What's the point in big 100 watt heads?

[Securb]

Re: What's the point in big 100 watt heads?

TSL100? It's that red channel, innit?

By boosting it with the proper pedal, you could make it sound like a can of raging bees!

JCM 2000 with a Morley Fuzz and a Triskelion Harmonic Energizer it is a can of raging bees! Just like I like it.

 

[Mincer]

Re: What's the point in big 100 watt heads?

15 watt tube amp is not loud enough for a band

My Mesa on 18 watts certainly is, at least for my band.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: What's the point in big 100 watt heads?

My Mesa on 18 watts certainly is, at least for my band.

It all comes down to the band, the venue and the amount of headroom needed. If you need big, punchy cleans with a louder band in a venue you need to fill, it's definitely not enough. If you are getting the amp into saturation, playing more quietly or well miced and monitored, it can be more than enough.

For the former my Princeton Reverb isn't enough, but for the later it's perfect.

I totally get the high end modeler into an ultra linear power amp. Mated with a few different cabs that can go from individual practice to stadium rig.

 

[jeremy]

Re: What's the point in big 100 watt heads?

15 watt tube amp is not loud enough for a band

My Mesa on 18 watts certainly is, at least for my band.

different speakers make a huge difference in volume too obviously. i gig with a 20w amp most of the time but its got a very efficient speaker so i dont have to crank it till it turns to mush

 

[Securb]

Re: What's the point in big 100 watt heads?

My Mesa on 18 watts certainly is, at least for my band.

I used a 22 watt Deluxe Reverb for my last band practice and it was more than loud enough. We are a loud freaking band!

 

[GilmourD]

Re: What's the point in big 100 watt heads?

I used a 22 watt Deluxe Reverb for my last band practice and it was more than loud enough. We are a loud freaking band!

I pulled two power tubes out of my Bugera 1960 Infinium, knocking it down to 50 watts, and I run it clean with pedals for dirt. A DR loud enough to compete with my drummer would be too crunchy for the stuff we do. It's really strange but I actually play CLEAN with this band.

 

[iama]

Re: What's the point in big 100 watt heads?

Easy answer. Headroom. You're welcome.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[p4vl]

Re: What's the point in big 100 watt heads?

Headroom, my ass. I think it's because the original Marshall users and heros (Hendrix, Page, the Ramones) used 100w stacks. Supposedly, few bands rarely (in the late 60's/early 70's) used big amps like Marshalls to record.

Gigs should be loud but practice should be clear.

 

[GilmourD]

Re: What's the point in big 100 watt heads?

Headroom, my ass. I think it's because the original Marshall users and heros (Hendrix, Page, the Ramones) used 100w stacks. Supposedly, few bands rarely (in the late 60's/early 70's) used big amps like Marshalls to record.

Gigs should be loud but practice should be clear.

I think the question was more along the lines of why NOW.

Hell, even EVH sometimes actually uses the 50W version of the 5150-III. ADKoT was supposedly recorded with a mix of those, 100S heads (the heads with the resonance controls on the back), and a little bit o' the Magic Marshall.

 

[p4vl]

Re: What's the point in big 100 watt heads?

I think the question was more along the lines of why NOW.

Well, it should be noted that the trendy ±25watt 'high gain' heads use mostly use EL84's in their respective power section and therefore sound like a sponge and will never replace their superior ancestors. I don't care about low wattage but I have to at least have E34L/EL34/KT77's as an option.

 

[GilmourD]

Re: What's the point in big 100 watt heads?

different speakers make a huge difference in volume too obviously. i gig with a 20w amp most of the time but its got a very efficient speaker so i dont have to crank it till it turns to mush

Also, 20 watts is great if you don't care about having a CLEAN clean tone. With my old band that would've worked. With my current band I need sparkly cleans.

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: What's the point in big 100 watt heads?

Well, it should be noted that the trendy ±25watt 'high gain' heads use mostly use EL84's in their respective power section and therefore sound like a sponge and will never replace their superior ancestors. I don't care about low wattage but I have to at least have E34L/EL34/KT77's as an option.

The 20/5 watt Marshall mini Jubilee runs EL34s -or most other big bottle tubes. It doesn't sound like a sponge. It sounds pretty much like its 100 watt big brother, only you can turn up the master volume a lot more before you get too loud.

 

[dystrust]

Re: What's the point in big 100 watt heads?

The 20/5 watt Marshall mini Jubilee runs EL34s -or most other big bottle tubes. It doesn't sound like a sponge. It sounds pretty much like its 100 watt big brother, only you can turn up the master volume a lot more before you get too loud.

If I power up both amps and swap the input & speaker cables, I can tell that the Mini has most of the mojo of the 2555, but not all of it. If you're not directly comparing the two, they sound shockingly close except for volume.

