Best practice amp solutions for all styles and budgets – from combos to headphone amps
Most guitarists will spend more time playing guitar at home than on stage – so why do we insist upon using ultra-cheap practice amps that look and sound like they fell out of a Christmas cracker?
The best practice amps are more than just compact and low-wattage. They’re beautifully crafted, tonally rich – and in some cases, replete with features such as digital amp sound modelling and effects.
There are other practice amp-like solutions worth considering, too. Amp pedals, such as the Boss IR-2 and Walrus Mako Series ACS1, can deliver impressive amp tones straight from your pedalboard to your headphones. You could even practise using a digital amp modelling plugin on your computer – no physical amp or pedal required.
To get the best out of playing, practising and recording at home, you need a practice amp solution that’ll keep your fingers glued to the fretboard. This guide will introduce you to our ten favourite models, covering a wide range of price points, styles and types. You can read in-depth, hands-on reviews of each amp via the links in the summaries below.
At a glance:
Our Pick: Positive Grid Spark Mini
Best giggable practice amp: Boss Katana Gen 3
Best portable practice amp: Positive Grid Spark Go
Best practice amp for acoustic guitarists: Yamaha THR30IIA
Best pedalboard practice amp: Boss IR-2
Best tube practice amp: Supro Blues King 8
Best practice amp plugin: Neural DSP Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+ Suite
Best heaphone pracrice amp: Boss Katana Go
Best boutique pedal practice amp: Walrus Mako Series ACS1
Best multi-effects for practice: Boss GX-100
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Our Pick: Positive Grid Spark Mini
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We consider the Positive Grid Spark Mini one of the best combo amps you can get – not just the best practice amp.
Neatly proportioned and attractively finished, the Spark Mini can take pride of place on a desktop, coffee table, or pretty much any spot where you might like to kick back with your guitar. It cleverly uses the tabletop as a sounding board to produce a louder, bassier sound than your average low-wattage amp – and with over 30 amp models to toggle via your connected smartphone app, there’s lots of scope to tailor the output to your taste and creative impulses.
Need more? Read our Positive Grid Spark Mini review.
Best giggable practice amp: Boss Katana Gen 3
Boss Katana-100 Gen 3. Image: Adam Gasson
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Is the Boss Katana Gen 3 50W a practice amp, or an amp for gigging? Well, that depends on which power control setting you’ve selected: a full-blooded, venue-ready full power mode, or the much-quieter 0.5W option, ideal for practice sessions at home.
Whatever label you slap on it, the Katana Gen 3 sounds terrific. Its tones are as responsive and dynamic as the best competing modelling amps, while its clean sound is pretty much unbeatable as a platform to modify with effects. Speaking of which, this amp is pre-loaded with fifteen big-hitters from Boss’s peerless digital effects back catalogue, including pre-amp, reverb and delay.
Need more? Read our Boss Katana Gen 3 review.
Best portable practice amp: Positive Grid Spark Go
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As portable as it is adorable, the pocket-sized Positive Grid Spark Go is a great option to tuck into your gig bag for practice on the road. The iconic original Spark was undoubtedly small – but next to the Spark Go, which takes up about a third of the space, it’s basically Henry VIII.
The smaller proportions of the Spark Go have done little to constrict Positive Grid’s genius for tone, and you’ll find the amp equipped with the same app and era-spanning selection of models you’d get with a full-fat Spark. At 5W, the Go is understandably quieter than both the original Spark and our favourite practice amp, the Spark Mini. Nonetheless, the Go sounded impressively well-rounded during our hands-on testing, with a high ratio of bass to tabletop space.
Hook the Spark Go onto your belt, plug in your guitar via a patch lead, and there you’ll have the handiest conceivable portable setup. In our view, this is the first truly great portable electric guitar amp.
Need more? Read our Positive Grid Spark Go review.
Best practice amp for acoustic guitarists: Yamaha THR30IIA
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Ideal for practising along to backing tracks at home, the Yamaha THR30IIA is tailor-made to help you hone your acoustic guitar tone.
We were bowled over by this amp’s fine-grained features, which go far beyond what you’d get with most other acoustic guitar amps of comparable price. There’s a dedicated nylon string setting that’s a sweet-sounding godsend for classical and flamenco guitarists, while a selection of simulated microphone sounds are on hand to help you recreate various live setups from the comfort of home.
