Ask MusicRadar: what's the best amp for blues?

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Search for the ultimate blues guitar amplifier

Jimi hendrix

Jimi hendrix

Hendrix wailing through a wall of Marshalls at the Hollywood Bowl, 1968 © William James Warren/Science Faction/Corbis

UPDATE: The results are in! Read the 10 best amps for blues guitar here.

If you're in need of an affordable low-powered tube head, we've got you covered. And the black-clad hordes in search of crushing gain and "bowel-disturbing low end" need look no further than the 12 best amps for heavy metal. But what about those who just want to strip back and play some blues?

That, BB King fans, is the subject of today's Ask MusicRadar: what's the best amp for blues? From Robert Johnson's fabled encounter with the devil at the crossroads, to Stevie Ray Vaughan and every Muddy Waters, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton in-between: if there's a guitar amplifier that was born for 12-bar jams and wouldn't look or sound out of place in the backline of modern-day blues standard bearers like Joe Bonamassa, we want to know about it.

There's no price limit and it can be anything from a solid-state combo to a valve stack. As long as it's A) a guitar amplifier and B) you think it's perfect for playing the blues, that's good enough for us!

What to do now

Get involved: choose your amp (or amps) and share it (or them) - tell us the make, model and reasons why - like this:

From your answers we'll create a shortlist, followed by a poll, until we're left with the ultimate blues guitar amplifier. And a mighty useful list of alternatives, all voted for by you…

MusicRadar
MusicRadar

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