Guitar Amplifiers 1 – Very Basic Amplifier #guitargear #guitaramp #guitaramplifier (YouTube Video Transcript)

(00:00:00) Your YouTube transcript will appear here (00:00:00) so I decided to do uh to talk about (00:00:02) guitar amplifiers and when I was (00:00:05) thinking about how I'm going to present (00:00:06) this I thought perhaps the best way to (00:00:08) do it is probably make a little mini (00:00:09) series similar to what I did when I was (00:00:11) talking about different types of guitars (00:00:13) the reason for that is that there's just (00:00:16) so much to cover on the topic of (00:00:18) amplifiers and I don't want my video (00:00:20) being sorry 10 years long want it to be (00:00:23) you know small and accessible a little (00:00:25) chunks so just to introduce what I want (00:00:27) to talk about I'll put the links to the (00:00:29) other ones I'll try and release this as (00:00:30) a as a structured series The Amplifier (00:00:33) when we're talking about guitar (00:00:34) amplifier the most basic function of the (00:00:37) amplifier is to make your guitar louder (00:00:40) so as an example again talking back to (00:00:43) uh talking back about the guitar series (00:00:45) I did about the different guitars I (00:00:47) mentioned the acoustic guitar which just (00:00:49) produces noise on its own you don't need (00:00:51) an amplifier for that and then I also (00:00:54) talked about a couple of different (00:00:55) electric guitars I mentioned the black (00:00:57) guitar you can see just behind me (00:00:59) called up a basic electric guitar (00:01:02) because it's the (00:01:04) um the way it's designed it's quite a (00:01:06) basic level it's what most people will (00:01:08) recognize as an introductory kind of (00:01:11) electric guitar (00:01:12) and I also talked about this guitar (00:01:14) which is uh a more advanced electric (00:01:17) guitar with some higher end features on (00:01:20) it it was quite a bit more expensive (00:01:22) when I bought it (00:01:24) um and for that reason it's (00:01:28) um it's more of a sophisticated guitar (00:01:30) if you will something that's probably (00:01:31) more serious too advanced players now (00:01:35) the reason I'm mentioning that is to (00:01:38) introduce the aspect of amplifiers this (00:01:40) guitar no matter how much I've spent on (00:01:43) it or no matter what equipment it's got (00:01:47) on it what different knobs and switches (00:01:49) and functions and features and equipment (00:01:52) on the guitar unless I've got an (00:01:55) amplifier to go with it it's nothing (00:01:57) more than an acoustic guitar in fact (00:02:00) it's even less than that because the (00:02:03) word an electric guitar is built without (00:02:05) the cavity and the Sound Hall if you (00:02:07) remember that the acoustic guitar has (00:02:08) got (00:02:09) you'll barely be able to hear this thing (00:02:11) unless it's plugged into something so (00:02:13) [Music] (00:02:20) that's all I'm going to get out of this (00:02:21) instrument without an amplifier no (00:02:24) matter how much I spent on fancy (00:02:26) electronics and hardware and other stuff (00:02:28) like that so really it's a little bit (00:02:31) pointless without having an amplifier to (00:02:33) go with it so just as a quick example I (00:02:36) mentioned that the idea of number five (00:02:37) is just to make the the sound louder so (00:02:40) that you can hear it that's the most (00:02:42) basic reason for it I've got this one (00:02:44) plugged in at a minute but the volume (00:02:45) was down I'll just turn the volume up (00:02:48) [Music] (00:02:55) so (00:02:56) that's the the difference there is (00:02:57) simply the result of this being plugged (00:02:59) into an amplifier the sound I've got sat (00:03:01) on the amp is literally it's it's a (00:03:04) basic (00:03:05) clean sound all I was trying to do was (00:03:09) make the natural sound of the guitar (00:03:11) louder so it can be heard so that's the (00:03:15) key basic feature of an amplifier you'll (00:03:18) see if you've looked at different (00:03:20) amplifiers and there's so many of them (00:03:22) that a lot of them nowadays than it used (00:03:25) to when I was first starting I've got (00:03:28) loads of different features like um (00:03:30) special effects built into them a lot of (00:03:33) them now have things like Bluetooth and (00:03:35) that sort of you can connect your phone (00:03:36) and play backing tracks and all that (00:03:38) type of things even on some of the more (00:03:40) basic amps so there's just so many (00:03:42) different choices to go for which is one (00:03:45) of the reasons I've decided to sort of (00:03:46) break this down into segments so I'm not (00:03:50) going to be recommending so I've gone by (00:03:52) any particular brand of amplifier or (00:03:55) this one's better than another one the (00:03:57) idea is I'm going to start from the (00:03:59) bottom