The THR30IIA is relatively complicated, so it won’t necessarily appeal to acoustic guitarists who like their setup just as stripped back as their performances. However, for acoustic players who want to tinker around in search of the perfect context-sensitive sound, there’s no better practice amp.
Need more? Read our Yamaha THR30IIA review.
Best pedalboard practice amp: Boss IR-2
Image: Boss
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Some guitarists aren’t aware of this, but your practice amp doesn’t really need a speaker. A smart alternative is to use a pedalboard amp such as the Boss IR-2, hooked up to a pair of headphones.
With the option for battery power, interface functionality and a dedicated headphone jack (a utility that’s strangely absent in some competing amp pedals), the IR-2 is a super-convenient solution, whether you use it at the end of a chain of pedals or by itself. There are 11 amp models to play around with, including plenty of high-gain sounds to help you practise your lead playing.
Need more? Read our Boss IR-2 review.
Best tube practice amp: Supro Blues King 8
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Tube amps tend to produce some of their standout sounds when you really push the volume – which might not be possible (or socially acceptable) when you’re using a high-wattage combo at home.
Rated at just 1 watt, the low-powered Blues King 8 combo serves those prized tube tones at volumes that won’t ravage your neighbours’ eardrums. It’s gritty, in-your face, and packs honking mids that do, indeed, sound kingly when you’re playing the blues .
Not only is this a sensational practice amp; it’s also a great option to have at a recording session. Point a mic at the Blues King 8’s speaker cone, and you’ll have yourself a low-hassle route to real tube tone at the studio.
Need more? Read our Supro Blues King 8 review.
Best practice amp plugin: Neural DSP Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+ Suite
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In a sense, a modelling amp is pretty much a digital application combined with a speaker. Why not cut out the middle man by running your guitar into your computer via an audio interface, passing the signal through a modelling plugin, and listening with your headphones or monitors? You’ll save on storage space at home, while gaining super-fine control over your practice amp sound.
With a smorgasbord of tonal options and excellent sound quality, Neural DSP’s Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+ Suite is a great in-the-box option for practice tones. It faithfully simulates the Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+ and Mark IIC++ heads, plus a selection of cabinets and microphones, via a fun, easy-to-navigate user interface.
Need more? Read our Neural DSP Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+ Suite review.
Best headphone pracrice amp: Boss Katana Go
Katana GO
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Headphone-only practice amps have come on leaps and bounds in recent years – and for guitarists who are happy to hear themselves through a pair of cans, the Boss Katana Go is the reigning champ.
This remarkable gadget is packed with impressive sounds and features, including Bluetooth connectivity, a USB-C socket that allows the amp to be used directly as a recording interface, and a ‘Stage Feel’ control that gives your headphone-based sound an in-room timbre.
The Katana Go packs 10 amp models and 30 Boss effects, some of which sound better (to our reviewer’s ears) than anything you’d hear while using a Positive Grid Spark Go or Fender Mustang Micro with your headphones.
Need more? Read our Boss Katana Go review.
Best boutique pedal practice amp: Walrus Mako Series ACS1
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While there are fewer amp models here than you’d get with some competing amp pedals like the Boss IR-2, the excellent stereo options and sound quality of the ACS1 could win over guitarists happy to pay a premium for a boutique pedal practice amp.
This amp sim is capable of some stunning tones, centred around three vintage amp models: a black-panel Fender combo, a meaty early Marshall and a crisp, squishy Vox AC30. While these models – especially the Marshall-alike – lacked some of the high-gain potential our reviewer was hoping for, they deliver depth and purity that go beyond your average amp pedal.
Need more? Read our Walrus Mako Series ACS1 review.
Best multi-effects for practice: Boss GX-100
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Easy to use and affordable, this floor-filling multi-effects unit is a great practice solution thanks to its on-board amp simulation. There are 23 amp models and 154 effects to swipe between on the Boss GX-100’s touchscreen – so there’s more risk of tiring out your index finger than there is of getting bored.
The amp models featured with the GX-100 sound fantastic, thanks in no small part to Boss’s cutting-edge AIRD tech, which cleverly simulates the relationship between a real amp and its speaker.
If you’re thinking of using this multi-effects unit as a practice amp solution, you’re probably interested in its effects, too. Our reviewer was happy to find some real gems in the unit’s extensive catalogue, including an excellent rotary speaker sim, and all the staple Boss delays and distortions you’d expect.
Need more? Read our Boss GX-100 review.
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