Many guitarists have settled with the fact that they need a certain amount of money before they can practice in their little corner and listen to the beautiful sound that comes off the notes of their electric guitar.
Of course, without an electric guitar amplifier combo, your electric guitar is rendered useless, and you don’t have to occupy your mind with the thought that you need expensive gear before you make a perfectionist. You sure need a quality guitar amp for practice but not every expensive guitar amplifier is durable and built to last. You should have a rethink if you are one of those who thinks that $100 can’t get you a proper electric guitar amplifier.
Every time I come across customers reviews, I think of the importance of spicing up a good buying guide that is well understandable and easy to follow, not the ones that advertise their one-way product because of promotions. Ride with me as I take you through some of the best guitar amps that sell for under $100. Yeah!!! You heard right — $ 100.
In case you are also looking for a new guitar, check the best electric guitars under $500. As well, with the same budget, the best acoustic-electric guitars.
We have selected the best electric guitar amplifier that costs less than $100 for you; this is to save you the stress of wandering around the store or wasting time online for what is not. They have been carefully examined and can be guaranteed okay for use.
14 Best Guitar Amplifiers Reviews
7 Mini Guitar Amp Under $100
1. Fender Frontman 10G Electric Guitar Amplifier
You should be getting very familiar with Fender by now. The Fender frontman guitar amplifier serves as a multi-purpose guitar amp that dish out clean sounds off your guitar. Whether you’re a beginner or guitarist already, anyone can use it. It also gives you access to take charge of the kind of tone you want to hear. This Fender model is a good sound machine for adjusting your guitar tone. Like the tube kind of amplifier, it comes with an overdrive knob, a feature that is so rare amongst non-tubed amplifiers. You also won’t find that amongst many of the competing models.
Inside the pack, you’ll find a headset jack for personal practice and additional input if you want to play an mp3 with this fender quality guitar amplifier, your practice will go on smoothly at all times. The majority of the other brands don’t have exciting features like that of Fender, and they still sell at higher rates. If you have been sleeping on this, it’s high time you woke up.
It is Amazon’s choice and has nearly perfect reviews and ratings by hundreds of users. If you need a small quality amp to drag around everywhere you go, this is the choice for you.
2. Donner Electric Guitar Amplifier 10 Watt
Donner is a trusted mini guitar amplifier that has proved its doubters wrong in many ways. It is a 10 watt sound machine but can last long for practice. Every feature of this electric guitar amplifier is unique, starting from the blackface design and silver grille clothing having knobs like that of a black chicken head. This fashion takes the resemblance of Fender‘s classic amplifiers. It is not heavy and has a sealed back so that the bass response would come out mightily.
Doner Amp 10W is an ideal guitar amplifier for beginners, and it is known to be Donner’s first electric guitar amplifier. It is practically built for beginners. It comes with a powerful 6.5-inch speaker specially designed for the bass output and gains control so that you can rock your guitar tones. Also, it comes with two modes namely; clean and boost.
The clean mode functions to keep things on the standard amplifier model while the booster mode can get things loud. If you prefer using pedals over the dirty channel, you can control your volume very well and also have a range of dirty tones. The EQs on this guitar amplifier is just like those on your electric guitar and functions the same way.
3. Blackstar Guitar Combo Amplifier Black FLY3
You’re getting more than what you’re cashing on this 3-watt mini amp, as a first-timer getting introduced to this product, you should not be discouraged because of the little power, it is indeed a great electric guitar amplifier. It comes with two combined channels and a tape delay system. It is a compact sound machine and easy to transport, designed for portability. Its infinite shape feature helps it dish out immense sound and tone manipulation.
Additionally, you can plug in your Smartphone, PC /Mac, tablet, or digital device through the Mp3 Jack and blast your favorite music when you feel bored, or you need to take a break from practicing. It is compatible with headphones too and again this is one device that runs on battery power, too many options in a compact electric guitar amplifier. You can take it anywhere even if there’s no power supply.
If you want more out of this guitar amp, you can part with little cash to get through the FLY 3 stereo pack; this means you’re getting an additional speaker and power adapter. That is good news to someone; I’m sure this is what someone wants to have right now. It also comes in 4 different colors (Black, Green, Royal Blue, and a Creamy with UK flag) for you to pick according to your style.
