a lot of different factors to consider when you buy a guitar amp. There are different sizes and styles of amps, as well as different brands.
To make sure you end up with gear that works for you, it is worth thinking through all of the information outlined here.
If that feels like too much to manage, then just focus on the key factors which will have the biggest impact on your decision. These are as follows:
1.) First and perhaps most importantly, consider the tonal characteristics you want your amp to possess.
Are you looking for a softer and smoother American blues sound? Or do you prefer a slightly heavier and more overdriven tone?
Of course, every guitar amp has a degree of versatility. You can get beautiful clean tones from a Marshall in the same way that you can push a Fender amp into heavy overdrive under the right circumstances.
Yet guitar amps do have a fundamental voice that you can’t change. So make sure you are clear on what you want in this regard.
2.) Secondly, look at the volume that you are able to play at. This will dictate the size and power of the guitar amp you choose and this in turn has an impact on your guitar tone.
In my last article ‘Should You Buy A Small Guitar Amp?’ I explore this topic in great detail.
So if you are unsure of the size of guitar amp you should be looking at, head over there before you continue your search.
3.) Finally, it is worth thinking about the role of your guitar amp within your setup more broadly.
There is enough material here for another article altogether.
Let’s say as an example though that you really want to sound like Stevie Ray Vaughan.You might focus all of your attention on buying an American voiced Fender amp.
However if you play a Gibson Les Paul – rather than a Fender Stratocaster, you won’t be able to create the tones you have in mind.
The guitar amp you use is just one piece of the puzzle.
It is certainly significant, but think about how it pairs up with your guitar and pedals. All of the components of your rig define your tone, not just your amp.
Closing thoughts
Well there we have it, all of the key information you need to know about guitar amps for the blues.
This is not exhaustive.
There are of course more brands out there which will help you to create beautiful blues tones. However I hope this helps give you the information you need to buy the right guitar amp for your setup.
My final piece of advice is to take your time over the decision.
If you can, go to a guitar store and try as many different guitar amps as you can. This will give you a sense of which guitar amps are right for you.
Good luck!
If you have any questions at all that I can help with, just pop them in the comments or send me an email on aidan@happybluesman.com. I’d love to help!
Images
Image of Eric Clapton – Feature Image Of Eric Clapton – Majvdl (Wikimedia Commons – Creative Commons Share Alike 3.0 License)
Feature Image – Unsplash
Vox AC4HW1 – Vox
References
Soundfly, How Stuff Works, Youtube, Music Radar, Music Radar, That Pedal Show, Sweet Water, Wikpedia, Mercury Magnetics, Humbucker Soup, Guitar Player, Sam Ash, Premier Guitar, Seymour Duncan, Wikipedia, Mercury Magnetics, Sweet Water, Carvin Audio, Insure4Music, Proaudio Land, Marshall, Ground Guitar, Orange, Blackstar Amplification, Music Radar, Youtube
Links
Many of the links embedded in this article are affiliate links. As such, if you buy one of the pieces of gear I recommend, or an item from the same store after clicking one of these links, I will earn a small commission.
I never recommend pieces of gear that I wouldn’t use myself, and I include these affiliate links to ensure that I can keep this content free. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me on aidan@happybluesman.com.
Responses
Good afternoon,
Thank you for writing this article as it was extremely informative and very helpful!
I was wondering if you would be able to provide me with some insight in regards to purchasing a new amp? I need a new guitar amp and am a bit lost on which to choose.
I need a small practice amp for my house. I have been using a Boss Katana Mini for about 2 years now. I was playing a little bit of everything before and now I have been getting into and playing a lot more blues/rock than before and I am hoping to upgrade to an amp that’s better suited to that playing style.
20 Watts seems to be the sweet spot for the space that I have. I borrowed a 40 Watt amp and it was way too much for the space. I had to keep the volume below 3 and it just muddied everything up or made it sound too tinny.
The 2 amps I have in mind are the Fender Champion 20 and the Orange Crush 20RT.
