Is 15W enough?

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guitarboi89

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I am looking to buy a new guitar amp, i have tried out the Peavey Tube amps, vox valvetronix, a line 6 and fenders and have liked the fender blues junior the best.
i plan to put a Proco Rat "you dirty rat" in front of it to give me two channels (i tried in the shop and it sounds nice) but i am wondering if 15W all tube is loud enough to play in a band situation (for practice and small gigs). I mainly play death cab/ bright eyes style music but may also need the amp for heavier post hardcore music.
thanks :)
 
You'd probably need to mic it through the pa system.
low power amps hade a particular sound to them, but it isn't a very loud sound.
Though, some of them can get supprisingly loud (for 15w) with an efficient speaker, while overdriving the power amp. But still nothing like a 100w marshall.
If you really like the sound of the amp and the feel it gives you, just mic it up.
 
I think pretty much all the venues around here mic up the amps anyway so that should be fine. Will i need to do that for band practice (prob 2 guitars, bass and drums) cause that may get a bit tedious :rolleyes:
I do love the amp though :)
 
Yeah, even for practice you'd probably have to mic it.
Depends though on how loud your drummer is and the other guitarists practice volume.
 
If you like the sound of the amp, no matter how small, use it and mic it. And yes, go ahead and mic it for practice too. If the PA is set up propperly there should be very little (if any) difference in the tone, just more volume.
 
it depends on how loud your practices go. i use a 60 watt solid state with a single 12" speaker for band practice in a pretty small room and i'm almost using all it's power. i've owned a blues junior and i'd say that volume wise, it's not quite as loud as the solid state amp i'm using now. then again, the blues junior is a pretty trebly amp and if that's the sound you like, it would probably cut thru. personally, i'd save for something a little bigger. a 30 watt tube combo with an efficient speaker would do well i'd think.
 
Not all 15W amps are the same. Some are much louder than others. Things like amp design, speaker efficiency and other factors affect the overall result.

A 15W amp can be fairly loud. All other things being equal, the differnece in volume between a 100W and a 15W is less than double the perceived volume.

The Atomic amps are 18W and said to be very loud. The original Fender Princton amps were 12W and also could produce a lot of volume.

As others said, it really depends on the volume level of the other band mates. A loud drummer can make a lot of difference.

Ed
 
In my limited experience way back when

it seemed that practices were, unfortunately, louder than the actual gig. You're generally in a smaller, more confined space, usuually facing each other. I don't know of anyone, unless they were practicing on an actual stage setting, that needed monitors to hear the other guys. IMO, I think guys should practice at MUCH lower volumes than they generally do. Save your hearing, man. Practice spaces should be treated to absorb sound as much as possible (you don't have to get fancy like you do for recording) and isolate the drummer somewhat, because he (or she, sorry girlthatdrums) is usually the reason everybody turns up in the first place. Sorry drummers. I'm sure you wish you had a volume control, too.

I know that most people don't have the luxury of a dedicated practice space, I'm just throwing out a suggestion that you might want to think about. If you treated the place accordingly, 15W ought to be enough.

Sorry for the semi-rant. It's just a pet peeve of mine. I now return you to people who actually know the answer to the question you asked...
 
it's not just about loud...

small amps can get very loud, but problems come with that. the harder you push an amp, feedback becomes problematic along with other issues, all bad. Also, the bottom end is going to be wimpy... just no power. the feel won't be there. it's important to get the connection between your hands and the speaker. it won't happen with 15w... even thru a great 4x12. you need power to spare!

IMO, you're going to be constantly fighting issues. Is this a 15W SS? If not then it'll be a Class A. playing metal, you're better off with a A-B Push-Pull amp. Yeah, maybe a Class-A can work, but...

In a band setting I wouldn't play anything less than 50W. Bite the bullet if you can... buy used... find a way... eat less... stop smoking... buy less porn. do what it takes... :)
 
Sound is not measures in watts, but in sound. It if sounds good, do you really care how many watts.

