Where have I been? What's with all the small low wattage heads these days...

  • Thread starter Thread starter elenore19
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elenore19

elenore19

Slowing becoming un-noob.
I heard about the Blackheart http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013OBUQ0 , and then I think I saw a Krank 20w head http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/...89719&src=3WFRWXX&ZYXSEM=0&CAWELAID=239498957
Then the Egnater Rebel.
http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/...83496&src=3WFRWXX&ZYXSEM=0&CAWELAID=228230866
But now Epiphone has an 18w Valve Senior.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ValveSrHD/
Vox has a 15w head. (this was the one that most surprised me)
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/NightTrain/
Add on the Carvin Nomad Combo..
https://www.carvinguitars.com/products/single.php?product=NOMAD


Don't get me wrong. I love low wattage amps. I'm a big supporter of the SCXD.
Are these heads new thing these days or something? Are people actually buying them a lot? Seems like a lot of brands are jumping on the band wagon. Now just wait for a Fender SCXD head or something.
I'm definitely considering the Vox...
 
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I have a 5W Epiphone Valve Jr and love it. I often play my Line 6 Pod XT into the Valve Jr and a 1x15 cabinet and it's PLENTY of volume to play with a drummer. Probably not enough for an entire band practice, though.

I think a better question is "Why the hell were people buying all these 100W heads?" People need to try playing a -decent- watt amplifier into -good- speakers for a change.
 
That's exactly what I've always wondered. I just don't get the infatuation with 100 Watt monster tube amps. Nobody can crank them to get good tone out of them, so what's the point of having one? I had to buy a HotPlate to tame my 80 Watt monster, and even then its still too loud for my house. Thankfully I have an understanding wife and a hard-of-hearing dog :)

The only reason I chose my 80-watt YCV is because the 20 and 40 watt versions didn't have all of the features that the 80-watter did.
 
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As far as sound quality goes, I love the tone of low small fender amps. I own a 6 whatt fender vibro champ from the 70s that sounds amazing.
 
the Low watt heads are good to record with however I know several people gigging with the EPI's and the Black Hearts (which is Made by Crate FYI) and miking the cab into a PA system which sounds really good. and plenty loud
My son Gigs with The Crate V33H and the Crate 210 cab I bought him for his birthday and has more than plenty of power to carry a small/medium venue plus he has the cab miked into the PA so it is plenty loud even for a large venue as long as the cab is miked.

honestly I really do not understand why anyone would want a high watt head any more with all the audio manufacturers making these excellent sound reinforcement systems
actually my band has no amps on stage we use preamps with amp modelers DI to the main console and use in ear monitoring with a small mixer and I set the mix right on stage.
sometimes stage sound is needed so what we do in those situations we use pole monitors/speakers. we have gotten away with mcrophones all together except for vocals the drums are triggered with Ddrum XLR triggers so we can go direct into the break out box.

makes for a really good feed back free sound and much faster set up and tear down time;)

but thats another thread
I guess the point I am trying to make High watt amps are really not needed all that much this day and time.
not to mention the weight VS bad back ratio is drastically diminished by using small amps for gigging:)
 
I think a lot of you underestimate the volume level of most modern rock bands. I have a 20W practice amp that I use when I'm practicing alone or recording, but even with an extension cab it cannot be heard with the rest of the band.

Granted my drummer is perpetually sitting on the fault line of his own personal earthquake and together with the bass we attempt to approximate the sound of a glacier sliding down a mountain at a 60 degree incline and hitting your house, but whatever.

But this 'you can't crank a 100 watt amp' thing is a bit nonsense. You certainly can yank an amp that size loud enough, you just better be doing it with hearing protection if on a daily basis.

Anyone ever seen And You Will Know Us by the Trail of the Dead? I was at their show the other night. Middle East Downstairs. When they hit that first chord it damn near knocked me over.

