A truthful answer about 100 watt heads

  • Thread starter Thread starter BDuncan
  • Start date Start date
Unless you're playing a lot of unmic'd gigs and/or need a ton of headroom, you'll be fine with anything 15w and up. I love my 50/100w heads but I often have to use the 1/2 power switch on my 30w matchless just to start pushing speakers before the sound man starts getting angry (which I love to do anyway)...and my drummer plays LOUD. Your mileage may vary but in most cases and in my experience 100w amps live is overkill. At home they're fun as hell
 
Greazygeo said:
Never cranked mine. Not a cranked amp fan, that’s why I have 100 watt amps. Headroom and solid low end is what I am after.
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And for me Greasy, my hearing is intact.
No tinnitus type ringing.
Some guys my age that went after it like that
have to hold their hand in back of their ear to
capsure hearing the human voice clearly if any other noise is around.
And have to almost squint at times to hear.

Go ahead crank your amps..meatheads.
 
Dino 939 said:
And for me Greasy, my hearing is intact.
No tinnitus type ringing.
Some guys my age that went after it like that
have to hold their hand in back of their ear to
capsure hearing the human voice clearly if any other noise is around.
And have to almost squint at times to hear.

Go ahead crank your amps..meatheads.
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Huh?
 
Dino 939 said:
And for me Greasy, my hearing is intact.
No tinnitus type ringing.
Some guys my age that went after it like that
have to hold their hand in back of their ear to
capsure hearing the human voice clearly if any other noise is around.
And have to almost squint at times to hear.

Go ahead crank your amps..meatheads.
Click to expand...
flower-bambi.gif
 
I do it often since at that volume it sounds better and feels marvelous.
 
skoora said:
Different frequencies peak differently and require different levels of energy to reproduce cleanly. The low end on that Deliverence is using a lot more than 43 watts to get out clear. If you’re just after a good rock tone 40 watts will easily do it as the mids and top end will get out loud and clear but the low end will not make it if the amp’s peak power is 40 watts. When you have 120 watts of headroom you’ll handle low end needs at almost any volume. It’s why bass amps are in the hundreds of watts usually.
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Well, it did measure out as 43 watts..
I had a "30 watt" 4-EL84 112 Combo that I put a big output transformer on.. Everyone cried with it on like 3.. Certainly loud enough. Probably really narrow with highs and mids, but I agree it could never have the Big Block Torque of 4-KT88's.

IMG_20230212_151515927_HDR(1).jpg
 
8len8 said:
I do it often since at that volume it sounds better and feels marvelous.
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“Feels”. This is the word. Hard to explain it until you feel it.. watch porn or be porn.. both good. One is better. Turn it up and feel it. If your drummer bitches about it, fuck him too and get a new drummer.
 
I've never turned up any past 3-4. How much louder perceiveably is the volume difference from 4 to 8? Is it twice as loud?
 
TheGreatGreen said:
Asking why somebody wants a higher wattage amp even though they won't be able to crank it is like asking why anybody would want to drive a sports car when the roads have speed limits.

I don’t play 100 watt amps because I need them to be louder. It has nothing to do with that.

I play 100 watt amps because at any given volume, they’re going to be tighter, clearer, cleaner, and occupy a wider frequency bandwidth than amps of fewer watts. Sort of like how people drive sports cars because they're more agile and responsive at any speed compared to most other cars.
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I agree . I’d also add there’s a certain response you can expect to get from 100 or mor watts . I don’t crank them or us an attenuation . There’s a sweet spot for me that right before the amp hits compression I love
 
Watts is not dB's. They are very different things.

There is no standardized method of how guitar amps wattage is measured. As far as practical and usable goes the number means little or nothing.

As most people have mentioned headroom is a key factor. Playing style and environment is also going to be a big factor.

The other one that comes up often is speaker count. 1x12 up to 16x12 ..... Same as wattage. Speaker count is not dB's. You can't measure dB's by counting speakers.
Not any more than you can determine how fast a vehicle can go by counting how many tires it has.
 
Metalhex said:
I've never turned up any past 3-4. How much louder perceiveably is the volume difference from 4 to 8? Is it twice as loud?
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Your amp will probably hit a wall volume wise at around the half way point, after that the power section just gets more compressed and distorted.
 
I haven't played a venue in a decade that would even let me get remotely close to that kind of volume.
 
Here's the truth -- I need 100 watt heads because I can't hear anything less than that !! Between Impact wrenches , power equipment and music my hearing is less than optimal . I wish i would have paid better attention in my younger years.
 
100W heads are the standard in many ways, but back in my gigging days 50W was more than enough for everything other than super loud cleans, and that's zero fun. Very loud bands on bigger stages, all good.

That's not to say all are made equal, there's certainly some 50 watters that don't keep up. For example the single rectifier amps - could never gel with those. But a pair of EL34's or 6L6's with a well-designed power supply and output transformer feels great, especially if your cab is only rated at 100W!
 
ZEN Amps said:
100W heads are the standard in many ways, but back in my gigging days 50W was more than enough for everything other than super loud cleans, and that's zero fun. Very loud bands on bigger stages, all good.

That's not to say all are made equal, there's certainly some 50 watters that don't keep up. For example the single rectifier amps - could never gel with those. But a pair of EL34's or 6L6's with a well-designed power supply and output transformer feels great, especially if your cab is only rated at 100W!
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This is spot on with 1987’s and 2204’s. Also mid 60’s Fender Bassman heads just crank.
 
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