Pairing your cabinet with a separate amp head gives you ultimate control over your sound. An amp head’s job is to help power a speaker cabinet (or two or three) while creating a tonal balance you’re happy with. Once you find your perfect speakers, the guitar amp head will do the rest of the work for you.
Guitar amp heads offer you the ability to bring out your guitar’s natural tone, as well as manipulate it. For instance, a vintage series amp head like the Marshall 1987XL 50W tube has equalization and presence controls that allow you to tweak the output to emulate classic vintage tube tone. Should you want a clear representation of your guitar’s actual tone, you can balance out the levels to ensure a clear output.
Once you decide on what kind of tone you want from your amp head, you have to choose a voltage that will match your speaker cabinet. The wattage must match to ensure the speakers give you the best sound possible. There are a variety of options when it comes to wattage so you never have to worry about matching a proper cabinet with your amp head of choice.
Considering the amount of headroom you’ll need is also important. Do you play crowd-shaking heavy metal or quieter alt-pop? Your normal operating levels are going to be high or low depending, but you may still want some extra room to crank it up even further. Once you determine your basic levels, ensure your amp of choice has lots of extra room to move so you can maximize your speaker power with no trouble.
Exploring your sound is a great benefit of having a quality guitar amp. The range of possibilities available, size, sound and tone wise are extensive. Whether you’re playing in bars or in stadiums, there is a guitar amp head that will suit your needs and provide you the power you require to get your music out there.