Top Amplifiers for Practice - The Sound That Works At Home

Last Updated: November 19, 2019 To reflect recent changes in this market, we gave this practice amp chart a complete overhaul! We removed some older models including the Fender Frontman 10G and Line 6 Spider Classic 15. In their place, we added five new units! These comprised the Fender Mustang I V2, the Orange Crush 20RT and the tried-and-tested Fender Champion 20. We also added the cool Boss Katana Mini and the Peavey Solo 12W.

The old saying ‘practice makes perfect’ couldn't be more appropriate for guitar – the only way to get really good is to put in the hours at home. In order to make the most of your practice sessions you’ll need both a decent guitar and a solid practice amp. Sure, you could practice on your Marshall stack, but it’s usually easier to play on a simple, low wattage amp. The chart in this article highlights some of the best practice amps on the market today, in several price ranges and wattages. Let’s get right to it!

6 Best Practice Amps

The Importance of Practice Amp

One of the main mistakes many beginners make is to spend their entire budget on an electric guitar, then ‘dry practice’ for a long time before grabbing an amp. However, it’s beneficial to plug into an amp from the first chord you play, as amplification will give you important feedback on your technique. Another issue arises from dry practice. When you play with no amp, you are unknowingly forcing yourself to play more aggressively because unplugged electric guitar is very hard to hear. In some cases, this can result in bad habits, which will be hard to get rid of down the line. This is why it’s well worth buying a small amp to practice with from the moment you start playing guitar. The good news – as you will have seen from the chart above – is that we live in a time where you can buy a great little combo amp at a dirt-cheap price. These allow you to give your guitar a real voice, without breaking the bank. In most cases, these amps will last you a few years, until you start to outgrow them with ambitions of recording and performing.

What Makes a Good Practice Amp?

Any guitar amp you have at your disposal can be classed as a practice amp. For example, if you practice on a stack of 4x12 Marshall cabs, this is technically a practice amp. But it’s probably not the best one. Let’s take a quick look at what features a good practice amp will have: Size As most guitar practice is usually done at home, the size of the practice amp matters. In an ideal world your practice amp will be compact enough that you can store it in a cupboard or under a bed if space is an issue, while being light enough to move it around quickly (for example, when your mom/your partner/the kids are out and you want to enjoy a quick session in your alone time!). Power Blasting a 100-watt stack is a wonderful experience, but it’s not something you will want to do in your home on a daily basis – unless you enjoy frequent visits from the police. Thankfully, these small practice amps are rarely overpowered by design, giving you good tone without making the practice session uncomfortably loud. Versatility Even with a small amp, there’s no need to compromise on versatility. All amps should offer volume and gain controls, as well as 2 or 3-band EQ. Depending on the price you spend, you can pick up an affordable amp worthy of practice that still offers an excellent range of amp models and built-in effects including delay, echo and chorus. While digital effects aren’t essential to practice sessions, they can help with experimentation and overall experience. Price One of the best things about a practice amp is their price. Some models are more expensive than others, but rarely will you end up paying over the odds for something you keep under your desk. In fact, some amps come in at well under $100, which allows you to factor this price into your initial spending costs.

Tube or Solid State?

The majority of practice amps are solid-state models. Why? Because they tick all the boxes for what makes a good practice amp – affordable, lightweight and easy to use. For a complete beginner, a solid-state amp makes the most sense. However, if you are a more advanced guitarist, a small tube amp to practice on can really enhance your sessions. With the advent of low power switches, tube amps are becoming more and more suitable for low-volume practice at home. Providing you are experienced enough to make the most of them – and that you can afford the cost – a tube practice amp can be a worthwhile choice.

Head or Combo?

Another variable worth considering is whether to go for an amp head or a combo amp. Of course, 95% of practice amps are combos because they are so convenient. You don’t need a separate speaker to be heard and they are much cheaper than heads. However, don’t completely rule out heads as they tend to add some big versatility. For example, you can practice on it via headphones at home, then easily transport it to a venue, hook it up to a cab and gig with it.

The Final Word

Practice amps are the best way to properly develop your guitar skills – whether you are a complete beginner or an experienced shredder who continues to develop his chops. Although our chart is by no means a comprehensive breakdown of all the practice amps out there, it will certainly give you a flavor of what’s hot and will hopefully have given you some inspiration.