Is This Setup Remotely Viable?

[MarkCorriganJLB]

I have a friend who is prepared to sell me a 4x12 orange cabinet alongside a peavey 6505+ at a really good price. However, I will mostly be playing at home and am concerned that the 120 watt amp head combined with the 4x12 will be somewhat unusable. That said, for the price I am being offered, I imagine that this gear (even if sub-optimally played) would be better than gear at a similar price(played effectively.) I have heard that the 6505+ will be unable to achieve a proper tone at lower volumes. What is your input? Thank you for the advice. Ps: The walls in my house are extremely thick and my neighbors are also musicians; I'm mainly concerned with achieving a good tone and maintaining my hearing.

[WRGKMC]

The trend has been to buy smaller gear because musicians aren't playing out like they used to. I have large rigs but I have a Sound Proofed studio where I can us them. In a normal house anything over 30W is overkill. In an apartment 15W will bother your neighbors.

 

If you are buying the rig for performing out live that's one thing. To doodle around at home, its probably going to sit there unused. It may be a good financial investment if you're getting it dirt cheap and can resell it, but even then the big stuff is selling cheap used because no one has a place to use them. Even clubs where bands used to play loud are making bands drop down in volume. In Europe they have dB meters that kill the power on bands that exceed the volume limits.

 

Having a large amp sound good at low volumes isn't going to happen. You can use a power soak or low efficient speakers, but its like cranking up a race car to go to the corner store that's only a block away and you can walk there before you get the key in the ignition. Then if you do get it going you break the speed limit when the car is in first gear without your foot on the gas. They make race cars for race tracks. They make loud amps for large venue live shows. They might be nice to own but how often will you sit and stare at the thing knowing the cops will show up when you power it up.

 

Tube amps are mostly the same. It goes right down to the operating range and gain staging of the tubes. They sound their best played 50~75% cranked. Most don't even have their tone stacks kick in till the volumes on 3. The amp will sound and feel anemic when played below 25%. The

preamp has to push the power section with enough gain to have the power tubes and output transformer working within a nominal range. If you cant run the amp between 1/2 to 3/4 its a complete waste. Get a lower wattage amp you can push into saturation territory. It will be better for your neighbors and you as a player. Gain staging directly impacts a guitarists skills because it has just as much to do with string touch as sound quality.

[Tomm Williams]

If the price is right, buy it and flip it for something more suitable.