hifi VS instrument amp

Ahmad_tbp · 29th May 2005, 09:36 AM

hi .. what s excatly diffrence between an instrument amp and a hifi amp ???
why a guitar sound on a hifi amp is not so good and its so flat and somehow artificial .. lol !!!???
and can i use a hi-fi amp w a guitar pre amp for a guitar combo and have a sound like a real guitar amp ??? ( ex : a guitar pre amp w a stk amp )

BenY · 30th May 2005, 02:25 AM

Hi Ahmad_tbp,
The best guitar amps use tube amplification...
These amps generate the full bodied and rich sound that we all look for in an electric guitar.

Yuval.

leadbelly · 30th May 2005, 03:12 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ahmad_tbp
hi .. what s excatly diffrence between an instrument amp and a hifi amp ???
why a guitar sound on a hifi amp is not so good and its so flat and somehow artificial .. lol !!!???
and can i use a hi-fi amp w a guitar pre amp for a guitar combo and have a sound like a real guitar amp ??? ( ex : a guitar pre amp w a stk amp )

Well, speaking in generalities (with all the pitfalls that entails) , an audio amp tries to be "transparent", but a guitar amp tries to impart a tone of its own to the instrument, by a combination of preamp, power stage, and speaker characteristics. This is true of buth tube and transistor guitar amps.

Yes, you can get good sound by combining a guitar preamp/processor with a chip amp. In fact, this is what commercial DSP guitar amps are like. The amp consists of a DSP stage where the sound is modified, and then the power stage is just a neutral sounding chip stage and a more neutral guitar speaker (e.g. Eminence Modeling12).

jaycee · 30th May 2005, 04:40 AM

An instrument amp is also usually designed to be bombproof through all sorts of nasty things that a hifi/domestic amplifier would die horribly from. For example, shorted outputs, excessive driving into clipping, use with low impedance loads...

The output stage is usually "exaggerated" ie more transistors than actually needed and a larger heatsink, to increase reliability, especially as these amplifiers are usually used on stage where ambient temperatures can easily get up to 40 degrees C.

Tony · 30th May 2005, 05:12 AM

Quote:

what s excatly diffrence between an instrument amp and a hifi amp ???

instrument amps produces sound, the audio amp reproduces sounds from input sources such as cd players, vynil players, etc.

adrome00 · 30th May 2005, 05:14 AM

Assuming the power amp has enough headroom and clean power, it is probably the least of your worries if you are going to use it as a rig. The preamp is critical, and also the speakers or cabinet. Hi-Fi or PA speakers will give that flat, lifeless tone you mentioned. And a digital signal processor, while probably quite good, is only going to get you so far: everyone I know prefers tubes in at least the preamp section.
Very generally, the overall frequency response of a guitar amp is perhaps like the back of a two-humped camel!. You want some low end between 90 and 200, and some smooth upper range around 1.9 kHz to 4 kHz. Guitar sounds best with just the right amount of high end, usually cutting off drastically around 5 to 7 kHz. Very strong amounts of this type of EQ should exist somewhere within a guitar amp as compared to full range Hi-Fi.
I hope this helps!

Enzo · 2nd June 2005, 01:27 AM

To add to the other good answers, there is nothing flat about a guitar amp. I prefer a tube amp, but it doesn't matter really. The underlying principal is the same. The guitar amp is part of your instrument. The hifi is not.

The guitar amp typically is well rolled of by 5kHz. The speaker is a large part of this. Connecting a guitar amp to a hifi speaker will sound thin.

Ahmad_tbp · 2nd June 2005, 12:43 PM

thnx to all ...
tube ! surely ...

darkfenriz · 2nd June 2005, 05:43 PM

in fact good guitar amps add loads of hamonic distortion and sound still feels 'clean', just nicier.
a very hard to achieve in other ways thing is guitar speaker characteristics, which may be compared to low pass 4th or higher order filter at 5-6kHz
regards

amplifierguru · 3rd June 2005, 07:34 AM

Nice answer Enzo.

I would add - a tube preamp is part of your instrument as well! If you're not happy with the real sound off the medium then embellish it with a tube preamp - bigger , smoother, warmer!
And they're ageing with every turnon.....downhill.

29th May 2005, 09:36 AM	#1
Ahmad_tbp diyAudio Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Iran/Shiraz	hifi VS instrument amp hi .. what s excatly diffrence between an instrument amp and a hifi amp ??? why a guitar sound on a hifi amp is not so good and its so flat and somehow artificial .. lol !!!??? and can i use a hi-fi amp w a guitar pre amp for a guitar combo and have a sound like a real guitar amp ??? ( ex : a guitar pre amp w a stk amp ) __________________ Rest my eyes from the world. This dying place, it's so absurd.

2nd June 2005, 12:43 PM	#8
Ahmad_tbp diyAudio Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Iran/Shiraz	thnx to all ... tube ! surely ... __________________ Rest my eyes from the world. This dying place, it's so absurd.

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30th May 2005, 02:25 AM	#2
BenY diyAudio Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: ISRAEL	Hi Ahmad_tbp, The best guitar amps use tube amplification... These amps generate the full bodied and rich sound that we all look for in an electric guitar. Yuval.

30th May 2005, 04:40 AM	#4
jaycee diyAudio Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Norwich, UK	An instrument amp is also usually designed to be bombproof through all sorts of nasty things that a hifi/domestic amplifier would die horribly from. For example, shorted outputs, excessive driving into clipping, use with low impedance loads... The output stage is usually "exaggerated" ie more transistors than actually needed and a larger heatsink, to increase reliability, especially as these amplifiers are usually used on stage where ambient temperatures can easily get up to 40 degrees C.

30th May 2005, 05:14 AM	#6
adrome00 diyAudio Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Alabama	Assuming the power amp has enough headroom and clean power, it is probably the least of your worries if you are going to use it as a rig. The preamp is critical, and also the speakers or cabinet. Hi-Fi or PA speakers will give that flat, lifeless tone you mentioned. And a digital signal processor, while probably quite good, is only going to get you so far: everyone I know prefers tubes in at least the preamp section. Very generally, the overall frequency response of a guitar amp is perhaps like the back of a two-humped camel!. You want some low end between 90 and 200, and some smooth upper range around 1.9 kHz to 4 kHz. Guitar sounds best with just the right amount of high end, usually cutting off drastically around 5 to 7 kHz. Very strong amounts of this type of EQ should exist somewhere within a guitar amp as compared to full range Hi-Fi. I hope this helps!

2nd June 2005, 01:27 AM	#7
Enzo diyAudio Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Lansing, Michigan	To add to the other good answers, there is nothing flat about a guitar amp. I prefer a tube amp, but it doesn't matter really. The underlying principal is the same. The guitar amp is part of your instrument. The hifi is not. The guitar amp typically is well rolled of by 5kHz. The speaker is a large part of this. Connecting a guitar amp to a hifi speaker will sound thin.

2nd June 2005, 05:43 PM	#9
darkfenriz diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Warsaw	in fact good guitar amps add loads of hamonic distortion and sound still feels 'clean', just nicier. a very hard to achieve in other ways thing is guitar speaker characteristics, which may be compared to low pass 4th or higher order filter at 5-6kHz regards

3rd June 2005, 07:34 AM	#10
amplifierguru Account Disabled Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Earth	Nice answer Enzo. I would add - a tube preamp is part of your instrument as well! If you're not happy with the real sound off the medium then embellish it with a tube preamp - bigger , smoother, warmer! And they're ageing with every turnon.....downhill.

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