tried an evh head , is there any point in playing high gain amps with the gain low ??

riffpowers

i tried out an evh 50 watt head today . 
It seemed decent, had a good balance of features and simplicity and it had the lead channel I was after . 

Buy , it was a real high gain monster . The crunch channel on 10 o’clock was enough gain for me and I had the gain on the lead channel barely on . 

It was a fun amp to play and it sounded great , but my concern was that if I’ve barely got the gain on am I using the amp for what it’s designed for, am I getting the best out of it ??! 

Maybe i’d be better off with something lower gain ??

is there any point to using high gain amps at low gain settings ?!!!

ICBM

If it gives you the sound you want then you are getting the best out of it, irrespective of the settings.

The only problem is if it's too difficult to accurately dial in the amount of gain you want because the pot is so close to the end of its turn - but if so it's actually much easier and simpler to mod an amp for less gain than for more gain.

riffpowers

ICBM said:

If it gives you the sound you want then you are getting the best out of it, irrespective of the settings.

The only problem is if it's too difficult to accurately dial in the amount of gain you want because the pot is so close to the end of its turn - but if so it's actually much easier and simpler to mod an amp for less gain than for more gain.

That’s what I was finding - it was getting a bit  spluttery cos the gain pot was barely ticking over .

Lestratcaster

I run the pre-amp gain on my 6505+ head on 3.5, its just enough for a great chug tone and singing chords, any higher and it turns into mush. Also the post (master) is rarely seen above 2.5 live, every sound man in the country telling me to turn down.

I do feel if I had 50 watt or even a 30 watt version of the amp I could turn it up a bit more and get those tubes cooking.

ICBM

Lestratcaster said:

I run the pre-amp gain on my 6505+ head on 3.5, its just enough for a great chug tone and singing chords, any higher and it turns into mush. Also the post (master) is rarely seen above 2.5 live, every sound man in the country telling me to turn down.

I do feel if I had 50 watt or even a 30 watt version of the amp I could turn it up a bit more and get those tubes cooking.

Not really. You're probably only playing at about 10W... the control is not linear.

It can actually be easier to get a bigger sound at low volume with a more powerful amp than a less powerful one, if neither is close to full power. Valves don't need to 'cook' to sound good, and the big sound often comes from bigger transformers.

PolarityMan

ICBM said:

Lestratcaster said:

I run the pre-amp gain on my 6505+ head on 3.5, its just enough for a great chug tone and singing chords, any higher and it turns into mush. Also the post (master) is rarely seen above 2.5 live, every sound man in the country telling me to turn down.

I do feel if I had 50 watt or even a 30 watt version of the amp I could turn it up a bit more and get those tubes cooking.

Not really. You're probably only playing at about 10W... the control is not linear.

It can actually be easier to get a bigger sound at low volume with a more powerful amp than a less powerful one, if neither is close to full power. Valves don't need to 'cook' to sound good, and the big sound often comes from bigger transformers.

I actually think the reason you have to get past a certain volume..at least for metal tones is more to do with the speaker than the power section. Good modern high gain tones dont typically have a lot of sag so I reckon getting the speaker into the sweet spot is actually whats going on and people misinterpret that as the power tubes.

Lestratcaster

ICBM said:

Lestratcaster said:

I run the pre-amp gain on my 6505+ head on 3.5, its just enough for a great chug tone and singing chords, any higher and it turns into mush. Also the post (master) is rarely seen above 2.5 live, every sound man in the country telling me to turn down.

I do feel if I had 50 watt or even a 30 watt version of the amp I could turn it up a bit more and get those tubes cooking.

Not really. You're probably only playing at about 10W... the control is not linear.

It can actually be easier to get a bigger sound at low volume with a more powerful amp than a less powerful one, if neither is close to full power. Valves don't need to 'cook' to sound good, and the big sound often comes from bigger transformers.

Mind you I do run a TS9 on the red channel to give it a bit of oomph. And I love the extra punch and attack it gives. My chugzzz sound phat!!

guitarfishbay

PolarityMan said:

ICBM said:

Lestratcaster said:

I run the pre-amp gain on my 6505+ head on 3.5, its just enough for a great chug tone and singing chords, any higher and it turns into mush. Also the post (master) is rarely seen above 2.5 live, every sound man in the country telling me to turn down.

I do feel if I had 50 watt or even a 30 watt version of the amp I could turn it up a bit more and get those tubes cooking.

Not really. You're probably only playing at about 10W... the control is not linear.

It can actually be easier to get a bigger sound at low volume with a more powerful amp than a less powerful one, if neither is close to full power. Valves don't need to 'cook' to sound good, and the big sound often comes from bigger transformers.

I actually think the reason you have to get past a certain volume..at least for metal tones is more to do with the speaker than the power section. Good modern high gain tones dont typically have a lot of sag so I reckon getting the speaker into the sweet spot is actually whats going on and people misinterpret that as the power tubes.

Yep cabinet thump requires some volume.

Power amp distortion doesn’t help most modern tones, but valve dynamics can still sound more pleasing than solid state.

I prefer big wattage for high gain sounds myself, regardless of volume give me 90-120 watts every time.