What is an amplifier and what are amplifiers used for?

If you don’t own a car with a custom stereo or any kind of musical instrument, then you probably don’t know what an amplifier is and what it does. An amplifier is simply a piece of electronic equipment that takes the sound produced by a musical instrument or stereo and increases or amplifies that signal and that electronic output comes through the speaker.

An amplifier is necessary for many musical instruments in order to connect them to speakers. Amps also help produce unique sounds that you hear many musicians play, especially guitarists.

Most guitarists may simply want an amp that produces very loud sounds without much sound distortion.

The quality of the amplifier depends on a series of specifications. Gain is the ratio of output to input and is usually measured in decibels.

Bandwidth is another important specification to consider. It is the range of frequencies that the amplifier can produce.

Another quality to take into account is efficiency, especially for car stereos. Efficiency tells you how much of the power going to the amplifier is actually applied to the output. Class A amps are the most inefficient while Class AB amps are the best.

The bottom line is that people use amplifiers to make their cars and musical instruments sound great. More sophisticated musicians buy amplifiers to produce a louder, richer sound than the instrument alone could produce.