Watts: How Do You Like Them?

[markd21]

My most favorite tones come from 100 watt power section with a high wattage speaker. There is something about that type of sound when you are a guitarist in a trio with a vocalist. My guitar sound was always huge and clear.

Once I stopped playing live, I found "typical" guitar amps more enjoyable.

 

[GGJJGG]

In my mind, overdrive seems to be about the power tubes. Maybe it’s why the dumble clones don’t do it for me. That or they just require an intelligent user…

 

[TubeStack]

I prefer high wattage. My #1 amp for years now has been a 90W Mesa Electra Dyne head + Recto 2x12 or Trad 4x12. The latter cab for band practice and the former for gigs.

Lowest I could go would be 50W. I just love the punch and big sound of a big amp.

 

[markd21]

In my mind, overdrive seems to be about the power tubes. Maybe it’s why the dumble clones don’t do it for me. That or they just require an intelligent user…

Right on. For me it is about the opposite. I like the late 70s to mid 80s LA Studio sound. Dumbles, Rivera, modded Marshall's with EV or JBL speakers...

Nice tight sound with a violin like sustain from the preamp...

THAT'S the tone for me.

I've played around with amps like the 5e3 Deluxe, and other "classic" low watt combos to experiment with power tube drive. Much like you with the Dumble-style amp, I am LOST with those amps!

 

[aamefford]

I voted variable, ‘cause as a new player, I get to learn more from one amp, -AND- who cares as long as it sounds good, ‘cause really, who cares as long as it sounds good? Well and that the cops don’t show up.

 

[Bogner]

I voted variable, ‘cause as a new player, I get to learn more from one amp, -AND- who cares as long as it sounds good, ‘cause really, who cares as long as it sounds good? Well and that the cops don’t show up.

On One Occasion When The Cops Showed Up Several Years Ago The Officer Was A Guitar Player. He Was Probably In His Mid 40's And We Got To Talking And He Was In Bands As A Kid And Young Adult Then Marriage Happened And Kids, Etc. He Mentioned His Beloved Les Paul And Plexi That He Regrettably Got Rid Of. He Picked Up Acoustic But Didn't Play Much Anymore. We Talked For Several Minutes And He Kept Talking About How He Missed The Good Old Days Jamming And Playing With Friend And Such. I Kindly Offered Him To Play My Rig For Old Times Sake And He Accepted! I Was Surprised But I Saw The Joy In His Eyes. I Turned It Down A Bit And Rolled The Gain Back And He Played Some On It For A Couple Of Minutes. If I Remember Correctly He Played Some AC/DC, Boston And Foreigner Riffs. He Was Rusty But You Could Tell He Played And Knew What Was Going On. He Paused, Smiled And Handed Me Back The Guitar And Said Thanks, I Really Needed That. He Went On To Say Please Keep It Down To A Somewhat Reasonable Level In Future. I Agreed To Do So And He Winked And Said He Wouldn't Be Too Upset If He Ever Had To Come Back Although His Wife Might Be. I Asked Why Is That? He Said Well...Because I Might Have To Abandon The Acoustic And Get Me Another Electric And An Amp And I Don't Think My Wife Will Like That Very Much. He Thanked Me Again For Letting Him Noodle And Took Off For Another Call. He Was Really Cool And We Probably Could Have Talked For A Long Time Had He Not Had To Answer Another Call. Nice Guy!

 

[Sonic Blue 55]

I use a beat up old Tweed Deluxe with tone cranked and volume at 3. 15 watts is plenty.

My Paisley H is 50 watts, but with the master volume and effects loop controls, I can get it dialed low volume.

 

[Lewguitar]

I prefer about 20 watts. I have two HDRX 20’s, two 20 watt Princeton Reverbs, two Deluxe Reverbs, two Gibson GA20’s…

You get the idea.

If I need 40 watts I bring two.

Which I’ve only needed to do a couple of times in the last 15 years.

 

[Mark Ray]

Raging

 

[Greywolf]

My answer is same as it would be for instruments .. depends on the instrument and situation . Overall , especially for gigs , smaller is better for me.
However technology has changed the picture a bit .
My acoustic amps are digital and 100 / 300w works great due to high headroom for that format .
My Bass amps are 800w ( Mesa / GK) although I play through an old 50w Sovtek head /Bergantino 2x12 for smaller gigs and it's great .
Blues .. a 22 watt Mesa or DG30
Old school rock the Blue Sierra 50W

 

[Lewguitar]

I don't even own any amps much over 20 watts anymore.

Sold my Vox AC30's, Matchless and Blackstar amps.

Should've kept an AC30 but they're so loud and heavy. Loudest 30 watts I've ever owned.

I guess my Deluxe Reverb is about 22 watts.

Just no use for anything louder.

Club owners around here don't like anything louder these days either.

 

[László]

Club owners around here don't like anything louder these days either.

F^ck 'em. This is why I will only play venues with 10,000 or more seats.

"Get many of those, Laz?"

"Not really."

"Then what's the point of saying that?"

"It gives me a great excuse for concentrating all of my energies on the Tour de My Basement."

"Which is..."

"Which is why I don't leave my house."

 

[Simon Says]

I voted low, but...

The Master on my amp is set to 1/3, which generally would be reasonably high—not blasting high, but high enough to break a good relationship with my neighbours and their infant. I have a limiter (Origin Cali76) in the FX loop, which restricts the volume to the bedroom levels, adding SAG and making the amp sound not to suffocated. Light compression level: Cali's output level is my new Master Volume. I'm happy, my amp is happy, and everyone else is too.

Edit: it only works because the Fillmore Master Volume is placed BEFORE the FX Loop, so in this case, it acts more as a preamp master. In any "normal" amplifier, this wouldn't do as I have it intended

 

[veinbuster]

Club owners around here don't like anything louder these days either.

I’m with Les on this.
For what it’s worth I used the same amp in a 4,000 seat arena as in a bar with a capacity of about 200.

 

[Maertl513]

First: the picture has not been shot in my rooms, but in a friends house, where we met to discuss the cabinets. The Laney stack is his, my rig is in front.
My amps have 100 watts (I have a not depicted tube head from 1983 (acoustic Amplification)). This handy amp has a weight of approx. 2½ lbs, four channels (1 clean, 3 overdrive), internal noise gate, booster, and reverb. It has one single nano tube (taken from Russian missiles). The amp designer was prior running his own business for more than two decades sound designer at Hughes & Kettner. Additionally he's a hell of a player, studio and gigging musician, and he was rewarded at a competition in London by Fender as 'Stratking'.
I prefer speakers with higher wattage than the amp to mitigate break-up behaviour.

Aswell I seeked for neutral speakers to provide the amp the most space for his impact, rather than having colouring by the speakers (e. g. V30s).
Left is an 10" EVM-10M (200 Watt, 8 Ohm), right a 12" Celestion 250 Neo Copperback (250 Watt, 8 Ohm). Serial routing leads to a load of 16 Ohm, which supports transparency.