An electric guitar can have any number of a range of extra features, accessories and gadgets used to adjust, distort and affect the sound that it produces. But one item is an absolute necessity: no electric guitar can be performed or make any decent sound without an amplifier. A good quality amplifier can make a huge difference, and if you are looking to buy an electric guitar, or perhaps move on from a basic starter model, then a good quality and flexible amplifier unit to match the guitar will make all the difference. After all, it is the guitar which produces the signal, but the amplifier which makes the sound. It would be the same as considering a choir and the conductor. Both are important, but no matter how good the conductor, it is the choir which ultimately make the sound, and have the greatest impact on the eventual quality of sound heard.
Amplifiers that were created specifically for an instrument were first developed as part of the electric guitar development, and it was these instruments which first benefited from any kind of external amplification. These early units were developed in the 1930s, and it was the advent of more advanced electrics that enabled amplification units to be built that were both economic and of good quality. Of course, the amplification of guitars had been around for much longer, but simply for acoustic guitars, with microphones set up. The combination of electronic amplification units coupled to electric guitars gave rise to a whole new sound of music, originally popularised by the steel stung sound of the Hawaiian guitar.
Early amplifiers were fairly basic, and although they often had a range of controls, these didn’t provide a wide range of controls to improve sound quality. Generally the early amplifiers were very good at boosting the treble signal, but the bass notes were poor, and the response was slow. As these early models developed, extra features were included such as reverberation effects and tremolo units.
In fact, Fender introduced an amplification unit which included a tremolo effect, although through an error of misunderstanding this was labelled as ‘vibrato’, with the lever included on the Stratocaster guitar which actually produced the vibrato effect labelled as ‘tremolo’. These incorrect labels stuck, however, and today the most popular way of referring to the tremolo effect is through the word vibrato, and the vibrato effect is usually referred to as tremolo. This is why music written for electric guitar has these words used quite differently from music written for other instruments.
Many of these earlier models of amplifier could be reasonably easily overloaded, and some guitarists took to deliberately achieving this effect, creating a range of distortion effects. Indeed, it was Dave Davies, guitarist with the Kinks who first introduced a distortion effect which involved him connecting the output from one of his amplifiers into the input section of a second amplifier. This distortion effect created a unique, wailing sound, and was one which, whilst the designers at the time could never have imagined, was later introduced by many other performers and amplifier designers. Distortion effects today are so prevalent that it almost seems a requirement that a guitarist can produce such a sound within many genres of music.
Author: Victor Epand
Fender Guitar Amplifiers » Blog Archive » Electric Guitars
Amplifiers that were created specifically for an instrument were first developed as part of the electric guitar development, and it was these instruments which first benefited from any kind of external amplification.
Guitar Amps
A guitar amplifier is simply an electronic amplifier designed for use with an electric guitar. An electronic amplifier, in turn, is a piece of gear designed to increase energy and amplitude of a signal. In this case, that signal that is … Guitar amps have been around since the early 1930’s. In the 1940’s, Hawaiian music was all the rage and amplifiers were used primarily with the guitar Hawaiian lap steel guitar. Then in the mid 1950’s, thanks to the revolution of rock.
Investing in Vintage Electric Guitars
Decades ago, when vintage guitars were new, the technology to produce them was in its early stages and many of the electric pick-ups had to be hand-wound or if they were machine made, each was just a little different.
The Early Design Of The Electric Guitar
This was officially the first electric guitar, but falling short of those we see today. Although there have been used and popular right now, the first documented record an electric guitar that was used early in a public performance.
Mail this post