Electric Guitars can be played through either combo amplifiers or a separate amplifier head and speaker cabinet.
A combo or combination amplifier is where the amplifier and speaker reside in the same chassis or cabinet. The benefit is that there is no requirement for connecting cables as with the separate amp and cab, and therefore one of the potential failure points is eliminated.
Clutter-Free Combo Amps
The benefit of the amplifier head is that it can potentially feed more than one speaker cabinet and by doing so improves the penetration and spread of the sound. Many guitar players prefer amplifiers and combos that use valve technology rather than solid state components, this is because it is generally agreed that valves create a softer and warmer sound.
However some bass players may prefer the clean pristine sound of solid state bass amplifiers as their priorities are stacked in favour of a sparkling distortion free sound with plenty of bass tone.