Members cratz2 Posted June 22, 2012 Members Share Posted June 22, 2012 I mostly play a Dr Z Carmen Ghia which is pretty much a simplified 18W Marshall-ish amp. I even have an attenuator on it it wanting to get amp dirt without resorting to a pedal. The last time we bought a place, I had access to the former place for almost a year while it was on the market. I ran a 40 watt Marshall DSL401 either through a single Vintage 30 or through a Marshall 4x12 cab. I must say, that 4x12 offers a certain... presence... that is lacking in most combo amps and that was a 300W cab only being pushed by 40 watts or less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jpnyc Posted June 22, 2012 Members Share Posted June 22, 2012 How in the hell do you guys ever play your amps at home!? I play a 1-watt amp and when I crank that all the way up, it still LOUD AS HELL. I think part of the problem with the really small amps coming out now is that most of them don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RockNote Posted June 22, 2012 Members Share Posted June 22, 2012 For every doubling in apparent loudness you have to multiply the watts by 10. So 10 watts is twice as loud as 1w, and 100w is twice as loud as 10w. Hence my reasoning that 1w is a quarter of the apparent volume. I doubt if this is entirely right. As far as I know, a doubling of apparent loudness equals an increase in volume of 3 dB, which again equals a doubling of the wattage - not ten times as much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LesPaulFetish Posted June 22, 2012 Members Share Posted June 22, 2012 High wattage amp at band practice and shows. Modeler at home. +1. As much as I want a dual rec or something, it's probably not something to bring to college. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted June 22, 2012 Members Share Posted June 22, 2012 I'm curious to hear from more guys who use 50 or 100 watt amps as their at home, just screwing around or practice amp. In my studio/rehursal space thats highly sound proofed and sound absorbant, a 100/200W amp isnt really that loud in comparison to a room that has allot of reflection. The big thing for higher power amps is two fold for me. One is you can "feel" the amps thump in your chest a bit. Second is the use of self sustaining notes. you can get guitars to self sustain at lower volumes and with smaller amps if you crank the gain and maybe use a compressor. With bigger amps you can do it with much cleaner tones and have allot more control over it. Actually using them out or for recording is simply a matter of what you may need for a particular situation. It makes no sence to haul big 4X12 cabs to gigs if the bass player only has a dinkey amp or the other guitaristis using a single 12 combo. I have several different cabs with different cabs I can swap out for different situations. Stage size is a big issue too. For most practice situations at home I may only crank up my little 10w marshall. Its good enough to practice licks. When recording, I often use guitar preamps only and use my recording monitors. They're always ready to go when I crank up the DAW. I just plug in and play. I can get just about any sound I need and have no hastle with having to crank the big stuff up and get the mics set and all. If I have other players over then I would crank up the PA and all. The whole studio is plug and play. I've collected all the gear over the decades so othersdont have to haul their gear over for rehursals or recording sessions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members smorgdonkey Posted June 22, 2012 Members Share Posted June 22, 2012 I had a 6505+ and a 4x12 cabinet at home for a while and that thing sounded amazing at 'room volume'. Sure, having the power tubes cooking at high volumes is a different thing all together but many big amps still sound great at low volumes...and completely different than small amps cranked. Ever listen to a 15 watt stereo and listen to a 250 watt stereo? Totally different. More power generally allows you to hear things that less power doesn't because the 'less power' has to work out of its most efficient zone. In guitar amps, sometimes that is a positive aspect but the 6505+ on 1 and a half through a 4x12 cab was awesome sweet high gain tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GCDEF Posted June 22, 2012 Members Share Posted June 22, 2012 I doubt if this is entirely right. As far as I know, a doubling of apparent loudness equals an increase in volume of 3 dB, which again equals a doubling of the wattage - not ten times as much. No, he was right. A doubling of apparent loudness is regarded as between 6 and 10dB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members elsupermanny14 Posted June 22, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 22, 2012 I doubt if this is entirely right. As far as I know, a doubling of apparent loudness equals an increase in volume of 3 dB, which again equals a doubling of the wattage - not ten times as much. You're right that cutting decibels is a way of cutting the apparent loudness in half. However, apparent loudness produced by watts is not the same as apparent loudness measured by decibels. You need to divide by a factor of 10 in order to cut apparent loudness by half. Think of it this way. In order to get half of the apparent loudness of a 100-watt amp you need a 10-watt amp. You ear does not hear watts, it hears the perceived volume difference in decibles. Watts is a measurement of power (you can't hear power), decibles are a physical reference that measure the