Re: I dont understand full stacks
Well, necromancy will at least save us from having to start a new imstallment in the monthly "big amps suck /small amps rule" saga.....
1. Those that use full stacks are usually playing music "designed to be played loud". Like rock and metal, not Barry Manilow easy listening elevator music. Not low key blues. Rarely pop. BUT when an electric guitar has to compete with an orchestra for volume, all of a sudden the stacks get pulled out again. Coincidence? I think not...
2. Many of those people are up against bassists with 300 watt 8x10 Ampeg SVTs and hard hitting drummers that can literally drown out a 50 watt combo amp when the passage requires real oomph.
3. No electronically similar 50w 2x12 amp will EVER have the clean headroom of a 100 watter driving a 4x12, much less 2 4x12s.
Are full stacks for everybody?? Most definitely no. But are they an antiquated relic from earlier days as most of the posts from blues, jazz and solo artists would have one believe? Far from it.
For them, that much amplification is just ridiculous, partly because most of them have never played a 2000 person show without a PA or needed a pristine clean tone that could drown out both the drummer and the bassist. Believe it or not, the added overkill under gain is really just a side benefit. The massive amount of clean headroom is the much greater advantage.
But conversely, those of us that HAVE played such shows break out into hysterical laughter at the mere thought of how dead we and the gig would have been with a 20 watt combo amp that NEEDS a PA to be heard BoH.
After all, one big (and almost universally overlooked) advantage of stacks is that they can be turned
down a lot farther than a smaller amp can be turned up, so to speak my 3 is someone else´s 11 and I can easily reach their 25 if it proves necessary. It´s always better to bring an assault rifle to a knife fight than it is to bring a switchblade to a shootout.
It´s very similar to automobiles.... Some people are more than well enough off with a bicycle, others have a need for a little economy car, and yet others would literally be in grave danger in anything other than a 4x4 set up for offroading. One lives above his workpace, one just needs to get around, and one needs a vehicle that won´t get bogged down in snow or sand. The bike and eco guys will always think the 4x4 is ridiculous.. until they try to visit the guy that knows exactly why he drives one :naughty:
Essentially what this all depicts is that assuming that one´s own experiences and needs are identical to those of everyone else on the planet isn´t a sin, but it IS just downright stupid and shows just how little about reality one really knows and understands.
As the saying goes, Different strokes for different folks. :beerchug:
This of course all completely disregards the iconic image of a stack of amplifiers being a staple of rock music for decades. For those of us that are out there on stage playing to rabid crowds and not 50 guys sitting on sofas sipping whiskey, that image is just as important as the tone. I (and I´ll assume most others) don´t go to a live show to ses a reheated version of the CD recording session with slightly different tones and accents.
Nope, I go there for the SHOW. And if there´s no show, I won´t be back. People sitting down on stage without an obvious disability? Possible Show Killer. Small amps nobody can see? Possible Show Killer. People not moving around onstage, but more or less just looking down at fretboards? Possible Show Killer.... Why knowingly introduce such obvious flaws into your product? And don´t give me BS about "it´s music, not a product", because the second you get paid for it, crap even WANT to get somewoh reimbursed for it, even if it´s in beer or sex, it´s a product that you are trying to sell. Period.
And considering that the SHOW is where you earn your bread and butter as a musician, not the CD, you´re only buttf***ing yourself if you disregard that aspect.
Also, if PA technology has come so unbelievably far in the last decades (and it has, but not as far as some want to believe), then why do Marshall, Mesa, Fender, Rivera, Fryette, Bogner, Diezel, Engl, H&K, Soldano, Egnater, .... still develop and market NEW 100w+ heads and matching cabinets instead of keeping the old, mostly revered designs and switching over to PY equipment?? Why would a Company like Peavey that was primarilly known for sound reinforcement essentially abandon their bread and butter and start making great tube heads?
Penis Envy can only keep an industry going so long, and from some of the statements in this thread alone the 50w half-stack is already like a bazooka in a buddhist´s temple, then why do 100 watters even still exist if there is no real world application for them?