Long and short of it, when it comes to rock and roll, louder is better. :cool:
 
I think for the most part, the 5 watt amps like the Valve Jr and Little Giant are popular because they are cheap, decent sounding and easy to mod. They're almost good enough to record with out of the box and are loud enough to use to practice with the band.

I think a lot of you underestimate the volume level of most modern rock bands. I have a 20W practice amp that I use when I'm practicing alone or recording, but even with an extension cab it cannot be heard with the rest of the band.
Click to expand...

You talking solid state or tube? 20 watts SS isn't much, but 20 watts tube is more than enough for small gigs. My 5 watt Blackheart is just about on the same level volume wise as the 100 watt SS Fender I own. My 100 watt Valveking on the other hand has never been past the halfway point on the volume dial, whether at a show or a practice. It's unpractically loud.
 
While I appreciate the pros of a low wattage amp, I think there is more to high wattage then just volume, especially if you not after power amp distortion

I like to play a little blues and classic rock but mostly Metal, and Metal is where the higher wattage makes a difference feel wise.

I have a Mesa Mark IV and Roadking, both have adjustable wattage.

While the Roadking does sound great in 50 watt mode, I get a faster, tighter , fuller, more bone crushing attack when I set it up to run with 4 6L6 and 2 EL34 then if I go with just 2 EL34 or just 2 6L6. Definate difference in feel.

With the Mark IV it has Pentode and Triode combined with Simulclass and Class A as well as Full and tweed power. Now this one is a little odd because I feel I get the best sound in Class A, which is just two power tubes as opposed to 4 in simulclass. But in class A I get the better full response and tight attack when using full power and Pentode as opposed to tweed power and triode.

Now, to someone sitting in the room listening, the difference is subtle. But I can feel the difference when I play.

Volume wise, there is not that much of a difference between the power settings. I find the biggest difference is in the way the amps respond, as well as the fullness of the tone.

I noticed the same thing when I tested out Randall MTS. They had a 50 watt right next to a 100 watt and it was the same thing.
 
doulos24 said:
I go for tone over watts here is my favorite amp so far
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkp9DERU0dc
Click to expand...

:confused: IMO that thing sounds horrible!


I've yet to hear a low wattage amp that doesn't sound like total ass. They all have a cheap toy like sound compared to a 100 watt head. As others have pointed out it's not just a volume difference. Higher wattage amps have a fuller tone and the feel is much different. Just because an amp has higher wattage doesn't mean that you must play loud. My Carvin Legacy can get loud enough to peel paint but it also sounds really good at lower volume.
 
Just to add to this I always thought it was funny that Crate made a 350W head, the flexwave or something. I love Crate but thats so much sound I wouldn't be able to contain it with 6ft deep room treatment and 3 feet standing room! K maybe not but seems a bit ridiculous to me especially with PA's and such. Also, I'd guess that it would be mighty difficult containing the feedback if that thing were cranked.
 
That's funny because I have yet to hear a high-wattage amp that sounds good at tolerable levels. Preamp gain just isn't for me. That's the sound of a middle-schooler with his first practice amp in his bedroom. I like power-amp breakup, and to break up the power section of a 100W head creates so much volume that you can't even be near them. Trail of Dead is ridiculously loud, its just not even musical. They sound good on CD, where there's a volume knob between them and me. They can crank those Marshall stacks in a studio hundreds of miles away from me all they want. But if they want to put them onstage and dime them, I'm leaving. Blistering your ears with above-deafening SPL isn't tone, its punishment.

My philosophy is to use a low-wattage amp. If it ain't loud enough, mic it. I love my 80-watter, but without a power attenuator it's almost worthless to me.

The thing with most low-wattage tube combos is that they use smaller speakers. I think that the difference that some of you 100-watter fans are hearing is the difference between 4 12" speakers woofing and barking when they're really moving versus an 8" or 10" speaker that just can't reproduce the low end or low-mids. A 5W Valve Jr. through a 4x12 is surprisingly loud.

