by Adam Nierenberg

Created on: April 21, 2008

You have taken your first steps into the journey into tone. You are choosing a guitar amplification system; there are many things to consider. But first and foremost your biggest question would be, "how much amp can I afford for the money?"

So, you walk into your local music shop and more likely than not, the salesman will ask you how much you want to spend, and then try to pigeon-hole you into an amplifier that you might not like, but you can afford. If at all possible, when you go to buy an amp, bring your own guitar and your own effects. It will make a world of difference. It will be your guitar, so there will be no guessing on how it will sound when you arrive home, if you dig the amp in the store, chances are, you will dig it at home.

But, before you can ask how much you would like to spend, the other and just as important question becomes whether to purchase a tube amplifier or a solid-state amplifier.

The tone qualities between the two are subjective. Many players prefer the overdriven sound of a tube amplifier over the sound of a solid state amplifier. Many players don't mind solid state. Some players feel uncomfortable having to care for an amplifier with tubes as they would necessitate changing the tubes every so often, or lugging around the amplifier might damage the tubes. Most tube amplifiers built nowadays can withstand being moved from gig to gig. Whereas a well built solid state amplifier can take most of the abuse of travel and such with a less degree of the chance of failure.

Both are viable forms of creating sound, but from my own personal experience with both a solid state amplifier (Crate GTD 120), and a recently purchased tube amp (Carvin MTS 3212), I prefer the "warmth" of sound created by a tube amp. The warmth that is experienced from a tube amp is the rounding of the sound waves as the amplifier creates distortion. A solid state amplifier flattens the sound wave as the distortion rate increases. A rounded sound wave causes a more natural sound whereas a flattened sound wave sounds more unnatural to the ear.

There is another alternative called the modeling amp. It is a solid state amp that has preprogrammed settings to achieve the tones of various different amplifiers and players Line 6 is the leader in this technology. I, for one, believe that you need a degree in rocket science to operate a modeling amp. While the modeling sounds cool, it's still solid state, and the sound waves behave as if they're solid state. For instance the Line

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