So, you invested in a great electric guitar. You have your pedals plugged in and ready for action. All that is missing in your carefully crafted blues rig is a great guitar amp. More specifically, you be looking for the best blues amps money can buy.
As a blues guitarist, both emulating the tone of your idols and searching for your own unique sound can hold great importance. The immense world of guitar amplifiers, each with their own unique flavors, can be overwhelming to choose from. No reason to fret (pun intended) as we will guide you through every step of the way towards choosing the best amp for the blues!
What Makes a Great Blues Amp?
A great blues amplifier can hold its own in every setting and handle all styles of blues playing without many added effects and lots of range. Whether you are on the road satisfying an exhausting tour schedule, recording in a home studio, or playing at small local gigs, your guitar amplifier should be:
An amp with sparkling clean tone, an unmistakable presence, never ending sustain, and a dirty overdrive for when the blues get nasty. An amp that breaks up nicely as you turn up your guitar's volume control and also highlights the nuances of your playing style.
The Anatomy of an Amplifier
It is imperative to understand how the different components of an amplifier work in order to extract the desired results from an amp. The following information will not be extremely technical but you will feel much more confident while choosing an amplifier after you have gone through it.
The Preamp
The signal from an electric guitar is the voltage induced within the coils in its pickups when a string vibrates over it. This signal is usually very weak and is referred to as an instrument-level signal.
The signal is too weak to be amplified by the power amplifier, hence it is sent through a circuit that operates at a lower voltage and amplifies it before it is presented to the power amplifier. This circuit is known as the preamp
The preamp is not designed to handle too much input power thus it is much easier to send it into overdrive without raising the volume too much.
Preamps that utilize vacuum tubes allow for warm and organic distortion but lack an abundance of gain. They normally incorporate smaller vacuum tubes in their design.
The Power Amp
Here in our signal path is where the actual amplification happens. As implied by the name, the power amp supplies the signal with most of its power.
The power amp operates at higher voltages than the preamp does, thus it generates most of the volume. The power amp can handle larger gain than the preamp and also requires a higher volume level to overdrive it.
Power amps have larger tubes that can sustain those high voltages. Power amps have larger more robust tubes such as the 6L6 and EL34.
The Speaker
Now we get to perhaps the most important sound-defining component of an amp apart from the vacuum tubes. The speaker creates the compressions and rarefactions that the human ear perceives as sound.
Historically, speakers were inefficient. They would break up at higher volumes and add their own unique color to the musicians sound.
An amplifiers tone is very "speaker sensitive". What this means is that changing the speaker or cabinet you are using can greatly effect your tone. This is the main reason why many professional blues guitarists opt for amp heads so that they can pair them with different cabinets and extract different tones each time!
Speakers for guitar amplifiers usually come in the 10 inch and 12 inch varieties. There are some exceptions to this case. However, most cabinets will have two, four, or sometimes even eight 10 inch or 12 inch speakers.
The Cabinet
The speaker cabinet design itself plays a major role in the sort of sound a player achieves. This includes the material the cabinet is made from, whether it's an open back or closed back cabinet, what type and what number of speakers it houses. All these factors contribute to your overall sound.
Generally, a closed back cabinet offers a more direct sound with pronounced, beefy lows and mid. A closed back cabinet ensures less "spillage" of the sound and throws it forward accentuating the crispness and concentrating the sound.
What is achieved with open back cabinets is a wide, roomy, and engulfing tone. The sound fills the room giving it a very organic and warm feel. This tends to pronounce the high end of a guitar much more compared to the lows.
Both open and closed back cabinets have their advantages. I, personally prefer the sound of an open back cabinet for my blues guitar playing. I feel that the way the sound engulfs the space more closely represents a guitars persona and works best in both indoor and smaller outdoor settings.
Different Configurations of Amps
Throughout history as technology has progressed, so has guitar amplifier design. At the beginning, when transistors were difficult to produce, expensive, and relatively new, amps utilized vacuum tubes in both the preamp and the power-amp.
Today, amps have evolved beyond the analog tube and solid state amp, ushering in the era of modelling amps.
Tube/ Valve Amps
A tube amp is an amplifier that uses vacuum tubes to cater for all its amplification needs. The vintage blues tones of our guitar heroes such as Eric Clapton, Peter Greene, Jimmy Page etc. were all produced from great tube amps and it still remains the quintessential class of amplifiers for most great blues and rock tones.
Vacuum tubes were widely used in amplifiers when transistors were not as readily and cheaply available. A tube amp has vacuum tubes within its preamp and power amp.
The tube amps' success within blues and rock circles is mainly owed to the way the vacuum tubes react to higher volumes. When you raise the input signal volume (your guitar signal) for a tube amp, it overloads and produces the most organic, smooth, and warm distorted and overdriven tones.
Tube amps also allow for extremely nuanced playing due to their inherent characteristic of going into overdrive if a signals amplitude is large enough. This is what makes tube amps the best blues amps as they are dynamically responsive and allow for immensely expressive and nuanced playing (think Jeff Beck).
