What does a guitar amp head do?

Answer 1

Well, a typical set up has some of the following controls: Channel selector - switches between various pre-set channels or between clean or distorted channels Volume/post-amp - these generally do the same thing, make the sound louder without distorting it Gain/drive - these raise the volume causing the sound to distort Tone/Levels (Bass-Mid-Trebel) - These control the output of the various ranges of sound. basically they manipulate the sound and tone, often greatly influencing the feel, play around with them to get to know them. Some amps have some digital effects controls: Delay - records the sound and makes it echo Reverb - mimics playing in a big room, and generally gives the sound a bigger feel without raising the volume. Chorusing - This makes your guitar sound like a twelve string, or like there are two Guitars playing at once Flanger - Hard to explain... just try it out Phaser/Pashe Shifter - also hard to explain... Tremolo - quickly mutes and unmutes the sound of your guitar causing a vibrating effect.

Answer 2

A guitar amp head is a tool for amplifying the electric signal coming out of the Electric Guitar. It consists of 2 stages, a preamp and a poweramp. The preamp is right after the input stage, and it's 50% of the tone character of the amp. Most of the time, the preamp contains the tone equalizing controls and the gain level control. The poweramp is where the real output comes from, and it's the other half of the tone character of the given amp. It usually has a Master Volume control and some tone-shaping features like a Presence or Resonance control.

A guitar amp head won't make a sound alone, it needs to be connected to some kinds of speakers that are usually enclosed in wooden cabinets.