Wherever you are, whoever you are, practice goes a long way – but what certainly doesn't help is a duff guitar tone. Make sure to sound the part when learning your licks!
Let's explore what makes a great practice amp and find the best one for you in our complete guide...
Guitarists of all different backgrounds take the time to practice. From beginners right through to the legends of the instrument, there's always room to improve no matter your experience. Many guitarists play lots of different styles which require a broad range of guitar tones, but most amps only do a handful of tones well, if at all. Enter the all-round practice amp - the key to an immersive practice session.
Imagine you could get any sound out of one amp. That is, in essence, a practice guitar amp; a box of sounds covering all genres and suited to all guitar possibilities. Here's a brief summary of what a practice amp is:
A guitar amp containing lots of guitar tones
Also packing in lots of guitar effects
Features like an inbuilt tuner, metronome and looper regularly come as standard
Many models allow direct connection to an audio interface for recording
Further tone customisation available through mobile phone apps
The clue is in the name! Practice amps never claim to be the best at one particular tone; if you're after out-and-out studio quality, you naturally go to the leading brands in each field. For example, top of the line Fender amps for the best clean tones, Marshall for rock and Mesa Boogie for metal. But all of these are far too excessive, focused and expensive for most players after tasty slice of a variety of different tones.
The quality of practice amps has dramatically improved over the last decade. Long gone are the days of tinny sounding tone and awful overdrive. A massive benefit - now more than ever - is that you're getting great, versatile tone without the boutique prices. You can up a practice amp on a strict budget safe in the knowledge that you'll get bang for your buck.
What about effects? Guitar pedals play a large part in shaping the sound of particular musical genres. Some simply can't do without the likes of reverb, delay, overdrive and compression. Practice amps have this covered, cramming in all sorts of modulation, drive, time-based and unique effect selections. So not only can you replicate the style of music you like, but discover something new in the process.
If there was a single most important feature of a great practice amp, it would be how many guitar tones it stores and the ability to access them right out the box. Practice amps are solid state by design. That means they create guitar tones digitally, unlike more expensive valve amps. You'd also place many solid state practice amps under the umbrella of modelling amps, meaning they replicate the sounds of lots of different famous amp and guitar cab tones.
Purists would argue solid state amps don't sound as good as the “real thing”. But the upside is that you can harness a far greater number of tones based on lots of original amps. You're also able to access a monumental amount of digital effects.
The likes of Line 6 and Boss utilise apps, which let you sculpt an ideal guitar tone or download presets on your phone or computer, and then upload them to the physical amp.
Practice amps need to be as all-encompassing as possible. It benefits everyone: beginner guitarists who would otherwise have to pay hundreds more for extra pedals and accessories, and established guitarists who won't want to be caught short without the likes of a tuner when away from their main setup.
That's why the best-in-class practice amps regularly come equipped with tuners, USB connectivity, wireless receiver compatability, aux and headphone ins, recording outs and footswitch control. A practice amp should accommodate direct recording either into an interface or PC, as well as software updates to improve sound quality and for use as a speaker when connected to a music device.
Finding the perfect practice amp is a relatively simple process these days. We've picked out some of the very best around, full of great features and equally great sounds. You can always rely on these picks to provide a whole host of customisation and a simpler plug in and play option.
The Boss Katana is without doubt the go-to modern practice amp. It's been proven time and time again, delivering extremely high quality tones and amp voicings, spanning all genres for every guitarist's needs. It's also one of the first solid state practice amps to give you a genuinely quality high gain crunch.
Onboard the latest MkII models you'll find four amp voicings: clean, crunch, lead and brown, as well as an FRFR style acoustic speaker mode. In the effects department, you've got 15 independent sounds based on famous Boss pedals, five of which you can activate at once. Save and recall your tone at any time – including effects - and get into some deep customisation options using the Tone Studio software.
Linking up to external devices is easy thanks to the likes of a power amp in connection, stereo expander for running two cabs, aux in for your phone, footswitch control, effects loop and even a recording out, complete with guitar cab emulations found across the range.
The Yamaha THR-II is the world's first fully wireless practice amp! Yep that's right, charge up the amp battery pack and eliminate the need for mains connection. Meanwhile, connect your guitar to the amp via compatible wireless receivers - an absolute saving grace for cleaning up your home setup or taking the THR-II wherever you want.
Yamaha THR amps are the go-to for pro musicians in need of a practice amp, simply because they sound so good. They're designed from the ground up to sound fantastic at low volumes and look the part in the process. You get five savable onboard presets with clean, crunch and high gain settings, essentially combining the characters of the three old THR models. It's incredibly easy to dial in a tone using the three-band EQ, with reverb, delay and modulation on tap.
Connectivity is key on the THR-II and champions wire-free connection in all forms, even down to built-in Bluetooth. Other handy additions include USB connection to your PC for direct recording and an accurate tuner.
The Line 6 Spider has been around for a very long time and has served many a bedroom players well. It's taken some flack over the years, but the latest Spider V MkII generation is by far the best Line 6 have ever put out. It brings amp quality up to present day expectation and is truly one of the most versatile modelling amp picks out there.
There are a lot of features here you that just don't get anywhere else, such as a looper capable of recording up to a minute of your playing. This is amazing for practice, letting you experiement with lead line on top of your riffs. It's also a handy tool in a live situation when performing solo. A built-in tuner and metronome also come as standard across the line-up.
You also have the option to select either a natural guitar cab or FRFR (full range, flat response) speaker setting, which is what you'd want when using guitar cab emulations so as to not colour your customised tone. It's also great when connected to your music device for use as a regular hi-fi speaker.
In the sound department, you've got a whopping 200 amps, cabs and effects to get stuck into, with as much tone tinkering going on as anywhere else. The Spider V remote app comes into play to help design and recall your favourite settings.
The Silverline series is Blackstar’s most versatile amp range, featuring with powerful modelling that offers a huge number of diverse tones. The Silverline houses a response control that emulates the dynamics of different power amps. With 6 options to choose from, the Silverline gives you both British and American valve-style tones in one amp. You can also choose between six distinct voicings which control the amount of gain and its unique character, from warm or bright cleans to light crunch through to hot-rodded overdrive. Gain voicings are available to suit any style at the flip of a switch.
In addition, there are also built-in reverb, delay, and modulation effects so you don’t need to invest in a pedalboard as well - perfect for saving space.
The Silverline also contains a headphone out with speaker emulation for when you need to practice silently as well as an MP3/Line input so you can play along to tracks. They also have a USB port to record your playing directly to a computer!
Check out more of our dedicated guitar guides and information:
