Anyone else find switchable wattage amps....

MadAsAHatter

MadAsAHatter

Well-known member
Anyone else find switchable wattage amps at the lower watt settings sound neutered; or is it just me?

100 down to 50 watts usually isn't too bad and for the most part Mesa seems to be alright. Anything else if it's not running at full power to my ear seems to have its metaphorical balls cut off. It's like it's being choked and can't fully open up. An actual 5 watt amp to me has more girth than a 50 watter cut down to 5 watts.
 
Try switching taps to account for dropping two tubes.

Rivera’s cut voltage and still sound killer. Try an M100 with NOS tubes.
 
Depends which amp. Orange terror and rockerverb half power? Yeah it's neutered.

Cali tweed multiwatt? Oh HELL no.

I can make it sound like a super, a blackface deluxe reverb, or a champ depending on the multiwatt setting.
 
My DSL100 head sounds wussified in half power. The Mesa MkV:25 also loses a little something at lower power.
That Katana 50 Mk2, though - damned if it doesn't sound the same all the way down. Crazy. :geek:
 
My Engl Savage SE sounds worse on 50W setting, even on low volume. The same with Marshall SC20. Laboga Mr.Hector was ok on lower setting, but still missed something.
 
That’s why I never put those on any amps I build. If it’s going to half the number of power tubes it usually not too bad, but it’s less ballsy and almost the same volume anyway. Some switch from Pentode to Triode and ime those switches are the ones that should be labeled Full Power and Shit.
 
I generally don't like the lower power switches. If you dial in the silver jubilee in triode mode for example, its not too bad, but you can't just flip the switch and expect it to sound great, you have to re-eq for the triode mode to get something decent.

Now changing from fixed to cathode bias on the Mesa TA15 worked great, but on that one I didn't like the 5Watt mode very much.
 
SpiderWars said:
That’s why I never put those on any amps I build. If it’s going to half the number of power tubes it usually not too bad, but it’s less ballsy and almost the same volume anyway. Some switch from Pentode to Triode and ime those switches are the ones that should be labeled Full Power and Shit.
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That's it. Full Power Shit. Thank you! You just named my new 2000 revival era Nu-Metal band.
 
I felt that way about both my DSL40 and Boogie Cali Tweed.'
So far, in my experience, I have enjoyed my PS2 more than an amp that attenuates.

Even the Boogie Powerhouse attenuator Id take over both of those amps with the attenuation built in.
 
If it's a pentode/triode switch, I don't think I've ever had an amp that I liked in triode mode. I'd be more likely to pull a couple of tubes and change impedance accordingly.

If you're trying to save some dBs, there are better ways than either approach. Even a master volume pot with a better taper for the range you tend to use it in might make the difference.
 
MusicIsLife said:
If it's a pentode/triode switch, I don't think I've ever had an amp that I liked in triode mode. I'd be more likely to pull a couple of tubes and change impedance accordingly.

If you're trying to save some dBs, there are better ways than either approach. Even a master volume pot with a better taper for the range you tend to use it in might make the difference.
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The Rivera switch sounds killer.
 
On the amps I've had, the switchable power seems largely useless. Just use the master volume and add more gain (via the amp or a pedal) if you just have to play super quiet.

Most of these features seem like gimmicks to convince us we need the latest and greatest tech with really just a 30 year old amp and a Boss or Ibanez pedal sounds killer.
 
cardinal said:
On the amps I've had, the switchable power seems largely useless. Just use the master volume and add more gain (via the amp or a pedal) if you just have to play super quiet.

Most of these features seem like gimmicks to convince us we need the latest and greatest tech with really just a 30 year old amp and a Boss or Ibanez pedal sounds killer.
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I agree with this. It feels like a chunk of the new features are sort of gimmicks that for some reason we are convinced we need. I can see some usefulness of a few features for recording purposes. Really though, give me a solid sounding amp with a workable EQ and MV and I'm good to go.
 
You really should determine what the power switch is doing.
- Drop two tubes?
- Drop plate voltage?
- Drop screen voltage?
- Pentode -> triode?

They will all affect the feels quite differently. For my part, I don't care for triode, so I'd stay away from those if I'm going for heavy tones. (That said, for close mic recorded tones none of it really matters.)

On the flip side with the Mark Five 35 for example- 35 to 25W drops 2 tubes but keeps it pentode- and I preferred how that sounded with the bigger transformers than the Five25 as it sits at the same 25w. Now, 10w takes the 2 tubes to triode and that's a big nope for me.
 
It works great on my Lonestar Special. The single ended 5 watt setting is a fire breather. Sure you lose a little bottom but you gain it back in chaos magic!
But in general, I’ll just take a well designed Master volume instead. I do find with some of the Orange lunchbox amps it works pretty good but getting the master up adds saturation so it has a lot more affect on the sound than say a 100 watt, master volume head that won’t. My stiletto has never been in 50 watt mode. It just made no difference or sense as 50 watts is still loud so I’m using an attenuator either way. So why not 100 all the time?
It did work great on the MKV I had but again it was more a tone tool than an overall level tool. You picked the power level between 45 (sometimes plus tube rec) and 90 that felt the way you wanted the channel to feel.
My Mesa 50/50 has a 15 watt choice that sounds fine. Haven’t found a use for it yet but I’m not counting it out.
 
GJgo said:
You really should determine what the power switch is doing.
- Drop two tubes?
- Drop plate voltage?
- Drop screen voltage?
- Pentode -> triode?

They will all affect the feels quite differently. For my part, I don't care for triode, so I'd stay away from those if I'm going for heavy tones. (That said, for close mic recorded tones none of it really matters.)

On the flip side with the Mark Five 35 for example- 35 to 25W drops 2 tubes but keeps it pentode- and I preferred how that sounded with the bigger transformers than the Five25 as it sits at the same 25w. Now, 10w takes the 2 tubes to triode and that's a big nope for me.
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Came here to say this. This is critical information to have, and it's amp specific. I strongly dislike triode power tubes as well.
 
MadAsAHatter said:
Anyone else find switchable wattage amps at the lower watt settings sound neutered; or is it just me?

100 down to 50 watts usually isn't too bad and for the most part Mesa seems to be alright. Anything else if it's not running at full power to my ear seems to have its metaphorical balls cut off. It's like it's being choked and can't fully open up. An actual 5 watt amp to me has more girth than a 50 watter cut down to 5 watts.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I’ve yet to hear one that switching didn’t kill its tone.
 
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