with the very very most basic amp (00:04:02) you can buy (00:04:03) um this little guy sat next to me here (00:04:05) last color I'm going to start with (00:04:07) because that's the most basic thing I've (00:04:09) got here all that does is make the (00:04:11) signal louder it doesn't do anything (00:04:12) else for me so I'm going to start from (00:04:14) there (00:04:15) and then I'm going to have a look at (00:04:17) some other different amplifiers I've got (00:04:19) a little bit more in terms of features (00:04:21) on them that may or may not be useful to (00:04:24) you and may or may not be things that (00:04:26) you want to consider in terms of buying (00:04:29) an amp I'm going to focus mostly on what (00:04:32) we call practice amplifiers those are (00:04:35) small amplifiers similar to this one or (00:04:37) the other one behind me that a small in (00:04:40) size the power output is is quite low (00:04:43) compared to some other amplifiers and (00:04:45) they're designed to be used (00:04:48) as the name suggests a practice (00:04:49) amplifier for practicing your playing in (00:04:52) your in your bedroom or in your music (00:04:54) room at home wherever you're doing it (00:04:56) did not designed to be sort of blasting (00:04:59) out on stage and playing you know big (00:05:04) concerts and gigs and things like that (00:05:05) that's not the idea of it if you're (00:05:09) playing live and with abandon you're (00:05:12) looking for an amplifier for that type (00:05:14) of thing the chances are you probably (00:05:17) already know a little bit about guitars (00:05:19) and amplifiers and you've probably got a (00:05:21) better idea about the sort of sound you (00:05:23) want to produce and you've probably got (00:05:26) a decent sort of shortlisting you had (00:05:28) about the type of amplifiers you'll want (00:05:30) to be looking at so that being the case (00:05:32) this series probably isn't going to be (00:05:34) that much use to you it's going to be (00:05:36) aimed at people who perhaps haven't (00:05:37) bought an amplifier before just starting (00:05:40) out with guitar like quite a lot of my (00:05:41) students but at the point now where they (00:05:44) might have started on acoustic decided (00:05:46) they want to have an electric guitar as (00:05:48) well and um obviously to go with (00:05:51) electric guitar they need to buy an (00:05:52) amplifier to go with it so I will start (00:05:55) off in the most basic amplifier and then (00:05:57) have a look at some of the most (00:05:58) something other more some of the more (00:06:00) sophisticated ones that are available on (00:06:04) the market anything interesting or that (00:06:06) I refer to as ever a link and I'll also (00:06:09) as I promised I'll link together this (00:06:12) series so that you can have a look at (00:06:13) the different uh areas that suits you I (00:06:17) want to start off by talking about a (00:06:18) really basic amplifier this uh this (00:06:21) amplifier that I'm showing now this is (00:06:23) the most simple basic amplifier that (00:06:25) I've currently got it's actually a bass (00:06:28) guitar amplifier but that doesn't matter (00:06:30) for the purpose of um of what I'm trying (00:06:32) to show you now and what I'm trying to (00:06:34) explain it's (00:06:36) um a guitar amplifier of this sort of of (00:06:39) this sort of standard this sort of price (00:06:40) would be exactly the same more or less (00:06:43) so um in terms of keeping it simple this (00:06:46) is the simplest thing that I've got just (00:06:47) about to show you so on the front panel (00:06:50) here this is where we've got all the all (00:06:52) the stuff that I'm going to talk about (00:06:54) so I'm going to work from the the (00:06:56) outside in (00:06:57) over here on the far right as you're (00:06:59) looking at it you've got the power (00:07:00) switch fairly self-explanatory switch (00:07:03) the thing on and off (00:07:04) um next door to that we've also got a (00:07:07) really useful feature (00:07:08) it's a headphone socket which enables (00:07:10) you to practice sound only even though (00:07:12) these practice amps tend to be quite low (00:07:15) powered (00:07:16) depending on your circumstances if (00:07:17) you've got sort of family at home or if (00:07:19) you've got neighbors that are that are (00:07:21) sensitive sometimes if you're playing (00:07:23) late at night it can be useful to plug (00:07:26) your headphones in and be able to (00:07:27) practice without disturbing anybody if I (00:07:29) plug my headphones into into here it (00:07:33) would silence it will cut off the (00:07:34) amplifier so it wouldn't make any sound (00:07:36) and there'd only be me able to hear it (00:07:39) through the headphones so no matter what (00:07:43) sort of lamp you're looking at if you (00:07:44) need to practice late at night or if (00:07:46) you're around people who might be (00:07:48) annoyed by (00:07:50) um people practicing then a headphone (00:07:52) output is always a great thing to have (00:07:54) make sure you can practice longer (00:07:56) without bothering people (00:07:58) this side of the amplifier you can see (00:08:01) I've got my uh my guitar lead plugged (00:08:04) into the input here so that that's (00:08:07) fairly simple as well whatever guitar (00:08:08) using electric guitars I say this is a (00:08:10) bare sample it doesn't matter (00:08:12) um I would just quickly say at this (00:08:14) point do not try and use a guitar (00:08:17) amplifier (00:08:19) to play a bass guitar through like that (00:08:21) can cause damage to the amplifier doing (00:08:23) it this way around won't cause a problem (00:08:25) but doing it the other way around if I (00:08:27) was to play a bass through a guitar amp (00:08:29) that could cause a problem but in this (00:08:32) instance it's not going to be any issue (00:08:35) next to my input I've got uh if you can (00:08:38) see it says match the volume (00:08:40) that's the the main volume control for (00:08:42) the amplifier in fact it's the only (00:08:44) volume control on this amplifier and all (00:08:46) that does is determine how loud the (00:08:48) amplifier is going to play back now (00:08:51) as I mentioned before (00:08:53) the power ratings for these little um (00:08:56) practice amps this one's rated at 15 (00:08:59) watts and if you can see where the knob (00:09:02) of my volume is pointed it's down around (00:09:04) one out of ten and just to play now (00:09:14) that's absolutely perfectly loud enough (00:09:17) for for an easy build to practice (00:09:19) whatever I want to do and that's (00:09:21) literally that as I say that's one out (00:09:22) of ten so you can imagine even a little (00:09:25) Amper this size cheap little amp if I (00:09:27) was to turn this up and crank it right (00:09:29) up it'll be probably a lot louder than (00:09:31) you'd want to be playing at home with (00:09:34) your family and neighbors and things (00:09:35) like that before I get in complex (00:09:37) the this section of the amplifier is (00:09:40) called Equalization (00:09:41) what this does is it changes the (00:09:44) relative volume of different frequencies (00:09:48) in your sound that might come across a (00:09:50) little bit complicated but we can adjust (00:09:53) how loud we want the high-pitched parts (00:09:55) of our sound to be the mid-range of our (00:09:58) sound and the lower pitch parts of my (00:10:01) sound relative to each other so this is (00:10:03) this works separately from the volume so (00:10:06) if I play my chord (00:10:09) if I was to turn this is this is the (00:10:11) high equalizer all the way up (00:10:18) becomes very high and nasally (00:10:20) so that's going to make the high (00:10:23) frequencies in my plane louder (00:10:26) the mid one turn that up just as an (00:10:29) example (00:10:33) that'll make the middle of the chord the (00:10:35) B for the chord stand out a little bit (00:10:37) more I was just playing an A Minor there (00:10:39) by the way if you wondered what I was (00:10:40) just playing it was a simple chord and (00:10:42) the law (00:10:44) turn that up (00:10:50) that makes the lower knots the basier (00:10:53) strings so the thicker strings on the (00:10:54) guitar sound even longer this amp (00:10:58) because it's a it's a bare samp it's got (00:11:00) four knobs on there there's a this one (00:11:01) at the end is called law this one (00:11:03) actually doesn't do anything when I'm (00:11:05) playing a guitar through it because it's (00:11:06) designed for bass guitars normal guitars (00:11:09) do not get down to these lower (00:11:11) frequencies where this knob becomes (00:11:13) involved so a normal typical guitar (00:11:16) amplifier will probably only have (00:11:18) three little knobs there one will be (00:11:20) high one will be medium and one will be (00:11:22) lower (00:11:23) so for this example forget about this (00:11:25) one (00:11:26) just think about you've got your inputs (00:11:28) plug into your volume for how loud the (00:11:31) amp is going to project (00:11:33) equalizer law mid High (00:11:37) headphone socket for silent practice (00:11:41) and then obviously the switch to turn it (00:11:43) on and off it's about as basic as (00:11:45) amplifiers get it's about as cheap as (00:11:47) amplifiers get from from what I've seen (00:11:50) um but if it's just a case of making (00:11:52) your guitar louder so that you can hear (00:11:54) the electric guitar it's absolutely fine (00:11:57) for that purpose it's not going to do (00:12:00) anything else for you it's not going to (00:12:01) give you any fancy effects it won't even (00:12:03) give you the overdrive Distortion (00:12:06) effects I've used on some of my videos (00:12:07) the crunchy sort of cells this basic (00:12:10) amplifier isn't going to do that you (00:12:13) might need something more