High Wattage Amps & Apartments.....

GuitarGuy503

GuitarGuy503

New member
I know some guys downgrade to smaller rigs but quite frankly I don't really want to. Having said that, I have a 100 watt Recto that I don't intend on getting rid of it, however, I am aware I may need to figure something out for it whether it be an Isolation Cab or an attenuator. I was just curious if there are any apartment livers that have made big rigs work at low volumes or if they had to get an isolation cab or attenuator. Discuss..... :cool2:
 
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Re: High Wattage Amps & Apartments.....

I play them with the volume turned down real low. No, they don't sound great, but IMO it's better than blowing through tubes using an attenuator just to play at home.
 
Re: High Wattage Amps & Apartments.....

The more I think about it the more I'm actually considering selling the Roadster and getting one of the New Mini Recto 25s and running a reverb pedal through it. I'm gonna have to sleep on that one for a while though as I'm afraid I may regret it. It's just when I consider the future and a few other things it makes the most sense to me, I'm partially torn as I kinda feel like the Roadster is going to waste because I live with my parents at the moment, don't even gig, and the situation will only get more strict when I move to an appartment. Not only that but quite 4 channels is much more than I know what to do with. Cranking my Roadster yesterday while my parents weren't home was what got me thinking about this. The more I cranked it the better it sounded and now I'm not sure I can live with low volumes and whatnot. :)
 
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Re: High Wattage Amps & Apartments.....

Even if you do gig, a 100W amp is usually big overkill.

Doesn't it have a low power switch, though?

If you do sell to "downgrade," take a look at the 5/25. Great amp. And might suit you perfectly. Not voiced like the Recto, but IMO all Boogies are so versatile that I think you will do fine. It can be used at 5W class A or 25W class AB.
 
Re: High Wattage Amps & Apartments.....

attenuators don't make you blow tubes any faster than if you were using the same volume setting without an attenuator.
 
Re: High Wattage Amps & Apartments.....

I do have to say that I have missed pushed mode on the regular rectifiers and would love to have it back. :)
 
Re: High Wattage Amps & Apartments.....

IMO a GOOD attenuator is worth it. You won't get the sound of raging speakers, but you can at least enjoy a reasonable-volume tone that doesn't sound like a buzzy mess. I've been using weber attenuators for years, and even the cheap ones sound decent.

ALso, even a 25W amp is too loud for most apartments without an attenuator. That is, if you ever wanna get the master volume above say, 2 or maybe 3. My amp is 22 watts and 3 on the volume is loud enough for all my neighbors to hear clearly. I use a weber Load Dump, and I can use the amp volume at 4 where I like it, but it's no louder than a TV.

I'd say, try the 25W recto and see if you like it. An attenuator with that would still be more apartment friendly than a 100W amp, and 25W should be enough to jam with should you ever find some buddies who have houses.
 
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Re: High Wattage Amps & Apartments.....

ItsaBass said:
Even if you do gig, a 100W amp is usually big overkill.

Doesn't it have a low power switch, though?

If you do sell to "downgrade," take a look at the 5/25. Great amp. And might suit you perfectly. Not voiced like the Recto, but IMO all Boogies are so versatile that I think you will do fine. It can be used at 5W class A or 25W class AB.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the recommendation but I've been a recto player for a long time and couldn't see leaving the Recto Series as the rectifiers provide my sound.
 
Re: High Wattage Amps & Apartments.....

10 watts is still deliciously loud. Even when I had an amp that went down to 3 watts, I couldn't run it past about 4 or 5 on the volume before neighboring dudes would get pissed.

Ahhh the somtimes inconvenient glory of tube amps.
 
Re: High Wattage Amps & Apartments.....

Another thing you could do is run an attuenator as a load and use a line out (especially one with a decent speaker sim) into headphone for real quietness or mess around with free amp sims on computer
 
Re: High Wattage Amps & Apartments.....

FuseG4 said:
10 watts is still deliciously loud. Even when I had an amp that went down to 3 watts, I couldn't run it past about 4 or 5 on the volume before neighboring dudes would get pissed.

Ahhh the somtimes inconvenient glory of tube amps.
Click to expand...

Still with lower wattage I wont have to crank it as loud to get good tone out of it (thus the reason alot of people prefer 50 watt heads to 100 watt heads). :) Bottom line is it makes alot more sense for someone who is strictly a bedroom player and whatnot. :)
 
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Re: High Wattage Amps & Apartments.....

James Rock said:
Another thing you could do is run an attuenator as a load and use a line out (especially one with a decent speaker sim) into headphone for real quietness or mess around with free amp sims on computer
Click to expand...

yup. decent speaker sim is a must. I've tried just a normal line out into headphones. Sounds like crap. Makes you really appreciate what speakers do, even crappy ones.
 
Re: High Wattage Amps & Apartments.....

FuseG4 said:
attenuators don't make you blow tubes any faster than if you were using the same volume setting without an attenuator.
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No ****. But what I said was that you will blow through (not simply "blow") more tubes with an attenuator than you will by just playing with the volume knob really low.

FWIW, even my 15W Jet II and my 12W Princeton must be played below 2 to be quiet enough not to disturb anyone else in the building. That is so quiet that it doesn't sound too hot tonally. But why do I need to sound hot tonally to play at home?
 
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Re: High Wattage Amps & Apartments.....

ItsaBass said:
No ****. But what I said was that you will blow through (not simply "blow") more tubes with an attenuator than you will by just playing with the volume knob really low.

FWIW, even my 15W Jet II and my 12W Princeton must be played below 2 to be quiet enough not to disturb anyone else in the building. That is so quiet that it doesn't sound too hot tonally. But why do I need to sound hot tonally to play at home?
Click to expand...

my bad. misunderstood ya.
 
Re: High Wattage Amps & Apartments.....

I think it all depends on the size of the appartment block you live in. A 5 watt amp will certainly annoy those in close proximity, but in the bigger buildings you're really gonna need at least 50 and preferably 100 watts to irritate those living several floors below or above.

If you live by a noisy road, a couple of 100 watt heads and four 4x12 cabs will probably be needed to ensure maximum penetration into the lives of others and successful irritation.
 
Re: High Wattage Amps & Apartments.....

ItsaBass said:
. But why do I need to sound hot tonally to play at home?
Click to expand...

I have no idea why you would want to sound any less good at home. I guess you're a rock star and it's all about the fans.

Personally i want to sound as good as possible wherever i am, any time i plug an electric guitar into an amp. Of course that means owning a few different amps to cover all the bases. I sure as heck ain't gonna compromise my sound just because i might be playing at home. Of course the volume level has to be compromised but tonally .... there is no place i deem lowly enough to settle for substandard tone.
 
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Re: High Wattage Amps & Apartments.....

crusty philtrum said:
I have no idea. Personally i want to sound as good as possible wherever i am, any time i plug an electric guitar into an amp. Of course that means owning a few different amps to cover all the bases. I sure as heck ain't gonna compromise my sound just because i might be playing at home.

I'm actually pretty sick of this 'I play out in a crummy bar band that no-one's ever heard of so i'm special, anyone who doesn't is a lesser entity, their gear, opinions and everything else don't matter' mentality that some people on this forum express.
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If you got that from me, you are mistaken. That was not my point at all.

I said that I deal with a less than ideal sound when I need to be quiet when playing at home (usually that means in the middle of the night), rather than using an attenuator, because I just don't see the need to duplicate my live sound and burn through tubes while also trying to be quiet at 3 a.m. If I do decide I need overdrive, I plug in my Hot Tubes.
 
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