4. Boss Katana-Mini Battery Powered Guitar Amplifier
Boss katana mini guitar amp is another powerful sound machine that shouldn’t be taken for granted on this list. At this juncture, you shouldn’t see a battery-powered electric guitar amplifier as a no go area for you, it has many advantages than disadvantages, aside from the fact that you can take it anywhere with you, you can easily practice wherever you find yourself without looking for power source even though it comes with an alternating current adapter. Most of the guitar amps you see at the store are tubed and have no additional features apart from the basic ones found in every amplifier, but you still go for them, because you don’t know how these additional features help your practice improve from time to time.
The speaker of this Boss katana model is loaded with 7 watts of high volume. Regardless of where your character switch is set at, this guitar amplifier offers an inspiring tone. You should also take note that it is designed in an analog circuitry fashion. It comes with an auxiliary input too if you need to connect your smartphones and laptop for external music. There is so much fun packed in this little sound machine; it is price friendly, and the producers have made guitar lessons affordable for all.
5. Fender Champion 20-Watt Electric Guitar Amplifier
You do not need a 50-watt electric guitar amplifier before you become an expert at playing the guitar. If anyone gives you that kind of orientation, then he’s no better than you in terms of knowledge. Fender champion 20 is another exclusive model of electric guitar amplifier packaged from the stable of the usual suspects that takes precious time to make quitting amplifiers. You have an opportunity to choose out of their various guitar amplifiers that are less costly.
A 20-watt guitar amplifier with an 8-inch speaker size is enough to make your amazing sounds, and this edition comes with a lot of effects like reverb, tremolo, echo, vibration, and many others. A very unique feature of this electric guitar amplifier is the voicing it offers for any genre of music you’re into, or you want to practice with.
From this moment, Fender shouldn’t sound like a new product to you. It has carved a niche at the top for itself like other big and quality brands. They have made their brand affordable with their many choices of guitar amps and all of them have met the standards, a noticeable feature in their products Is that they have a unique feature that makes one guitar amplifier different from each other, and they are efficient for practice. Fender Champion also comes with a 40W, 50W, and 100W edition for those who need and can afford a big guitar amp.
6. Kona KCA15TW 10 Watt Electric Guitar Amp
If you fancy a tube amp option, Kona electric guitar amplifier is one of the options to run to. It features an 8-inch turbo speaker that can be very loud when you turn up its volume. You may begin to wonder if you have cheated the retailer at this low price. It is suitable for practice among beginners, even though the sound gets deafening, it does not produce any annoying sound, it dishes out clean tones when you plug in your electric guitar.
If it would interest you to know, all the parts of this 15-watt electric guitar amplifier are handcrafted not like some mass production of quack replacement products, It is built with an EL84 tube system and features a 12AX7 tube to produce a vintage tone out of the portable sound machine. It also features knobs like digital reverb, independent gain, and master volume with add up to its already high turbo speaker.
As loud as it sounds, you wouldn’t want to part with it because of the vibe it brings when practicing. And one of the best ways to learn faster is when you feel the music you’re playing on without a hitch. This tube amplifier is even redefined with an Infinium tube life multiplier technology to enhance the tone and your sound.
7. Orange CRUSH12-12-Watt Guitar Amp Combo
The Orange brand is top-notch, no doubt. They have excelled in producing a higher version of amplifiers that sells and they have tried to consider beginners and low-budget buyers. The fact that this guitar amplifier is less costly doesn’t mean it will produce cheap sounds. Orange has been making quality amplifiers over the years and hasn’t stopped improving.
The Orange CRUSH 12 watt guitar amplifier has reflected how the brand has improved its technology. As small as it is, it contains all the simple and basic controls you’ll need for your guitar practice. All of the controls are located at the top including the overdrive, gain, volume (the three EQ). When you buy this guitar amplifier, you’re getting a 6-inch speaker with another improved CabSim technology; this means your speaker can sound loud in one of the 4×12 cabs. Your neighbors won’t be sleeping with this sound machine in your care. The only limitation of this electric guitar amplifier is that it is only suitable for practice. If you need one for show and rehearsals with three bands, you can go for the higher power option as this is just 12 watts.