I know the Crush is quite a bit more expensive but from the research I have done the Champion is the most popular 20 watt amp.
I am trying to weigh the simplicity of the Orange amp vs the versatility and options on the Fender.
I am looking to play a lot of John Mayer, Gary Clarke Jr., Clapton…etc.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
FYI here are the guitars I use (if this helps at all):
Squier Classic Vibe 1960 Stratocaster (SSS)
Epiphone Les Paul with P90s (considering exchanging for a SG instead a la Gary Clarke Jr.)
Thanks for your time!
Tyler
Thanks so much for your comment and kind words Tyler, and I’m really glad to hear that you found the article helpful!
Based on those 2 amps, personally I would recommend the Fender Champion 20. In my opinion, Orange amps have a more modern and high gain sound, which is at odds with the tones you are trying to create. In addition, the 3 players you mentioned (Eric Clapton, John Mayer and Gary Clark Jr.) have all either played or continue to play Fender amps. The Fender Champion 20 aims to recreate the tones of the famous amps these guitarists used. And whilst it isn’t able to do this perfectly, I think it will help you get closer to the tones of those players than the Orange 20RT.
As you observed, you could get a bit distracted with all of the different tweaking options on the Champion. So if you do go for it, I would try and dial in one clean tone and one dirty tone that you like. Stick with those and then get practising your Gary Clark Jr. licks!
Good luck with it man and if you need any more help or if you have any questions I can help with, just send me an email on aidan@happybluesman.com 😁
Your blog is really well-written and thought through. In the last few days, I have learnt a lot about what to expect in my journey as a guitarist. The information is based a lot on experience which is really awesome to see.
Thank you for doing this. I would recommend that you write a book because your writing is really good.
Woah – thank you so much Rob, your comment made my day! I am so glad to hear you have found the articles helpful, and best of luck in your guitar playing journey. If there is anything at all that I can help with or if you ever have any questions, please do get in touch. You can reach me whenever on aidan@happybluesman.com 😁
Great article! It would be interesting to see a follow up article on the best solid state amps for blues. I currently use a Roland Blues Cube Hot which sounds great, but am curious about other possible options as well. Keep up the good work, it is very much appreciated!
Thanks so much for the kind words Daniel; I think that is an awesome idea! There are a few amazing blues guys out there who use/used solid state amps. So I think it could be a great topic to cover 😁 Thanks again and if there is anything at all I can help with, or if you have any questions about your gear or playing, just send me an email on aidan@happybluesman.com.
Hi Aidan:
In this article, I see a picture of a Celestion G10 Gold with a link , but you don´t say anything specific about speakers in your marvelous website,
Is this speaker your recommendation for those who are looking a bluesy touch?
By the way, soon I’m gonna buy a Fender X2 or a 68 Custom Princeton Reverb (normal editions). Therefore, I’ll thinking about changing the speaker.
And thanks for all your information! I really liked your informacion about EQ pedals (and their additional function as a booster).
Regards,
Alberto
Thank you so much for the comment and for the kind words Alberto, I really appreciate them. You’re absolutely right – I haven’t yet written anything about different speakers and upgrades, but I think I’ll have to change that soon! I would love to do an article on different speaker options – it’s a topic that I think is often overlooked and it can be a little tricky to get your head around at first with all of the different options – but changing your speaker can make a big difference to your tone.
Regarding the Celestion G10 Gold as an option for your upgrade, I would say that it largely depends on what type of tone you have in mind. The Celestion Gold speaker is based on the Celestion Blue – the speaker that was used in the Vox AC30 and so contributed to the tone of guitarists and bands like The Beatles, Rory Gallagher and Brian May, amongst many others.
The G10 Gold has many similarities to the Celestion Blue, but has a little less of the top end bite and treble, and a slightly more defined and rich middle range. So it will definitely help you to produce a beautiful blues tone. But it is a speaker that is associated with British amps, and therefore a more driven British sound. As such, and as is often the case with guitar gear, the suitability of that specific speaker really depends on the type of tone you want to create.
