In keeping with tradition, Reverb has published its best-selling gear lists for 2025 – and the roundup of the most popular guitar amps and amp modelers makes for interesting reading.
It’s an especially enlightening read for those familiar with the ‘battle’ between the two and the debate over what the future looks like for tube amps.
After all, with the skyrocketing popularity and proliferation of affordable and high-end amp modelers – from Neural DSP and Line 6 to Mooer and NUX – there’s been a discernible shift away from traditional amp rigs over the past few years.
That’s not a new observation. That’s something that’s been slowly but surely gaining traction over the past four or five years, with big brands piling resources into an amp modeler arms race that has seen an unprecedented number of players forego tube heads and combos in favor of modern ampless setups.
Where does that leave us in 2025? Well, as per Reverb stats, it’s been a bruising for those traditional tube amp formats, and a comparatively successful year for modelers and modeling amps.
The top five is made up of the all-conquering Neural DSP Quad Cortex, the Line 6 Helix Floor and the Line 6 Helix LT, which are joined by the Line 6 Catalyst 100 and Positive Grid Spark 40 modeling combos.
While those latter two are strictly amps, Reverb is keen to not pile them in the “traditional heads and combos” camp. In fact, Reverb only explicitly puts three amps in that category: the Orange Micro Dark (#6), Fender Rumble 40 V3 bass amp (#8) and Vox AC15C1 Custom (#15).
We’d also include the Marshall DSL40CR Combo, which came in at 16th, but apart from that Reverb is right in its observation that “every other is a device that emulates the sound of one or more traditional amps”.
In fact, there was not one tube guitar amp in the top 10. The Fender Rumble and Orange Micro Dark are both solid-states. The only other genuine tube amps are the Marshall and the Vox. Everything else is either an amp modeler floorboard, or a digital modeling amp that offers a number of different tones on tap.
What does that mean? Well, as Reverb puts it, modelers have comfortably won this round.
“When we mash up all traditional amps and amp modelers, it's clear to see that amp modelers have won the battle,” Reverb says.
“Of the Top 20 list, there are only a handful of traditional heads or combos (Orange Micro Dark, Fender Rumble 40 V3, Vox AC15C1 Custom). Every other is a device that emulates the sound of one or more traditional amps.”
Other notable additions to the list include the Kemper Profiler Stage, Fractal Audio FM3 and the Orange Pedal Baby 100. No room, it seems, for either the IK Multimedia TONEX, Line 6 HX Stomp, Neural DSP Nano Cortex or Fender Tone Master Pro.
Naturally, the data is somewhat skewed by the fact the pool has been so broadly opened up to all amps and modelers, but it’s telling that the Quad Cortex seems to be so far ahead of the pack.
It’s not all doom and gloom for amps, though, and Reverb says it would be wise to not write off tube amps just yet. Modelers may have won the battle, but the war is far from over, especially when it comes to second-hand.
“While certain modelers far outsell individual amps, there are way more traditional amps trading hands,” it continues. “Guitar amp combos and heads outsold amp modelers 4-to-1 in 2025.”
Reverb doesn’t supply its data for the best-selling used amps for the past 12 months, but it’s clear there is still robust demand for more traditional formats. 2026 could yet be a big year for the market.
Visit Reverb to read the list in full.