Generally speaking, amps with more watts will have more headroom and be louder. However it is amazing how much sound is produced with 1W.

Some small amps have very good bottom end and others not. Some will sound completely different if run thorugh a 4x12 and others not.

My friend has a 30W new Vox amp. I really dislike the sound and it's not very loud. I have an old Fender 12W Princton which to me sounds much better and way louder.

Ed
 
but sound (tone quality) wasn't the original question...

the original question is if 15w is loud enough in a band setting playing Metal.

the answer is NO...
 
My Blues deluxe had a loose tube socket and was in the shop for 3 weeks. During that time I just ran my blues junior through my 4x12 and it held its own against my rythm guitarists 50w JCM 2000 halfstack. After that we always took the junior as a backup to shows. Mic it and itll do fine, the junior records with some serious attitued too! Great little amp.
 
Sorry, but the answer depends on amp and user. The bottom line is whether it "sounds" right/good to the user. A high watt amp that sounds bad is no solution at all.

It boils down to what works for the situation at hand. That answer depends on the desired volume level, the level of the other players, and the opinion of the person buying the gear.

Sometimes buying big loud amps becomes an excuse to play louder. As someone else arleady said, that is not necessarily the "ears healthy" approach.

Ed
 
Ed Dixon said:
Sorry, but the answer depends on amp and user. The bottom line is whether it "sounds" right/good to the user.
Click to expand...
Well yeah... :)

A high watt amp that sounds bad is no solution at all.
Click to expand...
same for a 15W amp... doubtful that anyone is suggesting this
 
Keiffer said:
Well yeah... :) same for a 15W amp... doubtful that anyone is suggesting this
Click to expand...

Unfortunately not true. The original poster is considering a 15W amp and has found one he likes. Opinions on the thread vary. Some say go with it and mic to PA. Others say buy more watts. I say buy what works.

For some 15W would work fine, for others it would not. It may or may not for him.

Ed
 
i would say 15w is definitely not going to be loud enough.
 
So if we could pump some more watts into this 15W, how many would be needed? 30? 50? 75? 100?

As a general rule it takes 10 times the power in watts to double the perceived volume of the result. So a 150W amp would be roughly twice as loud as a 15W, all other things being equal. So going from 15 to 50 is a fairly small change in overall volume.

Ed
 
oh please... :rolleyes:

Are you saying that a 150W amp is only 3db louder?
 
guitarboi89 said:
I am looking to buy a new guitar amp, i have tried out the Peavey Tube amps, vox valvetronix, a line 6 and fenders and have liked the fender blues junior the best.
i plan to put a Proco Rat "you dirty rat" in front of it to give me two channels (i tried in the shop and it sounds nice) but i am wondering if 15W all tube is loud enough to play in a band situation (for practice and small gigs). I mainly play death cab/ bright eyes style music but may also need the amp for heavier post hardcore music.
thanks :)
Click to expand...


It depends. In my band, our singer/rhythm guitarist uses a Blues Jr, and it is plenty unmiced for rehearsals and miced at gigs. In rehearsals, it really depends on your drummer and the room. If the drummer can finesse a bit, and the room is absorbtive (very important for a rehearsal room, IMO), then you don't really need a whole lot of watts. I'll echo what someone else said - rehearse at low volume, especially if you are working in an untreated (live) room. It is easy to slip into Volume Wars and get so loud that no one can hear anything and your ears ring for days; that's bad for your ears and bad for your art.
 
Keiffer said:
oh please... :rolleyes:

Are you saying that a 150W amp is only 3db louder?
Click to expand...

The general physics of sound is that it takes about 10db in sound change to be perceived as double the volume. The difference between 15W and 150W is 10db in power.

If you double the power, it usually results in about a 3db change in volume. The smallest db change in volume that most people can even hear is about 2db, so doubling the watts is just barely above the threashold of change that most can easily detect.

Buying amps based on watts is generally a bad approach. Buying based on sound is usually better.

Ed
 
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