I hope that helps, but if you have any more questions, please just send them over to aidan@happybluesman.com I’m always around and happy to help!
Hi Aidan, thank you very much for your excellent articles. They’re really useful for those of us trying to decipher the overload of unfamiliar technical info on line! I would be very grateful for your thoughts on the following:
I have fender champ 600 which is (5w) perfect for the volumes I play at but is too clean. I play a les Paul standard and have been considering getting a new valve amp. During the hours of online searching I decided that I would need one with attenuation/ variable power settings / master volume so I didn’t end up in trouble with the wife and kids.
It occurred to me that I could get a couple of amp in a box pedals or drivers to recreate the British / tweed sounds, would this be a good way to increase versatility or in your opinion would I be ‘falling between two stools’ and end up changing the amp anyway? Thanks for your time and keep up the good work. Andy
Thanks very much for the kind words Andy. I really appreciate it and I am glad to hear you have found the articles useful.
Regarding your question (and as is so often the case with guitar gear!) the answer isn’t totally clear cut. However there are a few observations and thoughts which I hope will help to steer you in the right direction:
I suspect that your current amp might be ‘too clean’ because of the volume at which you are playing. A 5 Watt amp can actually still be surprisingly loud, and I suspect that if you crank the volume on the amp to 10 it will start to sound a bit crunchy. The problem however is that your wife, kids and neighbours might not let you get away at playing at that volume! As such, I think there are a few directions that you can consider:
1.) You can replace your amp with one that either has an attenuator or a master volume knob. In my experience, the latter tends to be more common and also found on cheaper amps. Having said that, Fender amps tend not to have either attenuators or master volumes. So if you are set on a Fender amp, you could buy a Fender amp and then use an attenuator. That could end up being a bit of a pricey option, but depending on the budget you have in mind it could work very well.
2.) You can buy a boost and/or overdrive pedal. A lot of people use boost pedals to add some thickness and warmth to their tone without having to crank the volume. They use it as an ‘always on pedal’. In this set-up, if you add an overdrive pedal after the boost pedal in your signal chain, you will create a more driven tone, again without your volume getting totally out of hand.
3.) You can buy an ‘amp in a box’ pedal. As you noted – this would help you to dial in some of the tones you mentioned, without all of the neighbours knowing about it.
In the end the most suitable option will depend somewhat on your budget, but also on whether you think you are likely to change plans further down the road. For example, if you buy a lot of pedals to work around the tone of your amp, only to replace the amp in 6 months, you might be better placed holding off for now, and instead buying an amp you love, and then building out your pedal board.
I hope that has helped, but if you do have any more questions at all – about gear, playing or anything else – just send them across to aidan@happybluesman.com. I am always around and happy to help!
Could you please give me your comments on the Roland Blues Cube Hot 30W? Here is why I ask, I want to get the tube sound with a low wattage amp, cause I live in an apartment and can’t have the volumes so high. I love the Fender Blues Jr, but in an apartment it may be a waste since I can’t get the most of it. The Roland hot cube gives the options to lower the wattage to get the crunch. Would you recommend it? Case contrary, any recommendations? Thanks a lot and I loved this article!
Thanks very much for the taking the time to comment and for the kind words Fran, I really appreciate it. Regarding the Roland Blues Cube, I think it could make a brilliant choice!
I first became interested in the Blues Cube some years ago, when I discovered that Kirk Fletcher used one. If you want to see the range of beautiful blues tones that Fletcher creates, then head to just before the 27 minute mark of this video here.
With the different power options on the amp, the Blues Cube would be great for playing at home, and to me the coolest thing is the option to add in the different tone capsules. These don’t come with the amp, and you can’t find them everywhere – but there is an ‘Ultimate Blues’ Tone Capsule, a Robben Ford Tone Capsule and an Eric Johnson tone capsule (although this one seems a little bit trickier to find). So if you are looking for a range of different blues tones, experimenting with those could be fun too
I hope that helps, but if you do have any more questions, just send them over. You can reach me on aidan@happybluesman.com and I am always around and happy to help!