How many watts is enough?

[That90'sGuy]

Re: How many watts is enough?

For me, 30w is PERFECT. I do small to medium sized gigging with my amps and it cuts through well for what I need it to do. For anything bigger, I'm micing it.

Why do I like it? The cleans get a nice "pushed" sound and the overdrive really clips naturally without needing any of those tone sucking devices like attenuators. I can get good lower volumes and cutting through in a loud band mix can still be done with 30w (if it doesn't, you need new band mates).

 

[rocksoldier]

Re: How many watts is enough?

I actually used a classic 30 för rehersal a few years ago, and it worked fine.
I havn´t tried a 15 watt with a band, but i have a feeling it wouldn´t be enough.
Not as loud as my band plays anyway :laugh:
So basically, i would take the peavey beacause of that very simple reason.

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: How many watts is enough?

I don't b uy that for a second!. A Deville will rip your head off!. I used to own one. Class A has a ton of cool tone features. But, not 60 watt A/B volume from a 15 watt amp! That's voodoo man!



:bsflag: :chairfall

you know how loud a vox AC30 is, it can compete with a twin easily

doubling wattage = 3db gain

therefore a 15 watt would only be 30% quieter than an ac30

 

[Rainmaker]

Re: How many watts is enough?

I primarily play blues-rock music, but faster and a lot more political. Think Derek and the Dominos meets The Clash.

You're fourteen, right?

 

[Davey]

Re: How many watts is enough?

AHAhAHaHAAHAHA


anything less than 120W is for PANSIES!!!!

 

[Pecan]

Re: How many watts is enough?

Hey davey, can i ask how many watts that amp in your avatar is?:laugh2:

 

[Scott_F]

Re: How many watts is enough?

you know how loud a vox AC30 is, it can compete with a twin easily

doubling wattage = 3db gain

therefore a 15 watt would only be 30% quieter than an ac30

i own a 15 watt class A. I also owned a hrd2x12 (60 watts). Just no comparison in loudness. Sorry. Like anything else guitar related, your ears will win over words on paper everytime.

 

[Bludave]

Re: How many watts is enough?

I agree with Lew. I use a Deluxe Reverb at my rehearsals and it is hard to keep it clean. 22 wats can generate enough volume for smaller GIGS but not enough headroom. 40 to 50 watts would be my choice. I use a 900 combo and a Super reverb when I need to get everything I want A/b'd it gives me a lot of versatility.

The Traynor is a great Amp but one thing I have found is wattage is not as important as the amount of air you move. Single speaker amps I find don't sound as loud as multiple speaker Amps do. IF you take this Traynor and compare it to a Super reverb the SR will sound much much louder mainly because you are pushing a lot more air! THe difference in 10 watts or so will only make a minimal difference in volume, but will increase headroom!

 

[Scott_F]

Re: How many watts is enough?

you can always get a pedal to add dirt. No pedal out there will give you more clean headroom.

 

[Davey]

Re: How many watts is enough?

Hey davey, can i ask how many watts that amp in your avatar is?:laugh2:

which one.. the one on top of the quarter stack or the one next to it?

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: How many watts is enough?

Actually, the Peavey Classic 30 is 22 watts. Anyway, I've put my 60-100 amps in the closet. I used my 15 watt Gibson GA 15RV at band practice this weekend and didn't even have to turn it up past 10:00. That's with a loud drummer and bass player.

Let's keep in mind that those Gibsons are 15 watt's of Class-A power. As an owner of one I can tell you it's not representative of most 15 watt amps. It's way louder....great sounding, but WAY louder!

The fun of the Gibson amps with the 10 inch speaker was plugging them into a 4x10 and watching jaws drop at how this teeeeeeny little amp made such a big noise.

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: How many watts is enough?

which one.. the one on top of the quarter stack or the one next to it?

Quarter-stack?

*snarfs*

 

[Davey]

Re: How many watts is enough?

Quarter-stack?

*snarfs*

 

[MikeS]

Re: How many watts is enough?

I'd personally go for 40-50 watts just for the clean headroom, if for no other reason. That’ll also give you the gusto should you find yourself playing a larger venue or practicing in a larger space with a louder drummer.

you know how loud a vox AC30 is, it can compete with a twin easily

doubling wattage = 3db gain

therefore a 15 watt would only be 30% quieter than an ac30

That is true in theory assuming all other variables are equal. Given the slew of variables in an amplifier, you won’t find that this is the case. Perceived volume is also an entirely different world, and isn’t measured in simple terms like decibels. That formula is also a generalization based off of a baseline measurement. Remember that the decibel scale is not linear, but exponential.

 

[aleclee]

Re: How many watts is enough?

you know how loud a vox AC30 is, it can compete with a twin easily

doubling wattage = 3db gain

therefore a 15 watt would only be 30% quieter than an ac30

IME, when it comes to overdrive an amp's voicing makes a bigger difference than wattage in its ability to cut through in a band situation.

That's what caused me to prefer my 10W Peters to my 100W Soldano. The Soldano was loud enough to be heard but at volumes that don't make bandmates happy. The Peters was much more easily heard and at more reasonable SPLs.

Frankly, I suspect that's a big part of why you "need" a 100W amp with your band--you compensate for the amp's lack of "cut" with raw volume.

 

[Davey]

Re: How many watts is enough?

how loud an amp is is not realy too closely based on wattage..

a 120W ENGL powerball is a sweet sweet high gain amp, but a late 70's JMP will TOTALY slay it in terms of pure volume


it all depends for what you use it, end of story.

for strict home use a 5W pure tube amp is more than enough, for stadiums, nothing lower than a 100W full stack can be accepted

 

[Loserchief]

Re: How many watts is enough?

Powerballs are 100W Davey
120W would be a Savage
but else i'm totally with you on this one. My 100W Powerball is a killer amp just not for home volumes.

 

[Davey]

Re: How many watts is enough?

werent some powerballs 120w?? FAIK there is a II edition out in the last couple of months and the old ones were 120W or i TOTALY mixed **** up again

 

[Quencho092]

Re: How many watts is enough?

when i look at equipment power ratings, etc, i just think about whether i'd like to just take my amp, or take a smaller one and a PA (for big venues). If you go smaller and really like the tones, and it suits you for smaller venues without a PA, then that would be the ticket IMO.

Sort of like me and my Deluxe-it's just right for practices, great for small gigs, very mic'able for really big gigs.

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: How many watts is enough?

IME, when it comes to overdrive an amp's voicing makes a bigger difference than wattage in its ability to cut through in a band situation.

That's what caused me to prefer my 10W Peters to my 100W Soldano. The Soldano was loud enough to be heard but at volumes that don't make bandmates happy. The Peters was much more easily heard and at more reasonable SPLs.

Frankly, I suspect that's a big part of why you "need" a 100W amp with your band--you compensate for the amp's lack of "cut" with raw volume.

rock & roll is loud, man. Jimmy Paige used a 200 watt fullstack. I don't see anyone givin him crap about that

speakin of jimmy paige, i got my dad the led zeppelin box set yestersay, 9 cd's, 4 additional tracks, all digitally remastered by paige, and i'm havin a real hard time not crackin that bad boy open. I wanna leave the price tag on it, cost me $120