page_title: Instrument amplifier
section_title: Guitar amplifiers
hierarchical_section_title: Instrument amplifier / Types / Guitar amplifiers
caption_attribution_description: English: Two guitars propped up against a small Vox amplifier
context_page_description: An instrument amplifier is an electronic device that converts the often barely audible or purely electronic signal of a musical instrument into a larger electronic signal to feed to a loudspeaker. An instrument amplifier is used with musical instruments such as an electric guitar, an electric bass, electric organ, synthesizers and drum machine to convert the signal from the pickup or other sound source into an electronic signal that has enough power, due to being routed through a power amplifier, capable of driving one or more loudspeaker that can be heard by the performers and audience.
  Combination amplifiers include a preamplifier, a power amplifier, tone controls, and one or more speakers in a cabinet, a housing or box usually made of hardwood, plywood or particleboard. Instrument amplifiers for some instruments are also available without an internal speaker; these amplifiers, called heads, must plug into one or more external speaker cabinets. Instrument amplifiers also have features that let the performer modify the signal's tone, such as changing the equalization or adding electronic effects such as intentional distortion/overdrive, reverb or chorus effect.
context_section_description: A guitar amplifier amplifies the electrical signal of an electric guitar (or, less commonly, with acoustic amplifiers, an acoustic guitar) so that it can drive a loudspeaker at sufficient volume for the performer and audience to hear. Most guitar amplifiers can also modify the instrument's with controls that emphasize or de-emphasize certain frequencies and add electronic effects. String vibrations are sensed by a suitable microphone or pickup, depending on the type of guitar. For electric guitars, strings are almost always made of metal, and the pickup works by electro-magnetic induction (these are called magnetic pickups; they are the most widely used type of pickup on electric guitars). Acoustic guitars do not usually have a built-in pickup or microphone, at least with entry-level and beginner instruments. Some acoustic guitars have a small condenser microphone mounted inside the body, which designed to convert acoustic vibrations into an electrical signal, but usually they do so from direct contact with the strings (replacing the guitar's bridge) or with the guitar's body, rather than having a membrane like general-purpose microphones. Acoustic guitars may also use a piezoelectric pickup, which converts the vibrations of the instrument into an electronic signal. More rarely, a magnetic pickup may be mounted in the sound hole of an acoustic guitar; while magnetic pickups do not have the same acoustic tone that microphones and piezo pickups can produce, magnetic pickups are more resistant to acoustic feedback.
caption: A Vox AC30 used by The Beatles
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