Best guitar amps

Many of today's best guitar amps are combo amplifiers, meaning they marry a speaker with a preamp and a poweramp to give you a portable, plug-and-play setup that's perfect for practicing at home or taking your show on the road. If you're a professional musician, you know that the sound systems and microphones out there now give your guitar the added boost in volume and tone that complicated, oversized speakers and systems used to do. Whether you're a pro or you're picking out your first amp, we have opinions. Check out our list of the top five guitar amps.

Fender leads the amp game and has for decades. The Frontman 10G is a small 10-watt amp with cool, old-school looks. The controls are front-facing and responsive, letting you take charge of gain, volume, treble, and bass. The headphone port gives you the ability to practice without disturbing others nearby, and with aux-in, you can hook up a phone or stereo and practice along with your favorite bands. The Frontman 10G has great tones, a closed-back design that allows for heavy bass response, and it's our pick for musicians of any skill level.

If size and price are your deciding factors, you won't regret buying the Blackstar FLY3, a microamp that's so small it fits in the palm of your hand. This go-anywhere guitar amp is just right for practice or warm-up sessions. You dial in the tone, volume, and delay with full-size control knobs. With the built-in equalizer, getting the sound you want is easy. This box has MP3/line-in and headphone ports and a rechargeable battery. The FLY3 is a high-quality, pint-sized guitar amp that's worth every penny.

The PositiveGrid Spark is a guitar amp that's compatible with ukuleles and electric, bass, and acoustic guitars. It's a high-tech amp that learns your style and can generate bass and drums to accompany you. Cool, right? You'll get access to more than 10,000 amp and FX presets, plus you can import your music from streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube. The Spark is a 40-watt combo amp that supports onboard tone stack controls and comes with a built-in tuner and recording software. And the sound? It'll blow you away!

Beginners rejoice! The Sawtooth amp kit is the best deal going. For your money, you'll get a basic amp with full controls, a 10-foot instrument cable, and four picks to get you started. The master equalizer onboard lets you customize the treble, middle, and bass tones. Sound levels are loud without being distorted, and there's a leather handle so you can tote this from room to room. 

The Orange Amplification Crush Mini runs on a 9V battery and plugs into a standard wall outlet. Simple controls let you play with the volume, gain, and shape. There's a built-in tuner and a headphone output jack, so you can crank it up for a small crowd or do your thing silently. If you need a small practice amp that gives a wide range of tones, the battery-powered Crush Mini is a deal that's hard to pass up.

Bottom line

The best guitar amps have intuitive controls, booming volume, and the ability to practice silently or play for a crowd. The Fender Frontman 10G has all this and more. With classic looks, headphone and aux-in ports, and big, bright sound, this is our favorite guitar amp.

If it's a practice guitar amp you need, and you want to save a few bucks, grab the Blackstar FLY3. It's tiny enough to fit in your hand or a backpack and delivers excellent sound.

If it's bells and whistles you crave, snap up the PostiveGrid Spark. It's compatible with electric, bass, and acoustic guitars and gives you advanced control over the output.