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 Home > Learning Center > Amplifiers

Amplifiers

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Amplifiers were developed during the 1930’s. They were created so that the guitars could still be heard over the horns and drums in the big bands of the era. The first amps were based on the same idea of tubes used in radios.

Early amplifiers were powered by tubes and could be very pricey. Transistor amps were created and were more affordable, but they lost the warmth and depth of the guitar’s sound that many musicians had grown used to. Today both kinds of amps are available, with die hard musicians preferring amps that used tubes.

Amplifiers can come in combos or separates. Combos are amplifiers with built-in speakers. Separates are amp heads that need to be plugged into speaker stacks. Amplifiers are capable of producing an array of sounds from crystal clear tones to the aggressive “crunch” of distortion.

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