31st July 2008 - by Logan N Young
How Do Guitar Amps Work?
What are guitar amps? These are amplifiers that amplify the
sound coming from the guitar and passing through
them.
The amps drive the guitar loudspeaker. When a guitar is played
some sound waves are generated. These waves are then converted
into an electrical signal, and fed into the guitar amplifier.
Sometimes the input of the guitar amp is not compatible with
the minute signal emanating from the guitar; in such a case the
signal is first sent to a pre-amplifier. From the pre-amplifier
the output is fed into the guitar amp.
Stages Of Work
The guitar amp works in four stages. These stages are the input
stage, signal modulation stage, signal amplification stage, and
the output stage.
Input
In this stage the signal from the guitar or the guitar pre-amp
is fed into the guitar amp. The amplifier has some input female
jacks; the signal cable is attached into these jacks. Sometimes
the guitar signal is very weak, and cannot be fed into the
guitar amp directly. In such situations the signal is made to
pass through the guitar pre-amp before reaching the main
amplifier. The impedance match between the available input
signal impedance and the particular guitar amp's input signal
impedance must be ensured. If there is any such impedance
imbalance, it invariably causes distorted guitar sound on the
loudspeaker.
Most amplifiers come with a pre-amp stage incorporated in to
them. It removes the hassle of passing the guitar signal
through a separate pre-amp. With such amplifiers the signal
from the guitar can directly be routed through the amp
itself.
Signal Modulation
The electric guitarists do not like the idea of plain music
coming out of the loud speakers. They are happy if the guitar
sounds can be jazzed up. The twangy, the funky, and the heavily
distorted sounds are well liked by them. For example if a
guitarist wants to incorporate the heavy metal rock sound into
his guitar sounds, the input signal will need to go through the
required heavy distortion. Similarly to produce wa-wa sounds or
reverb etc., the input signal must undergo modulation before
the sounds are finally amplified. The equalizers and tone
control knobs too need to undergo the signal modulation
stage.
Signal Amplification
It is at this stage that the actual amplification happens. That
is why this stage is known as the business stage of a guitar
amp. The outgoing signal at this stage is the same as the
incoming signal from the modulation stage. The only difference
is that the output is of much greater amplitude. In short, the
signal amplifier simply and faithfully amplifies the incoming
signal.
Output
Output stage is the last stage of a guitar amp. In some amp
there is a sub-stage of output driver stage, but some have just
a simple output stage. If your guitar amp is not of a good
quality, it will just feed the outgoing signal from the
amplification stage directly into the loudspeaker. The good
quality guitar amps ensure that there is a signal conditioning
output stage that matches the output signal to the input
specifications of the loud speaker.
A serious guitarist is supposed to have a good working
knowledge of guitar amps. If you are knowledgeable, you will
always go for a good guitar amp. A good guitar amp makes all
the difference to the reliability and predictability of the
musical sounds that finally come out of the loudspeaker, when
you play your guitar.
Article Source: http://www.megamusicsite.com
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