7 Guitar Amplifiers Under $300
Finding the best electric guitars that fit your music shouldn’t be too hard. Since you’re familiar with what a guitar amplifier is, you should know how to identify the best gear at the store. The happy feeling that you get when you purchase a new instrument should not be cut short because of its substandard quality, this is one of the thongs that discourage many beginners, and since you’re here, there is nothing to worry about.
8. Fender Mustang GT 40
There are many reasons why you need a Fender guitar amplifier. Her brand doesn’t fail, and you can get whatever instrument within your spending capacity. The Mustang GT 40is a 40watt machine and has two speakers of 6.5 inches. It shouldn’t be mistaken for the G200 that is 200watt and have two speakers. This is common amongst beginners who don’t have a chill.
This Fender amplifier model comes with three distinct modes, which are the preset mode, effects mode, and looper mode. All three modes make the guitar amplifier an essential controller, and they change the configuration settings of the four footswitches. When in the preset mode, the footswitches allow the natural selection of presets and scrolling down and up via the preset banks. In the effects mode, you can engage effects groups through the footswitches. The looper mode gives access to play or stop record or overdub.
The pure sounds you get from this amplifier are like sounds fresh out of the studio and particularly evident than some other kind of amplifier that’s even costlier than this. The speakers are responsible for this delivery. It can be used as a backup and solo practice. While you can rock your little band with this sound machine, you can aim higher if you want a live stage amplifier; the GT200 is one to run to. They sure never fail.
9. Line 6 AMPLIFi 75 Modeling Guitar Amplifier
A good reason why this amplifier should sound new on the list is that you might not have come across it ever before. Perhaps, you haven’t played on any amplifier like this. No gainsaying, LINE 6 AMPLIFI 75 would feel too big to fall in this category. It is a 75 watts guitar amplifier with five sounding speakers to rattle windows. The five speakers alone speak volume of what some other amps are not capable of doing, well, not every amp above 75 watts even has up to 5 speakers.
Another exciting feature of this sound machine is the built-in Bluetooth stereo that can work with Android devices. That means that you can play your favorite songs, have a replay of what you practice earlier to check for amendment, and have fun while playing the electric guitar. You have unlimited access to streaming songs from any of your Bluetooth-enabled devices without stress, directly to AMPLIFI.
The full range of five speakers supplies plenty of volumes while the custom guitar speaker acts as the subwoofer, creating fun and lovely moments in the band. With this guitar amplifier, there’s no excuse such as your amp cat keep up with your band. The 75 watts sound machine defines your guitar tone on a bright note, and at full volume, your neighbors won’t have rest.
10. Yamaha THR5
I’m never surprised whenever I come across a Yamaha gear on the list of top-notch, their products don’t lack quality, and they sure last for long. No doubt, they have been around for more than 400 years. Apart from this price-friendly guitar amplifier, they excel in all kinds of musical instruments and electronics. This is why you shouldn’t pass over a Yamaha gear anytime you come across one.
The Yamaha THR5 is packed with features such as a quarter-inch input Jack, a headset output Jack for personal listening, multiple switches of different microphone models such as dynamic, condenser, and tube, clean guitar mode, and nylon settings. A pro guitarist well versed will know the importance of these different modes. And lastly, a stereo auxiliary input. This model has a volume control that serves as the overall output volume coming from the speaker. Although, it does not affect tone control.
11. Marshall Amps Guitar Combo Amplifier
Every Marshall product is worth buying, one of the primary reasons is because they are portable and don’t cost much, and what else do you want if a low budget and quality guitar amp of this kind can be listed here. This Marshall model is a solid-state amplifier that commands a level of control over your sound.
Some guitar amps are useful but not efficient because you struggle to balance your sound. This sound machine is the right gear for you if you use an inefficient amp. It comes with its EQ of 3 bands, adding to that of your electric guitar to perform wonders. Also, it has separate FX, reverb, and master controls to make your tuning very easy. It is a less stressful amp too. All of the effects, as mentioned above, do not only help your sound but saves you the stress of brightness going a pedal along whenever you’re playing. This Marshall sound machine comes with footswitch input, this switches in between different channels without stopping play.
This guitar amplifier is indeed filled with all you want and falling under leave budget gears is a plus, it saves you much money while you make good music. You’re also permitted to utilize its earphone output of 3.5mm and a music player input having the same size.
