So you have a cool guitar. Half the battle, right?

Wrong.

Electric instruments need to be amplified, so it necessarily follows that the amplification system is integral to the sound. What's more, because there's only so much you can do with passive microphones and EQs, but an almost infinite number of options when it comes to amplification systems, you will eventually realise that getting a cool guitar is nowhere near half the battle. Maybe not even one-third of the battle.

Which brings us to a very important point:

When choosing your first setup, you may have to spend more on the amp than you do on the guitar.

A crappy guitar into a great amp can still sound great, whereas a great guitar into a crappy amp will always sound crappy.

This is a rule of thumb, and although there are a few exceptions (very few exceptions), generally you can bet your boots that a cheapo amp will get you a cheapo sound, no matter how amazing the instrument you put through it is. On the other hand, the quality of cheap guitars is improving at a geometric rate these days, thanks to massive increases in quality control over the products that come to us from the far east. You can buy a pretty good new guitar for a shade over a hundred pounds these days, whereas you will not find an amp worth hearing for that kind of money.

You might join a band.

And said band will probably have a drummer. This is where your problems begin. Drums are loud and can't be turned down, so you're gonna need a fair amount of power to be heard. Guitarists can get by with 100 watts or even less - bassists need more than that. Quite a bit more to be comfortable. And, as you may have guessed, the price of the amp increases with its wattage. Don't be fooled by how loud the amp sounds in the store, either. The 60 watt combo might sound huge in the store, but I guarantee it'll sound weedy next to a big Tama kit.

This amp has three channels, a 7-band graphic EQ with shelving, a chorus, a compressor and an octaver, that's good, right?

Probably not. Firstly if the amp has been made to a budget, the more features it has, the worse quality each individual feature will be. Secondly, this is your first amp. You need to learn to walk before you can run. Get something good and simple. When you've got some more experience with getting a good sound, then would be a better time to start playing with effects.

This Behringer combo is 300 watts, and it's only £200, so I should get this, right?

No. Not to single out the Behringer brand, because some others have similar problems, but Behringer are notorious for reliability issues. This is something you're going to want to investigate yourself, but bear in mind that budget amplifiers which offer a seemingly incredible amount of power or features for next to no money are almost invariably complete lemons. Not that you'll need to drop a thousand pounds on your first amplifier, but in order to get a new amp powerful enough and solid enough for you to get the best use from it, you will need to spend a decent amount of money.

So, where to buy?

Music stores

The most obvious solution, but not necessarily the best. You're new to buying amps, and salesmen can spot this a mile off. A decent salesman will want to find you what you need and convince you to buy that, but a lot of salespeople just want you to buy whatever they happen to have in stock. The first time you go to a store, promise yourself to not buy anything unless they have exactly what you want at the right price. And don't be afraid to haggle. If they won't budge from their price, ask them if they'll throw in an instrument cable or something. Oh, and if you already have a guitar, bring it with you.

The internet is your friend.

These days there is virtually not a single piece of gear you'll find in a guitar store that you won't find cheaper on the internet. It's still important to compare because sometimes stores do deals to stay competitive.

I've found this amp I want and it's cheapest from cheapest-amps.com, should I get it?

Well hang on. First of all, you need to try the amp. Here again, the best option is music stores. If it's a current model, chances are there'll be a store near you that has the amp in, or at least something by the brand in the same range. Go try it out there first. And a lot of them do price-matching, so bring in a printout of the web page where you saw the cheapest one, and show it to them. They may offer you the same price, they might just offer to knock a bit off their price. It's worth remembering also that buying from a store has more advantages than just taking your amp home with you on the same day.

How about eBay?

Ironically, eBay is just about the only place on the internet you'll find music gear going for MORE than it goes for in stores. The 'bay is great for second hand stuff, but stay away if you're buying stuff new. Which brings us to our next point:

Buying second-hand

It's a minefield

For the inexperienced buyer, buying second hand genuinely is a minefield. For every guy who is selling an amp honestly for a good price, there's another guy who is out to screw someone. The best advice here is to find someone who knows more about second-hand gear than you do, and ask them to help you.

This one is really cheap, but it says “spares/repair”.

That's jargon for “it might be broken beyond repair”. The only people who aren't risking much by going for these deals are people who know how to fix amps themselves. For anyone else, the money you save by buying a broken amp might end up costing you twice as much on technician fees and replacement parts. Best avoided.

This one is from the seventies, so it must be good, right?

Not at all. The notion that old gear is all amazing vintage stuff is a total fallacy. Most of it sounds okay at best, and with gear that old you're asking for a festival of technical problems. Again, best avoided.

This guy is selling his second-hand amp for only 10% less than the retail price, what's with that?

He thinks that's what he can get for it. Sadly, a lot of the time he's right. The price of second-hand gear is dictated not only by what it was worth new, but also by how easy it is to get hold of. Sometimes buying even current model new entails waiting for a few weeks for stock to come in, so people will pay more for a second-hand model because they can get it sooner.