Re: Looking for a stack
I'm trying to think of the best way of saying what I want to say without sounding like a jerk. I can't so, here goes...
Fender_Punk, I think you've got a bit of an idea of what you're looking for, but you have no idea of the practical applications of what you're looking for.
I'm all for playing half stacks- I've done it for well over 15 years, and I've never found anything that sounds as good for what I look for in the guitar sound. I've played and owned many, many different amps over the years.
If you're playing shows that are only using some sort of PA for vocals (maybe kick/snare) you're relying on your amp to provide sound to yourself, the band and the audience.
For any venue you play with PA support, your rig serves 2 purposes- to feed the PA a signal and for yourself and the band to hear your guitar. The audience should be hearing your guitar from the PA mains, not from your guitar cab. Playing a large bar/club and you're cranking your amp you're blowing out the first few rows, and no one else can hear you- most 4x12 cabs are pretty directional- the sound goes in the direction the cab is facing- unlike an open back cab that sound is more like "radiating" from. Rely on the PA. If you think you know better you're annoying the sound guy and the audience.
I can count on one hand (and have fingers left over) the times I've wished I had more than 50w and a 4x12. All of which were outdoor shows with only vocal PA and large crowds.
Yeah I get it. They're both loud as sh*t, but 50 watts is more manageable for rehearsal and then I can go from 6 on 50W to 10 on 50W. Trust me, I'm not being power hungry in what I'm looking for, if it was too much I'd buy a 30W tube head or an Orange Tiny Terror.
But I can tell you, 100W tube on 10 is louder than 50W on 8. Forget the loudness aspect, trust me, it's not overkill. Move on from that argument, I took that wattage into account when browsing. I'm looking for opinions on tones and whether or not I should be looking at something else (which for the hell of it, I might try a Windsor).
While it may be manageable for rehearsal, I don't know a club in the world that's going to want a cranked 50/100w tube amp on stage.
HAHA! You've clearly never been to Js Place or Bottom's Up! before. Bottom's is a bar, not too large, and it gets loud in there, Js the upstairs is a hall and you can fit a good amount of people and they're PA is HUGE, so if there's a lot of power from the amp, they wont mic it but rather mic everything else.
This exchange leads me to believe you have no idea of practical application of an amp and volume and stage volume and playing in a bar/club. I've played in
a few bars, clubs, halls and outdoor stages around the country- there are NONE of them that want a 50w amp cranked through a 4x12 cab. I don't care that a 100w amp at 10 is louder than a 50 at 8. It doesn't matter, you're never going to be hitting those volumes at most any venue you play at. If you do, you're dumb. I'm not saying that to be insulting, there's just no call for it- and if you're stepping all over the mix or projecting too much that the PA has to pull you out, that's stupid. You're making yourself sound bad, you're making your band sound bad and you're looking like an inexperienced wannabe.
It's not about how loud you can go; it's about getting an amp that achieves a good tone at a usable volume and loud enough to be heard in an environment without a PA.
When I was a kid, I was convinced I NEEDED 100w to play rock and roll. I turned down some really kickass amps because they were "only" 50-60w. Do you have any idea how hard it was to find a 60w MV Orange head or a 50w MV Park head, even 15 years ago? I turned them down because they were "only" 50w. (I didn't even
see another 50w Park head for another 10 years) My band had a "tone intervention" with me- my sound was too loud, too bright, too thin and not ballsy enough. The drop from 100 to 50w thickened up my sound, after trading around a few amps I ended up with a "good one."
The best thing you can do is to find an amp with a good master volume. Chances are you'll never need a 100w guitar amp- only get the 100w if it sounds better to you. It's not more manly, it's not more rock, it's not more punk. It's only more unneccessary power and weight.