Another thing I've noticed is that my Mini seems to be FAR more particular about tubes than the 2555 is. Power tubes in the 100W make very little difference in the overall tone unless you're playing stupidly loud. The Mini OTOH sounds like crap if the tubes aren't well balanced between preamp and poweramp as well as brightness and depth. Currently I'm running Tung-Sol in V1, EH in V2, Sovtek LPS in V3, and JJ EL-34s; the 2555 happens to sound good with the same setup (except 4x EL-34).

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: What's the point in big 100 watt heads?

If I power up both amps and swap the input & speaker cables, I can tell that the Mini has most of the mojo of the 2555, but not all of it. If you're not directly comparing the two, they sound shockingly close except for volume.

Another thing I've noticed is that my Mini seems to be FAR more particular about tubes than the 2555 is. Power tubes in the 100W make very little difference in the overall tone unless you're playing stupidly loud. The Mini OTOH sounds like crap if the tubes aren't well balanced between preamp and poweramp as well as brightness and depth. Currently I'm running Tung-Sol in V1, EH in V2, Sovtek LPS in V3, and JJ EL-34s; the 2555 happens to sound good with the same setup (except 4x EL-34).

I agree there are minor differences in tone and the mini responds more dynamically to different tubes. That's one of the things I really like about, though. Actually I'm still running KT66s in my mini. The overdive channel is less gainy with more open mids which suites my bluesy needs better, and the clean channel gets more sparkle.

 

[Diego]

Re: What's the point in big 100 watt heads?

15 watt tube amp is not loud enough for a band

Try a cranked Vox AC15 in any of it's current variants.

 

[jeremy]

Re: What's the point in big 100 watt heads?

a cranked 15w amp is loud (just as my cranked 20w is loud) but if you need clean headroom or huge tight bottom then big amps do it well. i use a 20w amp since i want it to break up at least a little most of the time

 

[wahwah]

Re: What's the point in big 100 watt heads?

You can't use 18w with a band? In some cases and with some styles, that may well be true, but it can't be stated as a fact. With a 100,000 watt PA and good monitoring, it can definitely work. A couple of things to remember. Unless you're playing those styles of metal where the guitars have all the bottom end, the kick drum sounds like a basketball and the bass sounds like castanets, then the first thing any decent sound engineer will do is put a high pass filter on your channel at around 100 Hz, otherwise the guitar is messing with the kick and bass balance in the system. So you need to enjoy all of that extra thump, because you're the only one who's hearing it. Secondly, the beam effect that comes from a loud amp at distance is predominantly a focused, machete-like laser of 2.5 kHz. Sonically disturbing. Hardly musical. Thirdly, the mic pre at the FOH desk needs to see a few millivolts of signal. It doesn't care how it gets them. Yes, this all changes when there's just a vocal PA, but the most important thing of all is balance. Without reinforcement, you may need higher wattage to achieve it with some styles and some bands, others not so much.

Here's some footage from a gig earlier this year, part of a summer festival tour. 10,000 people, 18w, single 10" combo. Got paid.

Footage courtesy of Brett Kingman, aka Burgerman.

A few seconds of singer preamble before the song kicks in.




Cheers............................................ wahwah

 

[Van Noord]

Re: What's the point in big 100 watt heads?

18 watts is 74% as loud as 50 watts

http://www.amptone.com/g112.htm

 

[GoldenVulture]

Re: What's the point in big 100 watt heads?

You can't use 18w with a band? In some cases and with some styles, that may well be true, but it can't be stated as a fact. With a 100,000 watt PA and good monitoring, it can definitely work. A couple of things to remember. Unless you're playing those styles of metal where the guitars have all the bottom end, the kick drum sounds like a basketball and the bass sounds like castanets, then the first thing any decent sound engineer will do is put a high pass filter on your channel at around 100 Hz, otherwise the guitar is messing with the kick and bass balance in the system. So you need to enjoy all of that extra thump, because you're the only one who's hearing it. Secondly, the beam effect that comes from a loud amp at distance is predominantly a focused, machete-like laser of 2.5 kHz. Sonically disturbing. Hardly musical. Thirdly, the mic pre at the FOH desk needs to see a few millivolts of signal. It doesn't care how it gets them. Yes, this all changes when there's just a vocal PA, but the most important thing of all is balance. Without reinforcement, you may need higher wattage to achieve it with some styles and some bands, others not so much.

Here's some footage from a gig earlier this year, part of a summer festival tour. 10,000 people, 18w, single 10" combo. Got paid.

Footage courtesy of Brett Kingman, aka Burgerman.

A few seconds of singer preamble before the song kicks in
Cheers............................................ wahwah

Can't see the video - https://www.facebook.com/BrettKingman/videos/10155743060371102/ -

 

[Securb]

Re: What's the point in big 100 watt heads?

To finally answer the OP after 7 pages: They are 100-watt heads.