Best Guitar & Amp Combinations Of All Time

• Gibson Guitar & Marshall Amps
• PRS & Mesa/Boogie
• Fender & Fender
• Gretsch & Vox
• Fender & Marshall
• Jackson/ESP guitars and EVH 5150/Peavey 6505 amps
• Gibson Guitars & Orange Amps

Let’s face it, we’re utterly spoiled by the number of guitars and amps out there today. With more brands in the market than ever before, it has never been easier for guitar players to experiment with different gear to sculpt their personal sound. While that’s all part of the fun, sometimes it’s best to take inspiration from some of the best, tried-and-tested combinations.

Here are seven great guitar and amp pairings to help you find a great guitar tone from the get-go. Heard on some of the most famous songs and albums ever made, you can feel assured that these combinations truly sound stunning.

Gibson Guitar & Marshall Amps

Gibson guitars and Marshall amplifiers go together like wine and cheese – they naturally bring out the best of one another. The thick, rich tone of a humbucker-equipped Gibson guitar matched with the oomph of a saturated-sounding Marshall is the perfect rock partnership. That’s probably why some of the most significant rock guitarists of the last 50 years have landed on this common combo. Slash, Eric Clapton, Angus Young, Jimmy Page… the list goes on!

But why does this pair work so well? It might sound silly, but for today’s guitarists, nostalgia plays a huge part. These household names were in some of the most influential rock bands of all time and that means our ears are more than familiar with the iconic Gibson and Marshall sound. You could call this the benchmark rock guitar tone, for which all others are must live up to.

While a Marshall and Gibson might be an old-school rig nowadays, you’d be surprised by the amount of modern guitarists that gravitate towards this simple setup. Justin and Dan Hawkins of The Darkness are among them, who rely on its hard rock guitar tones. For a long time in his career, Lee Malia of metal titans Bring Me The Horizon plugged his signature Epiphone guitar into Marshall JCM800 for the high gain. He’s now made a move to Jackson but the guitar is still built on the same signature humbucker pickups.

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PRS & Mesa/Boogie

The ultimate nu-metal/post-grunge guitar rig. If you watched Kerrang or MTV in the early noughties, a PRS guitar could be spotted in almost every music videos. Full stacks of Mesa Boogie amps were lurking somewhere in the background. An all-American affair, the premium PRS/Mesa pairing was used by a raft of guitarists from that era. Mike Einziger (Incubus), Mark Tremonti (Creed), Dan Estrin (Hoobastank), Brad Delson (Linkin Park), to name a few.

The PRS and Mesa Boogie combo is an important one in metal history as it has changed the way that contemporary guitarists and producers approach guitar tone. The fizzy high-gain sound of a Mesa Boogie Rectifier head can be heard on a bunch of rock and metal albums released in recent years, and it set the precedent for what a modern distorted sound should be. That’s why many other amp brands have taken inspiration from that huge, bassy Boogie tone.

The distinctive sonic traits of Mesa Boogie amps have proven to merge well with the sounds of PRS’ powerful, humbucker-equipped Custom 24/22 models. But is the PRS and Mesa Boogie combo exclusive to heavy players? No, definitely not! Legendary Latin rock guitarist Carlos Santana is the earliest cham of this well-known guitar and amp combination. He has used his signature PRS guitars with a Mesa Boogie Mark I amplifier since the late ‘80s, helping him to achieve his warm singing guitar tones.

PRS Guitars

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Mesa Boogie

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Fender & Fender

Fender is as famous for its amplifiers as it is for its electric guitars. Well, the latter might have a slight edge when it comes to recognition. But fame aside, Fender’s guitars and amps are practically designed to work seamlessly with one another. I mean, why wouldn’t they be? The unmistakable all-Fender rig has been used by a countless amount of players ever since the ’50s. Some of the most legendary names include Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Johnson and Dick Dale.

The Fender guitar/amp combination is one of the most frequently recorded in pop and rock music. There are many reasons as to why it works so well, and it’s also quite easy to distinguish from a sonic perspective. Simply put, the thin and articulate sound of Fender’s single-coil-loaded guitars lends itself well to the high-headroom qualities of their amps. As most Fender amplifiers feature 6L6 or 6V6 power tubes, they can be cranked without encountering excessive break-up. This means that they remain clean at high volumes and thus project a broad frequency response with plenty of dynamic range.

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Gretsch & Vox

The gentleman’s guitar rig. There aren’t many guitar tones more discernible than that of a jangly Gretsch guitar into a Vox amp. The open and airy character of a Filter’Tron-loaded semi-hollow Gretsch blends beautifully with the chimey, EL84-driven tone of a classic Vox AC30 or AC15 amplifier. A staple of ’60s pop-rock, this classic combo is classed by most as a vintage-style setup. And even though it isn’t as prevalent as some of the other combinations on this list; it still has its loyal fans!