sophisticated (00:12:14) for that but this is your entry level (00:12:17) this is the most simple (00:12:20) amplifier that does what it says on the (00:12:22) 10 makes the guitar louder that's all it (00:12:25) does and it does it quite well so the (00:12:27) end I've just showed you is literally (00:12:29) the most basic cheapest entry level type (00:12:31) of arm you could buy to put your guitar (00:12:33) through (00:12:35) um (00:12:36) do I recommend purchasing an amp like (00:12:39) that (00:12:40) no to be honest absolutely not the (00:12:43) reason for that is (00:12:44) despite it being the cheapest (00:12:46) the value for money aspect of it you (00:12:49) spend a little bit more money you can (00:12:51) get something that is just so much (00:12:53) better and so much more flexible than (00:12:57) you than your very very very cheapest (00:12:58) one as I said all that's going to do is (00:13:01) make your guitar louder it's not going (00:13:03) to give you any variety of different (00:13:04) sounds it tones to the guitar it doesn't (00:13:06) have any effects on it now effects are a (00:13:09) totally different subject but it's (00:13:11) useful to be able to have access to (00:13:13) those when you practice amp because it (00:13:15) enables you to um play things that sound (00:13:18) closer to some of the things you might (00:13:19) want to be practicing too now as I (00:13:22) mentioned the amp um actually don't know (00:13:24) how much that one costs the little one I (00:13:26) just showed you (00:13:27) but maybe 50 Quid or something like that (00:13:30) new even I I don't know (00:13:32) the amplifier that um that I've been (00:13:35) using to produce all of everything I've (00:13:37) recorded on electric guitar on my (00:13:39) channel so far has been through that (00:13:41) other little practice sound that I've (00:13:42) got sat on the floor behind me there now (00:13:45) that amp is um probably an example of (00:13:47) the next level up I'm going to cover it (00:13:49) in a separate video but uh but I mean by (00:13:52) means of example (00:13:53) the one that I'm using about it about 15 (00:13:56) years now so it's not available anymore (00:13:58) it's discontinued I just had a quick (00:14:00) look on the internet on there (00:14:03) Google search for the (00:14:05) to buy one if I was wanting to buy one (00:14:07) use one of those it set you back about (00:14:09) 70 or 80 quid and as you'll see in my (00:14:13) next video because I'm going to (00:14:14) demonstrate that one in my next video (00:14:15) it's just going to give you so much more (00:14:17) flexibility so much more options and a (00:14:20) much higher level of quality the sound (00:14:22) quality that I'm demonstrating for you (00:14:24) might not fully come across because I'm (00:14:27) just recording through the camera (00:14:28) speaker I'm not using any fancy (00:14:30) recording equipment or anything like (00:14:31) that literally it's just whatever the (00:14:33) camera is picking up so it sounds a lot (00:14:35) better in the room than what it will do (00:14:38) perhaps to yourselves on the camera but (00:14:41) by going a little bit extra as I say (00:14:43) this that's a huge example of a used one (00:14:45) for 70 quid 80 quid (00:14:47) to buy an equivalent one like that now (00:14:49) or in fact to buy something like that (00:14:52) now you'll be getting something with (00:14:53) more features as I mentioned with a (00:14:55) Bluetooth and extra connections and (00:14:57) things like that to make practicing (00:14:58) easier probably the tuning built in this (00:15:00) one doesn't have a tuner built in (00:15:02) you'd be looking at maybe 100 quid 100 (00:15:05) and 100 230 quid or something like that (00:15:08) to be able to get a really really nice (00:15:10) practice amp that's got all the sounds (00:15:12) and all the effects and everything you'd (00:15:14) ever want on it so in terms of value for (00:15:17) money I know you're looking at maybe (00:15:19) probably not double the price kind of (00:15:21) thing but for that extra bit of money (00:15:24) I would definitely recommend at least (00:15:27) even having a trying them out having a (00:15:31) go on them or if you're not comfortable (00:15:33) doing that have a look at some YouTube (00:15:35) reviews look at as many reviews as you (00:15:38) can I always say Don't just look at my (00:15:39) channel and just try and gauge for (00:15:42) yourself how much more you're going to (00:15:43) get for your money something like that (00:15:46) or the modern day equivalent will (00:15:48) literally see you through years and (00:15:51) years of practicing no matter how much (00:15:54) your level goes up it'll still be there (00:15:56) for you it'll still do everything you (00:15:57) want it to do as I said I've had that (00:15:58) for over 15 years and that's still my (00:16:01) go-to practice amp now and even them (00:16:04) that I use for