12. Roland CUBE Street Stereo Guitar Combo Amp
A big brand to look out for in the household of guitar amplifier producers, back and better with improved technology. If you haven’t heard of battery-operated guitar amps, there is nothing to look out for. It is indeed trusted and tested to be on this list. Roland cube stereo is a 50 watts sound machine, having two speakers of 25 watts each, its battery operation does not limit its loud volume. Usually, people do not believe in battery-operated amps because they do not trust their longevity, but the Roland guitar amp has beaten the limitations.
It also comes with a pair of eight inches woofers just at the back of its metal grille, and tweeters. Do not be confused; it can also be electrically amplified, but in between power supplies, you can enjoy playing your electric guitar with eight AA-size batteries. A low budget guitar amp with this kind of feature is often rare, no doubt. It can as well be worked into a public address system to serve an acoustic guitar.
If you still doubt how long the battery can serve you, the Roland CUBE Street guitar amp can split its power into lower modes like 25 and 10 watts, respectively. With this feature, you can save your battery energy and still make good sounds off your electric guitar amplifier.
13. Fender Mustang V2 20-Watt
Another Fender product in this list should begin to pass a message; their brand has made it very possible for every electric guitar owner to afford one of their low budget electric guitar amps, depending on how far your pocket can carry you. Mustang V2 is a small sound machine with 20 watts of power, and it shouldn’t be used like the higher watts guitar amps, it is designed for beginners and enthusiasts alike to perfect their guitar lessons, a guitarist can also use it but for indoor purposes.
With this Mustang version, you are permitted to connect with your PC/Mac. This is an excellent advantage for beginners so that they can pick faster. This handy electric guitar amplifier has an 8-inch speaker. However, if you feel this model isn’t for you, you can look out for the mustang mini. If you see a reason to go higher, you are covered with options of Mustang series ranging from 40 to 150 watts. All of these series have more prominent speakers as the power option increases. Still, on the 20 watts Mustang guitar amplifier, its features have apparent similarities with the higher versions.
14. Vox AV15 15w Analog Guitar Amplifier
The last on the list but not least quality is a 15 watts electric guitar amplifier. Vox is another powerful brand making gears over the years before any electronic guitar amplifier can make this list; it has to be durable and efficient, not just a low-budget amplifier that is below standard. This Vox model is not your usual modeling amplifier; its controls are compartmentalized; this means that the volume, EQ balance, and gain controls are separated and independent. All of the controls are found on top.
This analog guitar amplifier has a 12AX7 tune system that is connected to all of its eight preamps and power amps. It is an advisable option for learners that can catch up faster with analog models, and its quality shouldn’t be underrated.
Buyers Guide
What is an Electric Guitar Amp?
Guitars are great instruments but shouldn’t be awarded all the credit for a good performance, acoustic guitars can be so loud yes, but the third person cannot even hear the electric guitar. The only gear that can make the world understand the tones of your electric guitar is an electronic guitar amplifier. Without these guitar amplifiers, there would be no melody in the songs we produce; it would be so difficult for you to vibe to the tunes of your music yourself. These guitar amps come with speakers that make the sound of your electric guitar audible, and they have control knobs too that help you fine-tune your music, giving your audio a bright tone.
You can carry a guitar amplifier along with you anywhere. The electric guitar amplifier is an all-in-one combo unit that consists of a power amp, preamps, and speakers, the speakers are, and the power depends on the capacity of the electric guitar amp.
Considerable factors before buying a mini guitar amplifier:
Many guitarists believe the electronic guitar amplifier is an essential gear in the band. Although, it cannot stand alone but can shape up your electric guitar sound regardless of whether your guitar has an automatic tuner or not. Well, that’s a fact, if not; we won’t be talking about this part. These are part of the factors you should consider at the store.
If you genuinely want a useful guitar amplifier, even if your price is low, make sure you meticulously check out these features. Never take the risk of leaving the guitar at home, bring it along to test the combo.
Of course, these amplifiers are cheap, and that could make you rush to the store to cop one. You’re making a big mistake by so doing. Some of these amplifiers might have been faulty and carefully placed down to disguise as a good ones; some of them may easily develop technical issues after purchase. You should be careful when choosing a guitar amplifier. Here’s a summary of a few things to consider.
