New Tube.. How Loud?

wellboys

After a lot of heartache, I've finally got the money for a new tube amp.
I'll need it for small gigs, practicing at home and practicing with the band. How loud will I need to go? Will 20watts be enough?

Any one played through a Blackstar Ht-20?

jimmy99

wellboys wrote: »

After a lot of heartache, I've finally got the money for a new tube amp.
I'll need it for small gigs, practicing at home and practicing with the band. How loud will I need to go? Will 20watts be enough?

Any one played through a Blackstar Ht-20?

20 watts would be tight for gigging.I would say 40 wattts is what you need,unless it has el 84 then 30 watts would be ok.The only 20 watt that I have used that would be loud enough is the marshall 2061 head but a bit of a one trick pony.

NMK2008

wellboys wrote: »

After a lot of heartache, I've finally got the money for a new tube amp.
I'll need it for small gigs, practicing at home and practicing with the band. How loud will I need to go? Will 20watts be enough?

Any one played through a Blackstar Ht-20?

in my opinion... I think 20watts all tube would be ideal!
if its, as you say, for small gigs, practicing at home and practicing with the band, then i think its perfect.

it will be loud enough, though you will lose a lot of clean head room at higher volumes, so if its a LOUD clean tone, go for a 30-40watter, if its crunchier tones, the 20 will sound even better wound up.

get it with a decent 12 inch speaker and you'll be laughing.

I had a tiny terror for a while, and it was easily loud enough for all those applications... cheers

Paolo_M

This is a decision that should be made based on tone alone.
Once you get to 10 watts you're already half as loud as a 100 watt stack.

So 10 watts is loud enough, especially when you consider that'll you'll probably be miked up anyway.

Lower wattages, 20 watts and down, will have the power amp breaking up at lower volumes. Great for blues and rock, not so hot for sparkling cleans or metal.
For clean playing or metal you want a super clean power amp and so more wattage is the way to go.
Higher wattages also hold their low end much better. If you want a strong defined low end then more wattage is the way to go. 100 watts is the only way to go for metal gigging. Even though you won't even use 1/10 of the potential volume, it's about the tone.

Don't forget that your speakers are at least 60% of your tone.
Some speakers are more efficient than others, and so will produce more volume from the same amplifier.
Speakers are voiced differently and can change your tone more dramatically than the EQ on your amp.

So in short, forget about loudness and start thinking about tone is my advise.
What tone do you want?
What style of music do you play?
Will you need two channels?
Do you like a mid heavy tone?
What other features might you want, FX Loop, independent eq per channel etc.?

wellboys

I was looking at the Tiny Terror myself! I'm looking for an amp that'll cover me for Arctic Monkeys/The Strokes.. 2 channels would be nice but its not hugely necessary?

NMK2008

Paolo_M speaks some excellent advice...

the tiny terror is a superb amp, and in my opinion, the best value and tone of the 15watters around at the minute. will easily cover those styles mentioned.

if your not into digital modelling/loads of buttons/loads of options, the tiny terror is the way to go... less is more!
the hayden mofo is another good option, check them out on google and youtube. (more versatile)
i have two amps, a 2watt (home) and 15watt valve combos (with band) and a few quality pedals...

These amps will force you to play better ;-) ...as you'll hear everything

PMI

Hey old guy here well 35 and used tubes since I was 14 when they were real money....

The best all round amp is any 50 watt valve amp it will stand you the test of time for any gig.

100/150 watt heads dont actually sound any louder its more of a saturation thing tone wise

I heard a 20watt peavey and it was bloody loud and didnt break up to soon either?!? try before buy is best even hire

Good luck