Guitar Amplifier Buying Guide: Amplifier Heads

The guitar amp head is the crowning achievement in guitar amplification. Powerful and flexible, the guitar amplifier head is where you'll shape and set your guitar tone. With a variety of power ratings, tube and solid-state configurations, effects, and special features, there is a guitar amplifier head for every player.

This buying guide showcases our favorite heads to suit any musician. We've broken these heads down by power rating so you can find the right one for your specific performance needs.

Amp Shopping Tip - Tube vs. Solid-State Wattage: As any guitar amp collector will tell you, a 50-watt tube amplifier gets a lot louder than a 50-watt solid-state amplifier. Keep in mind that wattage measures power, not loudness. When a tube amp is turned up past the point of distortion, your ears hear the resulting harmonics as additional loudness. And while cranked-up tube amps actually put out more power than their rated level, solid-state amps have a hard ceiling -- there's no more power to be had once you reach the top.

While every amp is different, a good rule of thumb is the 3:1 rule -- 3 watts of solid-state power is about equal to 1 watt of tube power when it comes to perceived loudness.