I've Got Way Too Much Wattage

Pink Unicorn Horsey

Pink Unicorn Horsey

Megä Pöny Rÿdr
I've got four amps that in and of themselves are great but have way too much power than I'll ever need. The problem is that I'll most likely never be in a situation where I'll be able to play these at sweet-spot volume. I play in my own music room (essentially a bedroom), a shoebox-sized rehearsal space and bars that hold no more than 80-100 people. Here are my amps:

  • '65 Fender Super Reverb RI (40W)
  • Vox AC30 RI (33W)
  • Mesa/Boogie DC-5 (50W)
  • Mesa/Boogie Single Rec (50W)
I could go the power attenuator route to maximize tube saturation but I'll never get the great speaker breakup that's at least equally at the heart of the sweet spot. These are great amps and I'd hate to see them go but I can't help thinking I should really be playing through something more along the 15W-22W route.

So many drives out there only work well with an amp that's already at or near breakup (e.g., Klon Centaur, Analog Man Fuzz Face). If I'm never getting my amp past 2 or 3 what's the use?

Would some of you please chime in with your thoughts?

- Keith
 
Re: I've Got Way Too Much Wattage

The AC30CC (I do realize you don't have it) has a switch to switch between 33 and 22 watts...I used to run mine at 22 watts and got amazing tone
 
Re: I've Got Way Too Much Wattage

Attenuate. That'll at least get you down to 85-90dB or so while staying in the sweet spot.

Think about it this way: if a 50W amp with 3dB of attenuation isn't going to get the speaker moving adequately, a 22W amp probably isn't either since it's pushing three watts than the attenuated amp.
 
Re: I've Got Way Too Much Wattage

aleclee said:
Attenuate. That'll at least get you down to 85-90dB or so while staying in the sweet spot.

Think about it this way: if a 50W amp with 3dB of attenuation isn't going to get the speaker moving adequately, a 22W amp probably isn't either since it's pushing three watts than the attenuated amp.
Click to expand...

I have a 16-ohm THD Hot Plate for my Vox and while it lets me keep the volume lower I really lose the tone that's the reason I bought the Vox in the first place.

The thing about all those watts is that they're moving multiple speakers: 2x12, 4x10, 4x12. I wonder if I could get killer tone at bar room / rehearsal space levels from a quality, low-wattage amp with perhaps a single speaker.

- Keith
 
Re: I've Got Way Too Much Wattage

There comes a time when it's best to downsize into higher quality. If you narrow it down to 2 excellent amps, you'll have 2 amps that sound better than those 4, and also be more useable for your situation. I need to do that myself, but I can't bear to sell anything. Even still, It'd be best to have something like a Bogner Shiva combo and a Toneking Comet combo. Right now, I'm looking at too many 4-12 cabs!
 
Re: I've Got Way Too Much Wattage

Gearjoneser said:
There comes a time when it's best to downsize into higher quality. If you narrow it down to 2 excellent amps, you'll have 2 amps that sound better than those 4, and also be more useable for your situation. I need to do that myself, but I can't bear to sell anything. Even still, It'd be best to have something like a Bogner Shiva combo and a Toneking Comet combo. Right now, I'm looking at too many 4-12 cabs!
Click to expand...
You can of course give me that really too big Marshall Silver J you have...
 
Re: I've Got Way Too Much Wattage

unfortunately i have the same problem,

i bought about a month ago a VHT 50/12 and i run it waaay to low cause i play at home.

it has a really great master volume as well and works great at low volumes but i still play it too low.
i was actually contemplating using it for about a year or so and then selling it to get a SS amp for home. May sound insane but, i dont think that i am getting its best sound at the volume i play at.

i see this happen more and more lately. people go into music stores and complain about the amp and the 'lack of gain' it has. they do this while they are plugged into a 50-100watt tube amp and are running it a room levels and dont realize these amps were made for much louder situations.

i just dont know how well a SS amp will come close to this VHT even me playing it this low.
 
