Blog: The 100 Watt Amp -- Too Much Firepower? Or Juuuuust Right?

[Evan Skopp]

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[formula73]

Re: Blog: The 100 Watt Amp -- Too Much Firepower? Or Juuuuust Right?

Amen.

[DankStar]

Re: Blog: The 100 Watt Amp -- Too Much Firepower? Or Juuuuust Right?

100 watts into a 3" speaker it is then!

[Agileguy_101]

Re: Blog: The 100 Watt Amp -- Too Much Firepower? Or Juuuuust Right?

Nice article, Adam.

Big amps FTW

[Lewguitar]

Re: Blog: The 100 Watt Amp -- Too Much Firepower? Or Juuuuust Right?

Oh, to once again enjoy the innocence of youth...and have all of my hearing.

I'm about 80% deaf in the treble frequncies and have constant hissing and ringing in my ears, in part from years of cranked 80 watt Twin Reverbs and 50 watt Marshalls and yes, even 100 watt Marshalls.

Why? Because it sounds like this: (Hits huge power chord and then a bunch of fast widdley diddley guitar licks way up the neck...)

Jeff Beck now often gigs with a pair of 15 watt amps. I now gig with a pair of 20 watt amps.

[King IzzO)))]

Re: Blog: The 100 Watt Amp -- Too Much Firepower? Or Juuuuust Right?

Hahahaha, awesome.

and, um, word.

[youngthrasher9]

Re: Blog: The 100 Watt Amp -- Too Much Firepower? Or Juuuuust Right?

My mind was blown when I read the volume differences. Makes me want a 100w head.

[sosomething]

Re: Blog: The 100 Watt Amp -- Too Much Firepower? Or Juuuuust Right?

Thanks guys

remember: use hearing protection.

[formula73]

Re: Blog: The 100 Watt Amp -- Too Much Firepower? Or Juuuuust Right?

Thanks guys

remember: use hearing protection.

Huh?

[sosomething]

Re: Blog: The 100 Watt Amp -- Too Much Firepower? Or Juuuuust Right?

Huh?

I said USE HEARING PROyou know what? Never mind.

[formula73]

Re: Blog: The 100 Watt Amp -- Too Much Firepower? Or Juuuuust Right?

I said USE HEARING PROyou know what? Never mind.

Right! I USE GOJO ALL THE TIME!

[everdrone]

Re: Blog: The 100 Watt Amp -- Too Much Firepower? Or Juuuuust Right?

I posted a blog comment (I agree if you are playing an open air back party with 200 people and a mosh pit that ya, everyone plays half stacks and I would want one, coming from my 212PPC and orange thunderverb50; ideally I would want an iso cab silent sister and a 200 watt thunderverb though for gigs to preserve my awesome dynamic tone )

my blog comment:

The highest permissible noise exposure for the UNPROTECTED ear is 115 dB for 15 MINUTES/day. Any noise above 140 dB IS NOT PERMITTED.

Habitual exposure to noise above 85 dB will cause a gradual hearing loss in a significant number of individuals, and louder noises will accelerate this damage. For unprotected ears, the allowed exposure time decreases by ONE HALF FOR EACH 5 dB INCREASE in the average noise level. For instance, exposure is limited to 8 hr at 90 dB, 4 hr at 95 dB, and 2 hr at 100 dB.

the typical rock band is at 115dB. High frequencies cut through earplugs. so if you are trying to crank that 100 WATTER HALF STACK constantly to get the "sweet spot", even with earplugs slowly say goodbye to your most important sound gear, your ears!

I prefer 50 watts or less so I can get the cranked tone AND preserve my ears; fortunately my amp is a thunderverb 50 that has a built in attenuator. I think 50 watts is more than enough, and when I get a good gig and want good non-solid-state tone, the sound guy that always tells me to "turn down" anyway is not complaining that the guitar is leaking into the vocal mic, drum mic, bass, mic...

[sosomething]

A fair amount of pseudologic in this post.

the typical rock band is at 115dB. High frequencies cut through earplugs. so if you are trying to crank that 100 WATTER HALF STACK constantly to get the "sweet spot", even with earplugs slowly say goodbye to your most important sound gear, your ears!

None of the sentences in the above paragraph connect over logical lines, and the last one is a mistaken assumption based on an unworkable premise.

If you'd paid attention to the actual science section of my blog, you'd know that a 100 watt amp is only 3db louder than a 50 watt when both amps are operating at max volume.

And I'd be willing to bet that neither of us are running our amps at full volume at gigs. So at this point, any comparison of volume between our rigs is fruitless, since we're probably pushing the same amount of volume.

In other words, neither of us is going deaf, and if we are, it's probably from the cymbals.

I prefer 50 watts or less so I can get the cranked tone AND preserve my ears; fortunately my amp is a thunderverb 50 that has a built in attenuator. I think 50 watts is more than enough, and when I get a good gig and want good non-solid-state tone, the sound guy that always tells me to "turn down" anyway is not complaining that the guitar is leaking into the vocal mic, drum mic, bass, mic...

Again, if you're getting the "cranked" tone with 50 watts of the tube power, you're still waaaay too loud given your own statements.

[ItsaBass]

Re: Blog: The 100 Watt Amp -- Too Much Firepower? Or Juuuuust Right?

It depends on the gig. The problem is when people bring half stacks into a coffee shop, and then expect to be able to hear the drums and vocals. Then the little *****es complain that, "The sound sucks at that place."

Watts are more about tone than volume. It often is the cab used that sounds like crap in a given venue. 4x12 is just too much pressure for most small to medium sized clubs with low to moderately powered PAs. Think about how many speakers the PA has before selecting your cabinet for the gig.

I have no problem with high wattage amps...but I do have a problem with 4x12 cabinets at most gigs. The most versatile way to go about using a powerful amp is to get it in combo format, and then add an extension cab if needed for a venue with a powerful PA. Marshall makes their big amps as 2x12's, and they make 2x12 extension cabs. I have no idea why these are not the big sellers, and the amps that hold their value on the used market. But everyone has to go for the fricking half stack, even if they are playing against 300W PAs with two mains.

[DankStar]

Re: Blog: The 100 Watt Amp -- Too Much Firepower? Or Juuuuust Right?

Fact check: no such thing as 100-watt cymbals. I looked it up.