for making these videos (00:16:06) now on top of the um (00:16:09) the one I've just the Amplified that (00:16:11) I've just demonstrated which gives you (00:16:13) that (00:16:14) [Music] (00:16:18) it amplifies a guitar it makes it sounds (00:16:20) sound cleaner (00:16:21) the more sophisticated version of the (00:16:24) practice amp is going to give you (00:16:26) different choices of tones and different (00:16:30) sounds that you can produce so you can (00:16:33) play a lot of different styles of music (00:16:34) and you can make your sound a lot more (00:16:37) authentic to what you're playing (00:16:39) I'll uh let's give you a couple of (00:16:41) really really quick examples of what (00:16:44) what that amplifier will do that the (00:16:46) other one didn't and then I'll cover it (00:16:48) more in um in a separate video in this (00:16:52) series so there's a lot of clean sound I (00:16:54) was literally just amplifying the sound (00:16:56) of the guitar I switched to a different (00:16:58) sound and um you can just well you can (00:17:01) see immediately (00:17:02) um the difference so one of the things (00:17:04) that the um most sophisticated amp will (00:17:07) do is allow us to (00:17:09) dial in what we call overdrive (00:17:11) Distortion so we can create these sort (00:17:14) of dirty sound anything from a little (00:17:16) bit of a breaking up kind of a blue (00:17:18) sound to a full-on heavy metal sound (00:17:20) which saves me because that's my style (00:17:22) of playing the other I'm not a chance of (00:17:24) making that sound with it whatsoever no (00:17:27) matter how hard I try with this amp the (00:17:30) next the next step up I can just turn a (00:17:33) knob press a couple of buttons and I've (00:17:35) got that sound on tap and I can do it (00:17:37) immediately so even at these lower (00:17:39) practicing levels which are important (00:17:40) for practicing in your your bedroom in (00:17:42) your basement wherever it is in your (00:17:44) house that you're going to practice with (00:17:46) I can reproduce those super heavy sounds (00:17:48) that you associate with wild bands (00:17:50) without needing to crank the amplifier (00:17:53) up so you're breaking windows and and (00:17:55) setting car alarms off so I've switched (00:17:57) my sound to a heavy sound you can just (00:17:59) see just by switching it (00:18:03) [Music] (00:18:07) I've got that sound on top so a clean (00:18:11) sound to that and anything in between I (00:18:14) can just easily (00:18:15) produce just by using that amplifier (00:18:18) I've got nothing else connected to that (00:18:20) that's just that little practice (00:18:21) amplifier that 15 year old amplifier (00:18:23) I've got it's also got effects built in (00:18:26) as well so that I can produce a wider (00:18:30) variety of sounds I want to use any (00:18:32) effects there on the clean sound or on (00:18:34) the distorted sound but um one of the (00:18:38) things I commonly use effects for if I'm (00:18:39) playing what we call lead guitar or solo (00:18:42) bits where I might be playing (00:18:45) um (00:18:45) [Music] (00:18:49) a little riff like that and that sounds (00:18:52) okay it's not too bad (00:18:54) if I was to add some effects to that (00:18:56) then I can change the character that'll (00:18:58) make it sound a lot more pleasant the (00:18:59) way that you normally hear it sound on (00:19:01) records so just have some effects on but (00:19:03) they've I think I've got some chorus (00:19:04) delaying Reverb don't worry about that (00:19:06) I'll mention effects in another video (00:19:07) but I'll play a similar type of thing (00:19:09) just a little bit of effects on the amp (00:19:11) and hopefully be able to hear the (00:19:13) difference it makes and now it sounds a (00:19:16) lot better than what I did without them (00:19:18) [Music] (00:19:23) you might just get a little bit of the (00:19:24) echo sort of revert type thing there (00:19:26) again I'll cover the effects later but (00:19:30) um the message is (00:19:31) don't always buy the cheapest one just (00:19:33) because it's the cheapest one just have (00:19:35) a think about you know going forward you (00:19:38) buy the cheapest one or you're going to (00:19:39) have to spend money again in buying a (00:19:42) slightly better quality on at a later (00:19:44) date or is it worth making a decision (00:19:47) now getting something that's going to (00:19:49) last you (00:19:50) a lot longer in my case as I said I'll (00:19:53) miss 15 years plus and you'll get a lot (00:19:56) more life out of it a lot more enjoyment (00:19:57) from playing so the recommendation is (00:20:00) don't buy the basic one that is just (00:20:03) literally an amplifier consider having a (00:20:06) look at something that will give you a (00:20:08) lot more flexibility and a lot more (00:20:10) features whichever type of amplifier (00:20:12) you're playing (00:20:13) enjoy