20 watts loud enough

[shredrick]

Is 20 or 15 watts loud enough for rehearsals and gigs?

[Weathered]

What kind of music? For anything shy of arena rock, possibly. Through a nice, efficient set of speakers, probably.

[Johnny'sGotTheBlues]

Yes.

 

Unless your drummer is an ox.

[Gary Cohn]

My deluxe reverb (22w) is plenty when put through a 4x12.

 

Put the volume on 8, plug in the hollowbody casino and you got yourself a party.

[shredrick]

Great, I have never owned a 20 or 30 watt tube amp before the smallest was a 60 watt Peavey Truimph back in the 80's, great amp by the way. I got rid of a triple X head that was just sitting around in my garage from the metal band I was in. In a classic rock band now looking for something smaller. Thinking about the Blackstar 20 watt combo or head when it's released or something similar, even thought about just using a floor processor through the PA all the time but it really didn't sound as good when I tried a line 6 floor pod and a vox tonelab, but was able to tweak a good tone out of the vox through the PA so I would consider it a backup.

[theAntihero]

If you dont need loud cleans and plan on always micing it up it should be enough.

[Facing Failure]

The rocker 30 I have is probably the loudest amps I've ever owned and the amp I used live before it was a 200 watter. It cuts like a mother{censored}er so really in my opinion it's all about the frequencies it's hitting.

[Congoman]

Vox AC15, Fender Blues Jr or Princeton? They'll do.

[Randy80]

Mesa studio 22+.

[C-4]

I've tried some of the newer 20 watt combo amps and they just are not enough for me. I feel that a good 30 watter with 2 channels or more is the way to go.

I had a Vox AD20VT and it was not loud enough, but the Vox AD30VT is loud enough unmic'd.

 

Some tube amps at about 15-20 watts can do the job unmic'd, such as the Fender small tube combos and others in that category, but I have found that I prefer a two channel or more style amp with a loop for flexibility, which some of the smaller tube combos do not offer, especially the one channel models. The Rebel 20 has some nice features, but I like the headroom of a 30 watter.

 

My Schmidt with a 2x12 TT ceramic hempcone set up is perfect for all I do.

I also use the Vox AD30VT for really small stages unmic'd and it is fine. I've even used the Vox in concerts and it sounded great out front. If the Vox went down on me, I would consider the Vox VT50 or maybe even a Rebel 30 as a backup combo.

 

The Vox, while not a tube amp, has the effects built in, so setting it up or tearing it down in a hurry is very convenient as a backup amp.

[newholland]

for a lot of stuff, yup. just don't expect 100 watts of headroom--- but for a good cutting rock tone with less than monster bass with efficient speakers, absolutely.

[.homewrecker.]

Without worrying about a loud clean tone you should be alright, personally I'd stick closer to 30 watts, but the need for 50 and 100 watters isn't really there. Even though I still use one

[Marc G]

I used to use my Tiny Terror in to a 2x12 for practise and small venues with no problem

[pioneerprogress]

 

The rocker 30 I have is probably the loudest amps I've ever owned and the amp I used live before it was a 200 watter. It cuts like a mother{censored}er so really in my opinion it's all about the frequencies it's hitting.

 

 

This. Though I have no problem keeping up with a 20 (or even 5) watter.

[ttir]

The traynor YCS50 on the 15 watt setting is perfect.

[Reauchambeau]

it depends on who you're playing with, but I'd rather have a 50w amp as my all purpose amp because nothing sucks more than not enough headroom when you need it.

[guitarman3001]

I'm currently gigging with a bugera V22 on triode (13 watt) mode and I use it unmicd in small to medium sized rooms. It's perfect. I play classic rock and hard rock so I don't need a lot of clean headroom. With 13 watts I find that I can turn it up to the point where the power tubes just start breaking up and hit their sweet spot.

 

For larger rooms and outdoor gigs I'll use a 30 watt amp.

[newholland]

 

it depends on who you're playing with, but I'd rather have a 50w amp as my all purpose amp because nothing sucks more than not enough headroom when you need it.

 

 

you could look at it the other way though and say, there's nothing worse than an amp running too dry too. just depends what you need. with the right speakers, volumes not really an issue most times-- but it's true-- you'll get a whole lot more headroom out of a 50 watter, but you gotta like what gain you get out of the front side.

[Slaymoar]

Things that matter for headroom in order (gig/rehearsal):

 

1. Type of amp SS/Tube

2. Type of music

3. Speaker

4. Voicing of amp

 

A 20 Watt tube amp for blues, with a speaker of 100dB/m or over, then you have plenty of power.

 

If you have an SS 20 watt amp for metal, with a speaker of ~97dB/m, then you will need to mic it.

 

-D

[tele0507]

NO

[.homewrecker.]

 

NO

 

 

Says the guy running a JCM900, I promise you I've played a 30 watter louder than my old 900.

[TruSlice]

Heck, I've played with my Gibson Ga-5t (5w EL84 amp) and it was loud enough for a small bar-sized gig, though I did install an Eminence Ragin Cajun that was very loud and cut through.

 

I would cut through with the knob only at 7

[rlord1974]

 

.....in my opinion it's all about the frequencies it's hitting.

 

 

THIS

[tele0507]

Says the guy running a JCM900, I promise you I've played a 30 watter louder than my old 900.

 

Your old 900 was broken, Says the guy running a JCM900 / Next week

 

JCM205H

[Exocaster]

 

Yes. Unless your drummer is an ox.

 

 

This. Speakers and genre are relevant- you probably don't want EL84 breakup if you're playing death metal (though I've done a Mesa Stiletto with two THD YellowJackets with a non-heavy-handed drummer in a metal context before and it sounded pretty glorious dimed. It also took the Mesa's {censored}ty sounding OT saturation out of the equation as well, and it was slow doomy stuff.) but for rock stuff- absolutely. Especially if you don't care about having pristing JC120-ish cleans. I'd rather have a small amp on 10 than a massive amp on 2, from personal experience.