amp wattage

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dubstyle5000

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How much amp wattage do you guys reccomend for playing small gigs, like a bar?
 
In the most basic and broadest range, I'd say 30-50 watt tube or 100watt solid state. There's really too many factors involved to make anymore than a gereralized statement without first having more details.
 
All things being equal, a 100 watt amp is only twice as loud as a 10 watt amp. The difference between 30 and 50 watts is neglegable. (volume wise) Combo amps are sometimes harder to hear than something with a 4x12, but if you put a combo up on a chair or tilt it back, you will be fine.
 
Small is good. Produces plenty volume and is lighter/smaller for transport/setup. A 10 W amp can produce a lot of volume.

Ed
 
You might be surprised at the volume produced by a low wattage tube amp. They can be very loud!
 
I have played big shows with 10 and 20 watt amps, my only problem was stage coverage. Not because it wasn't loud enough, because a single 12, ten feet away aimed at your ankle just doesn't cut it. Once I got it up in the air, I was fine.
 
You can put your amp on a chair or get a stand that will tilt and elevate it. That will help disburse the sound a little. I used to run 2 combo amps in stereo in some clubs. That usually worked well for filling the room with the sound.
 
I think that a 50-watt tube amp with 2 12s is a pretty good "sound like anything" amp. Smaller amps are OK if you play more distorted, but it takes a good bit of headroom to keep the guitar sound crisp. This is just my preference. I run a 50 watt tube amp up just about as loud as it will go without breaking up and get a little orneryness with a fuzztone. Like the distortion knob at like 10 to 15% of the range. I tried 20 and 30 watt small amps for even small venues and they just can't be loud enough and still clean, bright and chimey. They get all saturated and suck up the presence.
 
I guess it really does depend on the type of sound and the type of music. If you are looking for huge gain, low wattage can work well. If you are looking for clean, you need more power.
 
Farview said:
All things being equal, a 100 watt amp is only twice as loud as a 10 watt amp. The difference between 30 and 50 watts is neglegable. (volume wise) Combo amps are sometimes harder to hear than something with a 4x12, but if you put a combo up on a chair or tilt it back, you will be fine.
Click to expand...

All in all the difference between 10W and 20W ia about 10db. I beleive a 100W amp should be a little more than 3 times as loud. On the other hand my calculations could be wrong or I my have a GCE ( gross concetpual error).
How did you arive at twice as loud? If I am missing something please clue me in.
 
cephus said:
I think that a 50-watt tube amp with 2 12s is a pretty good "sound like anything" amp. Smaller amps are OK if you play more distorted, but it takes a good bit of headroom to keep the guitar sound crisp. This is just my preference. I run a 50 watt tube amp up just about as loud as it will go without breaking up and get a little orneryness with a fuzztone. Like the distortion knob at like 10 to 15% of the range. I tried 20 and 30 watt small amps for even small venues and they just can't be loud enough and still clean, bright and chimey. They get all saturated and suck up the presence.
Click to expand...

+1 for the clean vs distortion headroom comment.
 
Henry Mars said:
All in all the difference between 10W and 20W ia about 10db. I beleive a 100W amp should be a little more than 3 times as loud. On the other hand my calculations could be wrong or I my have a GCE ( gross concetpual error).
How did you arive at twice as loud? If I am missing something please clue me in.
Click to expand...

I don't know the underlying physics, but you need 10x wattage to double volume (+10 dB). Diminishing returns, I guess.
 
cephus said:
I think that a 50-watt tube amp with 2 12s is a pretty good "sound like anything" amp. Smaller amps are OK if you play more distorted, but it takes a good bit of headroom to keep the guitar sound crisp. This is just my preference. I run a 50 watt tube amp up just about as loud as it will go without breaking up and get a little orneryness with a fuzztone. Like the distortion knob at like 10 to 15% of the range. I tried 20 and 30 watt small amps for even small venues and they just can't be loud enough and still clean, bright and chimey. They get all saturated and suck up the presence.
Click to expand...

+1

As one of the earlier posts suggested, also be careful not to confuse tube-amp wattage and solid-state wattage. Tube amp wattage is perceived as relatively louder.
 
Henry Mars said:
All in all the difference between 10W and 20W ia about 10db. I beleive a 100W amp should be a little more than 3 times as loud. On the other hand my calculations could be wrong or I my have a GCE ( gross concetpual error).
How did you arive at twice as loud? If I am missing something please clue me in.
Click to expand...
Twice the wattage is 3dbSPL, 10 times the wattage will give you 6dbSPL. A jump of 6dbSPL is twice the volume.
 
I'm surprised at how much misinformation there is in this thread already.

Hint: First, get the relationship between decibels and volume correct.
 
As a general rule, doubling the output power will result in a 3db change in volume, which is audible, but small. Most will see a doubling of volume for a 10db change, which requires 10 times the power.

Thus a 100W amp would be about twice as loud as a 10W, all else being equal (input, speakers, etc).

Most speakers are rated for sensitivyty for 1W input, at 1 meter on axis. Most good speakers will produce about 98db or more in volume for this case.

There are lots of web sites with more details about the math behind these summaries.

Ed
 
If you have a Class A tube amp, it should produce more volume (theoretically) than a Class A/B, or any of the others, right?
 
Ed Dixon said:
As a general rule, doubling the output power will result in a 3db change in volume, which is audible, but small. Most will see a doubling of volume for a 10db change, which requires 10 times the power.

Thus a 100W amp would be about twice as loud as a 10W, all else being equal (input, speakers, etc).

Most speakers are rated for sensitivyty for 1W input, at 1 meter on axis. Most good speakers will produce about 98db or more in volume for this case.

There are lots of web sites with more details about the math behind these summaries.

Ed
Click to expand...
Bingo! ..... I should have known this. I haven't done any engineering work in 20 or so years. Thanks
 
Another factor to consider

Speaker efficiency is a big factor here. All of these calculations assume that you are using speakers with the same real world efficiency. You can make a big change in the SPL that you get from a given amp just by using more or less efficient speakers. The problem is that each manufacturer tends to use a different method of determining the efficiency ratings of their speakers so the specs are not terribly useful when comparing products from different speaker companies.

Also note that the efficiency is going to change depending on the cabinet/encoloure itself.

Peace,
ST
 
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