When would you ever use the full power of a high powered amp?

Drew_TNBD · January 2014

I've never maxed an amp. If you need to max a 100watt valve amp, something is broken. But for hard-rock and metal, a 100-watt amp does tend to have more grunt for some reason. I used to use a Dual Terror, and I thought it was fine. But when I compared it to a higher wattage amp at the same volumes, it was clear to me that the DT was cack.

timmysoft · January 2014

Drew_fx said:

I've never maxed an amp. If you need to max a 100watt valve amp, something is broken. But for hard-rock and metal, a 100-watt amp does tend to have more grunt for some reason. I used to use a Dual Terror, and I thought it was fine. But when I compared it to a higher wattage amp at the same volumes, it was clear to me that the DT was cack.

I've maxed 120w valve amps before, the only thing that was broken was my hearing.

Cirrus · January 2014

I've just remembered a gig I did in the car part of a pub. A cranked 50 watter was making me wish I had another two EL34s in there...

Drew_TNBD · January 2014

Was at a gig last night.

Sound engineer was checking his phone most of the time, lol.

TheDarkLord · January 2014

See, as mainly a bass player, I could never see the fascination that some guitarists have with driving an amp to "11".

I wouldn't drive my amp to the limits ..... as with 1200 watts on tap, I might level the building. At any rate, I am often advised by the drummer and guitarists that I need to turn down. I need to get a number of sounds out of my rig during the course of a gig - so I generally dial in a clean but warm and pleasing sound and then use boost/overdrive/chorus/flangers etc to tweak my sound as the next song demands.

I figure that's gotta be the same for guitarists? Unless they are playing a specific genre (like for example the curiously named "melodic death metal") then they will need a clean(ish) sound to use at some parts and/or to base their sound on (like me and my bass). Driving their amp to "11" from the get-go, surely denies you any chance of a decent clean sound. Sure, you can use your volume knob - but that's not gonna completely tame an amp with the nuts driven off it.

In the above scenario - you're gonna need a separate "clean" amp to switch to when required ..... but that's beyond practicallity for people without a personal roadie isn't it?

I can see you might do it in the studio - but, then again, often there are smaller amps in there for that purpose..

Just sayin.....

Cirrus · January 2014

For a lot of styles, guitar doesn't actually need to be clean at all, even in the bits you might assume are "clean" until you listen to them in depth.

The difference between bass and guitar is that the signal coming out of a bass generally sounds pretty much like a bass guitar, which is why they're quite robust to things like being D.I.'d. The signal coming out of an electric guitar generally sounds fucking dreadful unless it's distorted, compressed and mangled, even if what you want is a clean-ish electric guitar sound. Since for most of the Electric guitar's development amps and speakers were underpowered, the sound of those parts being pushed towards their technical limits has just become part and parcel of the perception of good guitar tones.

ToneControl · January 2014

I use my 100w Dumbley HRM loud and clean at home!

50 or 100W with an clean setting is perfectly pleasant. It is a bit loud though.

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When would you ever use the full power of a high powered amp?

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