In most cases, we would recommend a tube amp as the best blues or rock amp choice. However, tube amplifiers can be slightly costlier and difficult to maintain as their tubes need to be replaced ever so often. Tubes generate lots of heat due to their inefficient design and thus need to have a bulkier frame to accommodate for it. Also, the tubes need to be at an optimal temperature before being used, adding an extra time delay. Besides, there are some great solid state amp and modelling amps in the market that are extremely good.
Solid State Amps
A solid state amp uses semi-conductor transistors (either MOSFETs or BJTs) for all it amplification processes. Just like a tube amp, this configuration has two amplification stages. First your guitars signal is processed by the pre-amp, then it is fed to the power amp.
Solid state amplifiers are cheaper, easier to maintain, have a longer component life, and generally are much more efficient compared to valve amps.
However, they don't sound as organic as tube amps do.
These amps require a very large signal to overdrive and when they do become overdriven, they do not sound very good.
The easiest solution for this is to buy a solid state amp with an effects loop and use pedals to achieve the sound you want.
Overall, these amps offer reliability, portability, and affordability but lack the character and tonal magic of a valve amp. Solid state amps are not what I would recommend as a stand-alone unit for the best blues guitar tone.
Modelling Amps
The amp types discussed above are classified in the analog sphere of circuit design and have their own associated pros and cons.
Enter the modelling amplifier, the third and latest innovation in guitar amp technology. Compared to previous configurations, modelling amp technology is, relatively speaking, still in its infancy. The idea was to fuse together the compactness, reliability, low cost and maintenance of a solid state state amp with the great tone of a tube amp.
This vision was realized through digital circuitry and clever programming.
Basically, a modelling amp emulates the sound of a tube amp rig using semi conductor based circuitry. Modelling amps such as the Boss Katana, Marshall Code series, and the Fender Mustang have an extensive library of different amplifiers, cabinets, and effects.
As good as the prospect of an amp that combines the best of both worlds sounds, this genus of amps cannot fully simulate the tonal quality of a great tube amplifier.
Modelling amps are wonderful for guitarists looking for a wide variety of sounds on a strict budget, but they lack the dynamic sensitivity and warmth of a tube amp.
How to Choose the Right Blues Amp
The easiest and quickest route towards a great blues amp would be to pick a blues guitar player whose sound impresses you and look for an amp with exactly the same or similar specifications. Now, this is easier said than done as tone is not the only factor that should sway you. Plus, most great blues tones originated in the 20th century and finding gear that can do justice to them is expensive.
Having said that, In my opinion, you cannot go wrong with just a great tube/valve amplifier, tonally speaking.
Configuration and Price
The first thing to consider before you drive up to your local music store should always be how much you are ready to pay upfront for an amplifier and whether or not you are willing to spend time and money on maintenance.
A valve amplifier will give you the best blues amp sound, but tube amps are heavy, expensive and the power tubes will eventually need replacing.
Also, based on whether you find the same power tubes or not, the amp may need re-biasing. This might have to be done annually depending on frequency of use. On their deathbed, tubes start introducing unpleasantness into your tone which might be accompanied by odor.
If this seems daunting to go through for a great blues tone, investing in a solid state amp or modelling amp is the way for you.
Power Setting
The next thing to consider is the setting in which the amplifier will be used the most. 15 watts or 30 watts of power packed into a compact combo amp will suffice for casual home use and might even be suitable for small indoor events.
If you plan on gigging in larger venues or outdoors, a 50 watt or 100 watt amp head paired with a powerful cabinet or a 50 or 100 watt combo amp is for you.
Size and Weight
The weight and size of your amplifier might become a problem if you plan on travelling with it. In this case, a smaller combo amp will go a long way!
Interface
If a complicated user interface scares you, an amp with only volume, master volume, gain, middle, bass and treble knobs will be sufficient for dialing in a good blues tone. On the flip side, if you pay great attention to detail and prefer built in effects over buying pedals, that complicated interface might not be so bad.
Effects
Finally, if you plan on experimenting with a huge variety of effects and sounds without spending precious time and money finding and buying pedals, pedalboards, power supplies etc., you should choose a modelling amplifier.
The 5 Best Blues Amps Available
1. Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue - Best Fender Blues Amp
This classic Fender combo amp offers great tone in a compact footprint. It houses one Eminence 12 inch speaker with two channels. The blues deluxe is a valve amp through and through featuring three 12AX7 preamp tubes and two 6L6 power amp tubes.
This amp is a great choice for guitarists who want a great warm overdriven tone, want crisp cleans, and also want some added effects, all on a budget.
The controls featured on the blues deluxe interface are: Presence, Reverb (the famous Fender Spring Reverb), Master, Middle, Bass, Treble, Drive Select Switch, Drive, Volume, Bright Switch (for an instant middle boost), and a Standby Switch. The built in effects loop makes adding your effects pedals much more convenient
This fender amp is suitable for beginners and experienced blues guitarists alike. Its interface is easy to use, its sounds like an expensive vintage amp, it has that vintage tweed persona, features spring reverb and is basically plug and play!