This Gretsch/Vox pairing is most synonymous with George Harrison of The Beatles. He was often seen playing a black Gretsch Duo Jet model in the early ’60s, but later switched to a larger Country Gentleman hollowbody. During this period, Harrison and the rest of the band used Vox amps almost exclusively. Relying on a mix of AC-15 and AC-30 valve combos, they used these vibrant clean amps both live and in the studio; contributing massively to the overall sound of The Beatles.

While the Gretsch and Vox pairing is heavily associated with Harrison, other players have also used it to great effect. U2’s The Edge is one of them, and even though he plays a raft of different guitars onstage; in most sets he’ll bring out his Gretsch Country Gentleman or White Falcon for a few numbers. But more significantly, an original 1964 Vox AC30 has been a mainstay in The Edge’s rig since the early ’80s. And as a keen user of delay, the bright sonics of The Edge’s Gretsch guitars merge perfectly with his chimey Vox AC30 amp; ensuring that delay repeats sound crystal-clear.

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Fender & Marshall

The legendary partnership between Gibson and Marshall is very hard to top. In our opinion, there just aren’t many things that sound better than a Gibson guitar plugged into a cranked Marshall! However, you’d be surprised by just how many high-profile players have used their Fender guitars with the iconic, British-built black and gold amplifiers.

The Strat-wielding Jimi Hendrix was an early proponent of Marshall amplifiers, and he played a huge role in popularising the brand in the late ’60s. In fact, Jim Marshall labelled Hendrix as “the greatest ambassador” his company ever had! Jimi famously relied on a trio of 100-watt Super Lead valve heads connected to various 4×12″ cabinets. By using these high-headroom amplifiers with his single-coil-loaded Stratocasters, Jimi could achieve those pure and glassy clean tones heard on tracks like “Little Wing” and “Hey Joe” – with just a hint of break up. John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who was heavily influenced by Hendrix’s clean and slinky playing style, also uses a very similar Fender/Marshall rig.

But of course, Marshall amps are mostly known for their distorted tones. So, have any Fender players used Marshalls specifically to attain overdriven sounds? Yes – many in fact! Deep Purple’s Ritchie Blackmore and neoclassical shredder Yngwie Malmsteen have used Marshall Plexi amplifiers throughout their careers, exclusively with Fender Strats. Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins used Stratocasters into Marshall JCM800 amplifiers in the band’s early days, but often coloured his sound with various fuzz and modulation pedals.

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Jackson/ESP guitars and EVH 5150/Peavey 6505 amps

If you’re a metalcore fan, then a Jackson, ESP, Ibanez, Gibson or any high-output humbucker-equipped guitar and an EVH 5150 or Peavey 6505 amp is a sacred setup. The 5150 is the reason why metal tone has evolved through the 2010s. While nu metal branched off into a sludgier, looser tone, Peavey and now EVH pioneered the tight, sharp attack that has formed a core element of modern metal.

Bands like In Flames, Trivium, Bullet For My Valentine, Parkway Drive, As I Lay Dying, Machine Head and even Wes Borland of Limp Bizkit utilised what has now become a contemporary classic pairing. To bump up the midrange frequencies even further, chuck an Ibanez Tube Screamer in there for good measure. Modelling profilers like Neural DSP’s Quad Cortex and the Line 6 Helix are now the go-to for these metal guitar tones because it is an inherently digital-sounding clinical tone, so why not pick up one of these to ease the burden on your lower back!

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Gibson Guitars & Orange Amps

Orange arguably makes the most versatile traditional mainstream amps, demonstrated by the ability to dial in anything from a velvety, edge-of-breakup lead to a saturated modern metal chug on the same single channel – that is not a regular feature for most amps. It’s why you can take your pick of Strats, Teles, or modern guitars to plug into an Orange. Fender players Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys, Prince, Slipknot’s Jim Root and Chevelle’s Pete Loeffler have all dipped into the Orange lineup for the likes of the TH30, Rockerverb and Dual Terror. For this legendary pairing, however, I’m choosing Gibson.

Orange amps are most renowned for the ‘60s British grunt, heard through the likes of Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green and Jimmy Page later in Led Zeppelin’s discography with their Les Pauls, or Tony Iommi and his SG across the early Black Sabbath albums. In the 21^st century, Brent Hinds of Mastodon pushed the boundaries of what an Orange amp can do with crushing guitars on Remission and Leviathan. This tone has evolved in the modern metal scene with the likes of Adam Zytkiewiczz of Ocean’s Ate Alaska. Meanwhile, Billy Corgan has also been spotted using an Orange Rockerverb with a Gibson Flying V both in the studio and his live setup, as has Will Swan from Dance Gavin Dance, both getting crunchy, fuzzy goodness.

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Want To Learn More?

Interested in finding out more about music gear and expanding your knowledge? Click here to view all of our Learn articles! For more information on the other topics mentioned in this guide, check out our related articles:

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