Pierre
Stratologist
Why volume? Why a lot of watts?
Think about it. What is the most important part of the market for guitar amps? First I would say the occasional gigger, small venues, mostly practising at home. That person needs at the most 60/80 watts SS or 40 tube.
But what comes next? I'm pretty sure it's people like me. I won't gig for a long time, I started not so long ago, but I love gear. I am looking for tone.
I don't need volume!!!
What's the smallest tube amp you will find at an affordable price? 15 watts. If you want a heavy is tone with that, you have to crank up the volume until you ovedrive the output valves right (tell me if I'm wrong, I don't know much).
What use would even that be for me?
I can put a cleanboost in front of the amp, making the tubes overdrive quicker. Fair enough. It doesn't destroy the tone, it's a pedal (so it's cool
), but it does cost 100 quid more.
Furthermore why 15 watts?
That's loud enough to outvolume your drummer before he starts to retaliate (eh I know, I am one...) It's too loud for practise at your appartment without pissing off the neighbours, sisters, cats, pigeons, whatever. And it's not loud enough for small venue gigs (when non mic'ed).
Wouldn't manufacturers make enough profit out of a 5 watt, fully tube amp?
2 preamp valves, 2 output valves, et voila! L'amplificateur de reve.
Would it cost more than your average 30 watts SS amp with effects? I doubt. Would it piss off the neighours? Yes. But those who will know how to use it will know when it's used well. You've got two big shares of the segment here. Beginners and non gigers. You can already add recorders to there. A 5 watt tone machine? Hell yeah! I want.
How about 3 watts? Crank it up, you're a bit loud for room level but nothing too bad. And you have your output valves cranking out the distortion you were looking for. But then do you still have real tube tone (that's a genuine question, I don't really know about that).
How about do like Vox does on their AVT60 and 120 amps? A selecter that can switch between 5, 10, 15, etc... watts. With of course the volume needing to be higher and higher all the time to overdrive the output valves.
Most people probably will tell me, '15 watt is flexible enough if you push it, it's ok for room level and it will bring you metal tones' eh fair enough. But a 5 watter would too, would most likely cost cheaper (not talking boutique stuff here...) and this way be a godsend for those who don't need loudness.
How about a Fender pro junior with 5 watts only? Add in an EQ pedal, maybe a clean boost, a good overdrive and there ya go, tone box.
Just a small rant. Comments are welcome, there are most likely flaws in my points. Ah also, I have never played a tube amp less loud than 40 watts. Actually the only tube amp I played was a Marshall DSL401 and it was WAYYYYYY too loud when I finally got the gain I wanted. Distorsion was weak at room level.
Think about it. What is the most important part of the market for guitar amps? First I would say the occasional gigger, small venues, mostly practising at home. That person needs at the most 60/80 watts SS or 40 tube.
But what comes next? I'm pretty sure it's people like me. I won't gig for a long time, I started not so long ago, but I love gear. I am looking for tone.
I don't need volume!!!
What's the smallest tube amp you will find at an affordable price? 15 watts. If you want a heavy is tone with that, you have to crank up the volume until you ovedrive the output valves right (tell me if I'm wrong, I don't know much).
What use would even that be for me?
I can put a cleanboost in front of the amp, making the tubes overdrive quicker. Fair enough. It doesn't destroy the tone, it's a pedal (so it's cool
), but it does cost 100 quid more.Furthermore why 15 watts?
That's loud enough to outvolume your drummer before he starts to retaliate (eh I know, I am one...) It's too loud for practise at your appartment without pissing off the neighbours, sisters, cats, pigeons, whatever. And it's not loud enough for small venue gigs (when non mic'ed).
Wouldn't manufacturers make enough profit out of a 5 watt, fully tube amp?
2 preamp valves, 2 output valves, et voila! L'amplificateur de reve.
Would it cost more than your average 30 watts SS amp with effects? I doubt. Would it piss off the neighours? Yes. But those who will know how to use it will know when it's used well. You've got two big shares of the segment here. Beginners and non gigers. You can already add recorders to there. A 5 watt tone machine? Hell yeah! I want.
How about 3 watts? Crank it up, you're a bit loud for room level but nothing too bad. And you have your output valves cranking out the distortion you were looking for. But then do you still have real tube tone (that's a genuine question, I don't really know about that).
How about do like Vox does on their AVT60 and 120 amps? A selecter that can switch between 5, 10, 15, etc... watts. With of course the volume needing to be higher and higher all the time to overdrive the output valves.
Most people probably will tell me, '15 watt is flexible enough if you push it, it's ok for room level and it will bring you metal tones' eh fair enough. But a 5 watter would too, would most likely cost cheaper (not talking boutique stuff here...) and this way be a godsend for those who don't need loudness.
How about a Fender pro junior with 5 watts only? Add in an EQ pedal, maybe a clean boost, a good overdrive and there ya go, tone box.
Just a small rant. Comments are welcome, there are most likely flaws in my points. Ah also, I have never played a tube amp less loud than 40 watts. Actually the only tube amp I played was a Marshall DSL401 and it was WAYYYYYY too loud when I finally got the gain I wanted. Distorsion was weak at room level.
Why so much? I do hear it's a quality product though. And with an eq pedal and a single small speaker it could really be a keeper. But it's just too expensive 