1. Bring your own guitar
You are buying a guitar amplifier for yourself; you have no right to test it with another guitar, bringing your guitar saves you a reason to doubt the guitar amplifier when you get home. Using your amplifier with an electric guitar that’s not yours is like choosing a boyfriend by dating his dad. Using the amp with a guitar, you’re not familiar with affects a lot of things because there will be changes in sound brightness.
2. Tube, solid-state or digital
In some parts of the world, tube technology is still very much utilized because, according to them, it is trustworthy. The solid-state and digital amps that are in circulation can produce excellent sounds off your electric guitar and have a low cost of maintenance. Interestingly, they are price friendly and won’t give you much headache. If you need to confirm the quality of its tone, you can allow your ears to be the judge.
3. Size matters
You should not spend your money on a 100watt amp if you need one for recording in your tiny apartment, or a 10watt amp for your band if your drummer can play the drum for the heavens to hear. Choosing an amplifier that adequately suits you should be your primary focus. If you need a guitar amplifier to play outside your house, you should start from 15watt upward, depending on your circle or band. Smaller guitar amps can also be used in the studio or when you have to rehearse.
Failure to go by this rule will cost you extra cash, and you might not find the amp useful for you in the long run.
4. The sound of power
Whenever you experience distortion, it is distinctively traced to three sources which are; speaker, power amp, and the pre-amp. It is common to many guitar players as they neglect the issue of power amp distortion whenever they are choosing an amplifier. It is the primary source of what they end up calling low-end chunk. Give this a test by increasing the master volume and decreasing it again. The result should be a lively sound with a crisp attack.
5. Tone:
You should be extremely careful when that guitar amp will enhance your sound. An electric guitar amplifier determines what kind of music you’ll hear when playing. That means that a good amplifier can make an average electric guitar sound like the best, and a lousy amp can change the tone of your Les Paul or world-class guitar into sound garbage and makes you feel you’re not playing anything better. Be guided; there are four varieties of these amps that you can choose from, and they are digital, tune, solid-state, and hybrid. If your guitar changes sound when you plug in the amp, you know what to do.
6. Anatomy of amplification:
This is where you have an understanding of how the signal is passed from your electric guitar to the tome audible. Once your electric guitar is plugged into the amplifier, the signal is sent into the preamp; this takes the signal through the bass, middle and treble control processes. Immediately this Job Is done, the signal is again sent into the power amp. This is where the real amplification occurs. How? The power amp increases the signal and transmits it to the speakers; the speakers break it down into audible sounds.
During this process, the preamps reshape the sound while the power determines the strength.
At times, you’ll find the gain and volume knobs on some amps interface and begin to wonder about their usefulness. Respectively, they are known as input and output levels and are essential when discussing tube amps.
All of this explanation Is to give you a basic knowledge of how the guitar amp works so that whenever there is a fault in sound or when the amplifier is not sounding right, you’ll be able to trace the source.
Conclusion
While you’re here, you shouldn’t be searching for a guitar amplifier to take to your shows or that which you can boast of within your band while rehearsing. All of the electric guitar amplifiers here are strictly for practicing if you genuinely want your amp to last long. Another thing is the battery supporting feature of some of these amplifiers; they are perfect for use and won’t run down quickly. A better advantage they have is you can carry them along on road trips if you feel the urge to practice as you go.
Also, some pro guitarists believe that when selecting a guitar amplifier, they chose between tube, solid-state, and the other types. The most important thing is the feature it carries. Every electric guitar amplifier on this list is nothing less than quality and is guaranteed okay for any beginner or guitarist.
And lastly, there is no perfect guitar amplifier for you if you do not hear the tones of your guitar. This is going to be a very costly mistake to make. Not every guitar you find at the store is tuned or will sound like yours, be very careful when you select a guitar amplifier, and if you need to make a choice, do so by plugging in your electric guitar.
No matter how skillful you are, you need an electric guitar amplifier to test your overall performance and progress. Playing at a bigger stage shouldn’t matter to you if you are going for a guitar amp under $300 unless you are buying what is not on this list. If pulling the notes off an electric guitar should be hard, then finding an amplifier combo shouldn’t be. All of the brands are certified and will help you learn faster, but there is more to this.