loudness produced by the watts. I'm not a physics guy, but that is the best way I can think of explaining the difference in decibels and watts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members elsupermanny14 Posted June 22, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 22, 2012 I had a 6505+ and a 4x12 cabinet at home for a while and that thing sounded amazing at 'room volume'. Sure, having the power tubes cooking at high volumes is a different thing all together but many big amps still sound great at low volumes...and completely different than small amps cranked. Ever listen to a 15 watt stereo and listen to a 250 watt stereo? Totally different. More power generally allows you to hear things that less power doesn't because the 'less power' has to work out of its most efficient zone. In guitar amps, sometimes that is a positive aspect but the 6505+ on 1 and a half through a 4x12 cab was awesome sweet high gain tone. Well I'll just go ahead and say it. I REALLY want a 6505 2x12 combo. It's rated at 60-watts (a very freaking loud 60 watts). I would run an attenuator into it to tame it a bit, but I'm just worried that it would still be way too loud. However if it does sound good at lower volumes, maybe there is a way to get it in the low-mid power range using an attenuator without tearing the windows down. Here is a question for anyone that might be able to answer. What about removing some of the tubes? Have any of you guys done that or have any experience with that? Just curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wayne2 Posted June 22, 2012 Members Share Posted June 22, 2012 Ever listen to a 15 watt stereo and listen to a 250 watt stereo? Totally different. More power generally allows you to hear things that less power doesn't because the 'less power' has to work out of its most efficient zone. In guitar amps, sometimes that is a positive aspect but the 6505+ on 1 and a half through a 4x12 cab was awesome sweet high gain tone. Yes. I much prefer the 250 watt stereo unless it's whisper volume. Just clearer and gentler on my ears. Maybe it's because it's playing what it's supposed to and not a bunch of crazy high frequency harmonics? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RockNote Posted June 22, 2012 Members Share Posted June 22, 2012 You're right that cutting decibels is a way of cutting the apparent loudness in half. However, apparent loudness produced by watts is not the same as apparent loudness measured by decibels. You need to divide by a factor of 10 in order to cut apparent loudness by half. Think of it this way. In order to get half of the apparent loudness of a 100-watt amp you need a 10-watt amp. You ear does not hear watts, it hears the perceived volume difference in decibles. Watts is a measurement of power (you can't hear power), decibles are a physical reference that measure the loudness produced by the watts.I'm not a physics guy, but that is the best way I can think of explaining the difference in decibels and watts. I now realize that I had confused two things. I thought that an increase by 3 dB was twice as loud while in fact it only marks the threshold of a perceived increase in volume. What is doubled is the wattage required, as I correctly stated. But to be twice as loud, the increase in volume does indeed need to be 10 dB. Sorry about the confusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Help!I'maRock! Posted June 22, 2012 Members Share Posted June 22, 2012 i sold my practice amps in favor of the amp models in Garageband. guitar amps sound best cranked. not set on 1 in an apartment, or through headphones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members krish Posted June 22, 2012 Members Share Posted June 22, 2012 My JVM410h sounds great at bedroom volumes, obviously not as fun as when cranked but still as responsive, so I have no real issues there. When I really want to punch it and I have to be considerate of neighbours, I run the D.I. out from the amp into a mixer and then use headphones... sounds brilliant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FourT6and2 Posted June 22, 2012 Members Share Posted June 22, 2012 1. Most of my amps (except my Super Lead) have master volumes.2. High wattage amps are not JUST for playing loud. More wattage equals more headroom which equals less power amp distortion WHEN you do end up cranking the amp. Not everyone wants to crank their amp's power section to the point of overdrive. The point of a 1 watt amp, I presume, is to be able to turn it up and get the power tubes clipping without making your ears bleed. But not everyone with a 100 watt amp wants power amp clipping. That's an assumption on your part, OP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members schoolie1 Posted June 22, 2012 Members Share Posted June 22, 2012 My amp goes to 12...but I can only play it on 2, on the low jack. When I turn the volume to 12 a very loud noise comes out while I'm playing. My family and neighbors--they do not like this noise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Marko Posted June 23, 2012 Members Share Posted June 23, 2012 I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members STRANDMAN Posted June 23, 2012 Members Share Posted June 23, 2012 THIS ONE'S FOR BUSINESSTHIS ONE'S FOR FUN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted June 23, 2012 Members Share Posted June 23, 2012 I sometimes have my amps modded with a pot that controls the volume. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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