Do we have different perceptions of loud compared to Americans?

Cabicular

A lot of the Septics play supermarket car parks and on trailers on street parties
the minute you take an amp outside or in a marquee (I.e. Somewhere with no hard surfaces to reflect the sound) then your 50w is going to struggle
Marquee and outdoor gigs are the only ones where I rummage around for the big amps

Reverend

Cabicular said:

A lot of the Septics play supermarket car parks and on trailers on street parties
the minute you take an amp outside or in a marquee (I.e. Somewhere with no hard surfaces to reflect the sound) then your 50w is going to struggle
Marquee and outdoor gigs are the only ones where I rummage around for the big amps

I played Bloodstock in a huge marquee (at least a thousand in there) and i was on 2 at most. 

And all the venues I've played in america have been small bars and clubs of the same size as the ones i usually play here. Churches there are obviously different. 

Danny1969

This is my normal church setup 

Cabicular

Reverend said:

Cabicular said:

A lot of the Septics play supermarket car parks and on trailers on street parties
the minute you take an amp outside or in a marquee (I.e. Somewhere with no hard surfaces to reflect the sound) then your 50w is going to struggle
Marquee and outdoor gigs are the only ones where I rummage around for the big amps

I played Bloodstock in a huge marquee (at least a thousand in there) and i was on 2 at most. 

And all the venues I've played in america have been small bars and clubs of the same size as the ones i usually play here. Churches there are obviously different. 

That's strange
I used to play weddin venues week in week out with pretty much the same amp volume settings (using the same gear PA and musicians) the minute we were in a marquee the whole PA had to go up, the drums needed re-enforced and my amp was really starting to struggle
granted you are talking. 3-400 people on semi pro equipment but it was noticeable different

earwighoney

Modulus_Amps said:

My sister went to a church in the states and said the worship band sounded like Creed......

That sounds like the worst gig ever. 

Reverend

Cabicular said:

Reverend said:

Cabicular said:

A lot of the Septics play supermarket car parks and on trailers on street parties
the minute you take an amp outside or in a marquee (I.e. Somewhere with no hard surfaces to reflect the sound) then your 50w is going to struggle
Marquee and outdoor gigs are the only ones where I rummage around for the big amps

I played Bloodstock in a huge marquee (at least a thousand in there) and i was on 2 at most. 

And all the venues I've played in america have been small bars and clubs of the same size as the ones i usually play here. Churches there are obviously different. 

That's strange
I used to play weddin venues week in week out with pretty much the same amp volume settings (using the same gear PA and musicians) the minute we were in a marquee the whole PA had to go up, the drums needed re-enforced and my amp was really starting to struggle
granted you are talking. 3-400 people on semi pro equipment but it was noticeable different

This was with a full festival PA of course so was miked up fully and full fold back etc.  
I did see Torche play the Underworld with both guitarists running an 800 stack on full. the venue was full (550 people) and the sound tech showed me that the amps on full were more than keeping up with the pa they have there (3200 watts pa and 200 watts foldback). If you are playing outdoors with no PA then yeah, you would definitely want to crank it up a bit.

The age of amps is probably a big consideration too. Old 800s and jmp heads seem far louder than modern Marshall heads. I was crewing for Orange Goblin when they supported Monster Magnet at the Forum last year. MM were using old Marshalls and they had their volumes at about 2. Joe from OG uses new Marshall heads and often has his on 6 or 7. 

Danny1969

I played Portsmouth Guildhall, capacity 2500 people with an HT5 ..... look how stupid it looks on the Guildhall stage. If it's mic'ed it's not an issue 

ChrisMusic

This thread prompted me to see if I could dig out an old deleted comment of mine, which has some relevance.

Whichever side of the pond you are from there is only one way to put this...

"Fuck Me ~ That's Loud"

...as we used to put on the T-shirts



to save derailing this thread with it, here is the link if you're interested

so how loud is TOO LOUD ~ half a million watts do it for you ?

http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/96919/so-how-loud-is-too-loud-half-a-million-watts-do-it-for-you#latest