Fender's long history of producing great amps resonated through the fender blues deluxe. It's the best fender amp for blues guitar and offers great value for the money.
Vox has long been hailed as the hallmark of British rock and blues amps. Much like the Vox AC30 (30 watts), the AC15 features grit and clarity with tone for days with its open back design. The AC15 houses two 12" Celestion G12M Greenback Speakers, a footswitch jack, a normal input jack, and a top boost input jack, both with independent volume controls
The AC15 has three 12AX7 preamp tubes and two EL-84 power amp tubes that will push out some of the best blues tones that a budget amp could ever deliver. From chiming cleans, to mid-heavy grit, to a reverb laden smooth blues tones making it one of the best amps for blues.
What is somewhat unique about The AC15's tone cut control works with the power stage instead of the pre-amp stage. This means that the user gets an additional dimension of tone molding abilities.
The best thing about this guitar combo amp is that its suitable for beginners as it features an easy to use, sectioned off user interface with built in effects from the legendary reverb bank.
However, reliability proves to be this amps Achille's heel as it has proven to be less than reliable for numerous users.
Fenders propensity to create wonderful amps is realized once again. The fender blues junior IV is a valve amp boasting a simplistic, user-friendly design featuring a single 1/4" input, master, treble, gain, middle, bass, volume, and a reverb knob that blends fenders spring reverb into your tone. It has two 12AX7 preamp tubes, one ECC83 phase shifter tube, and two EL84 power tubes.
This is a 15 watt amp designed for recording and home practice. It houses just one 12 inch Celestion speaker although it can still pack quite the powerful punch.
The fender blues junior comes with a single button footswitch to toggle the FAT mid boost for when you need to add a certain boldness to your sound before transitioning into a soulful yet powerful solo.
The blues junior, much like the fender blues deluxe allows for extremely nuanced playing. However, the blues junior, with its small compact chassis, is extremely portable and convenient for travelling musicians.
On the flip side, its no powerful enough to play large venues. Furthermore, it has been noted that the build material quality leaves something to be desired.
Now, we may get some heat for recommending a solid state amp for what is predominantly an all tube genre. Nevertheless, the Roland Blues Cube has established itself as one of those amps that combine vintage sound with modern reliability and technology.
This amp comes with 80 Watts of power siphoned through one 12 inch speaker. It hosts a USB port to allow the user to directly record without having to spend on mics.
With its dual tone switch, that can toggle between clean and crunch, a partially open back, and a powerful speaker, the Blues Cube resonates as a blues amp.
The Blues Cube works both as a home practice amp and a powerful stage amp. This is allowed by its transistor based circuitry which allows for a uniform sound at different volume levels. However, its uniformity reduces the dynamic intricacies associated with traditional tube amps.
Regardless of its solid state nature, the Roland Cube, is capable of the best modern blues tones. Its greatest selling points besides tone are durability, reliability, versatility, and style, achieving all this at a modest price point.
Marshall has been responsible for the sounds of some of the greatest blues guitarists ever. Eric Clapton's 1962 BluesBreaker with its creamy tone still remains one of the best.
The CODE series is an amalgam of Marshalls exceptional blues heritage.
It comes in four different configurations: the 25w combo for the home user, the 50w combo for the travelling musician, the 100w combo for larger venues, and the 100w amp head for the frequently gigging musician.
Marshall has fused together 14 preamp models, 4 power amp models, 8 speaker emulations, and 24 effects such as reverb, chorus, modulation, EQ etc. which allow immense flexibility in tone all in an extremely compact and light form factor
The amplifier is suitable for all genres of music and also features some of the best Marshall blues amps and rock amps ever built such as the 1962 BluesBreaker, the Marshall Plexi, JCM800 2203, JCM2555 Silver Jubilee, JCM2000 DSL100, and more.
Its USB and Bluetooth connectivity combined with a user friendly phone app make it easy to tweak and experiment with. The CODE can save your desired presets along with all the added effects. The frequent firmware updates eliminate any nuisances.
The possibilities with this amplifier are endless all at an extremely modest price point with 25w models. This qualifies it as the best budget blues amp.
For all its versatility, reliability, usability, portability, and exceptional tone, the CODE, to experienced players, still lacks the character of a valve amp.
Conclusion
It is extremely difficult to choose the best blues amp from the immeasurably wide variety of amps for blues available on the market.
For the professional to semi professional guitarists who have a solid grip on an instrument and demand great dynamic capacity from their amplifiers, we recommend the Fender Blues Deluxe. It is affordable and offers greatness in a portable chassis. the spring reverb paired with the authenticity of its tube sound can deliver unforgettable tones.
However, for most of you newbie guitarists out there experimenting with tones of different technology to figure out your own tone but lack the fortune to allow for it, the Marshall CODE is perfect for you. It not only offers some of the best blues amps but also eliminates the cost of effects pedals, simultaneously providing endless combinations of gear making it one the the best amps for blues.
Individual blues amps cannot satisfy the style of every player. In the end, music and tone are subjective. Experimenting and using trial and error to your advantage can lead you to what you desire from your tone as a guitarist. That is what makes any amp the best for you.