There are so many variables from amp to amp, I just can't be convinced that its the raw power that sounds so good to the 100W stack fans.
 
I got one solely for home recording, and it's perfect for that. In fact, it might be a little too loud (5w blackheart combo). When I gig, I'm a keyboardist, but when I'm recording at home, I play everything myself, and a small, quiet (relatively) decent sounding amp is perfect.
 
People used not to record at home,
People used to buy amp & jam or play gigs nice n loud with lousy PA systems.
People used to want to blow each other away with POWER.
People used to buy powerful cars too!
Mind you the difference in sound & feel of a big bass amp pushing a big speaker - bam - right in the chest - wonderful!
There are other substitutes for a long schlong these days I guess - as in:
"Look at my amazing ayefown!"
 
I strongly agree with some of you and some of you are obviously wrong, but we are entering a very dangerous terrain here :D I better keep my distance LOL.
 
Not making an argument for or against low or high power amps, just pointing out something probably others here have noticed, just not reported on, yet. Allow me to be the first to say, in this thread:

Last summer, my too-big guitar group played a concert in a park- outside gig, 1500-watt/16 channel PA system. Three of us play mostly electric, and we used the following amps:

Vance- Roland JC 120- 120 watts SS
Steve(me) Fender Pro Reverb SF- 85 watts tube
Wilson- smaller jazz-clean amp, probably about 20 watts, SS.

Wilson went into the board, I didn't 'cause I wanted to drive the tubes pretty hard, Vance didn't but I am not sure why not- I think it may have been because we ran out of PA inputs.

Vance and I agreed that we had to crank 'em to be heard by the audience (sound man's request) but that made hearing the rest of the band difficult. We both have since moved to smaller amps- don't recall Vance's rig, but I have been quite happy, first with a Peavey Bravo 112, and even more so with a Super Champ XD.

I am moving to a point where I don't own a guitar amp over 20 watts. The Pro Reverb, the Twin Reverb- both gone and not really missed. Peavey Classic 30 and DB210- gone. Ampeg VT-40 (60 watts)- great tone, unique amp and I love to watch the power tubes glow blue like the burners on the stove, but for sale. Gallien Krueger 200B- long gone. GK250ML- for sale. Even the Bravo 112, which Peavey says makes 25 watts (although it's more like 18) is on the block. That will leave me with the vintage Deluxe Reverb and the Super Champ XD- both have a line out plug, and I own a SM57.

I'm happy with that.
 
starbuck26 said:
I think a lot of you underestimate the volume level of most modern rock bands. I have a 20W practice amp that I use when I'm practicing alone or recording, but even with an extension cab it cannot be heard with the rest of the band.

Granted my drummer is perpetually sitting on the fault line of his own personal earthquake and together with the bass we attempt to approximate the sound of a glacier sliding down a mountain at a 60 degree incline and hitting your house, but whatever.

But this 'you can't crank a 100 watt amp' thing is a bit nonsense. You certainly can yank an amp that size loud enough, you just better be doing it with hearing protection if on a daily basis.

Anyone ever seen And You Will Know Us by the Trail of the Dead? I was at their show the other night. Middle East Downstairs. When they hit that first chord it damn near knocked me over.

Long and short of it, when it comes to rock and roll, louder is better. :cool:
Click to expand...

what makes you think you cant get loud with a sound reinforcement system?

I have two racks stuffed full of 1500 watt power amps, I do play Rock music
and God help you if you are standing in front of one of the 2X18 subs when I hit a low B:D
 
rayc said:
People used not to record at home,
People used to buy amp & jam or play gigs nice n loud with lousy PA systems.
People used to want to blow each other away with POWER.
People used to buy powerful cars too!
Mind you the difference in sound & feel of a big bass amp pushing a big speaker - bam - right in the chest - wonderful!
There are other substitutes for a long schlong these days I guess - as in:
"Look at my amazing ayefown!"
Click to expand...

Ding Ding Ding We Have A Winner

we can close the thread now:D
 
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