Re: I've Got Way Too Much Wattage

I'm just waiting for Wattage to chime in here :p
 
Re: I've Got Way Too Much Wattage

What I've learned is that if you have a pretty high wattage amp, there's nothing that means you HAVE to crank it and often it doesn't sound too good when it's cranked all the way. I like it when you get it loud enough that the tone opens up in a big way, but it seems to me that sometimes the higher you go (we're talking usually around 2 o'clock on the volume dial is where it starts), the muddier the amp can get and the sweetness is lost because it's just too loud to perceive the nuances of it.

With those amps, you should be able to play gigs comfortably. Some amps like the Mesas don't need to be cranked to give up the goods, because they're primarily based around preamp distortion. I have a Bogner Shiva and I've used it through several bar-sized gigs with NO issues whatsoever and that's 80w... so 30w-40w shouldn't be so bad :)
 
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Re: I've Got Way Too Much Wattage

I have the opposite problem . . . great practice amps, but they don't have the balls for gigging . . . although I'll be willing to trade them for your vox ac-30 . ..
 
Re: I've Got Way Too Much Wattage

GuitarStv said:
I have the opposite problem . . . great practice amps, but they don't have the balls for gigging . . . although I'll be willing to trade them for your vox ac-30 . ..
Click to expand...

What kind of venues do you play at?
 
Re: I've Got Way Too Much Wattage

Dr. Z ghia. best sounding 18 watts I ever heard for a little less than a grand. If you are willing to sell of an amp, its a good option.
 
Re: I've Got Way Too Much Wattage

Kind of the reason i have 7 tube amps and a few solid states is because i have amps of different loudness and uses.... SS at home... small 20-30 watt combos for most jams and bands.... and stacks for large gigs that never seem to happen anymore but i did use them at onetime.... With the small combos like my Classic 30 and 65 Deluxe i miss the low end thump my stacks used to give... plus with the combos i use pedals a lot more....
 
Re: I've Got Way Too Much Wattage

KGMESSIER said:
I have a 16-ohm THD Hot Plate for my Vox and while it lets me keep the volume lower I really lose the tone that's the reason I bought the Vox in the first place.
Click to expand...
IME, attenuators don't suck too much tone 'til they're taking of 10-12dB. Most people would be hard-pressed to tell the difference in tone between an unattenuated amp and on attenuated by 4dB. In fact, 3dB is widely regarded as the minimum change to have a noticable difference in volumne. Thus, both my experience and theory indicate that a 22W amp isn't going to be sound much quieter or better than a slightly attenuated 50W amp. In practice, loudness is as much a factor of the guy turning the knobs as it is the capability of the power section.
 
Re: I've Got Way Too Much Wattage

aleclee said:
IME, attenuators don't suck too much tone 'til they're taking of 10-12dB. Most people would be hard-pressed to tell the difference in tone between an unattenuated amp and on attenuated by 4dB. In fact, 3dB is widely regarded as the minimum change to have a noticable difference in volumne. Thus, both my experience and theory indicate that a 22W amp isn't going to be sound much quieter or better than a slightly attenuated 50W amp. In practice, loudness is as much a factor of the guy turning the knobs as it is the capability of the power section.
Click to expand...

I agree with you that the Hot Plate at the "-4 dB" or "-8 dB" setting doesn't suck a significant amount of tone. However, for me to hit the sweet spot on these high-wattage amps I need to go "-12 dB" or worse yet "-16 dB." I use a 16-ohm Hot Plate with my AC30 and don't like to attenuate the output more than 8 dB but I'm still lowering the volume to 9:00 to keep from blowing away the neighbors or even my bandmates.

My understanding is that the sweet spot in a 22W amp -- or 15W, etc. -- is at a much more tolerable volume than that of a 50W amp at its sweet spot.

- Keith
 
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