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You can certainly play huge venues with small amps. The biggest indoor venue in Portsmouth is The Guildhall which holds about 2500 and I've played it 4 times with small amps, Blackstar HT-5 and my little Fender Champion below where it looks a little lost on the big stage
On the other end of the scale I use a 200 watt valve (100 watt a side stereo) Marshall there's been a few gigs where I've been able to open that up a bit and it's a glorious sound ..... forget your attenuators the biggest part of a cranked Marshall sound comes from the interaction of the guitar and amp out of sheer volume ... not gain
The stereo setup above is capable of insane volumes on it's own but I've played it through a 32KW PA and just an open G then sounds like the voice of God :~)
Trouble is when you gig a lot, like 3 or 4 times a week you can't be standing in front of loud amps and drummers otherwise you just kill your ears. I've got plenty of friends who did it for years and their hearing loss is the price they paid for it.
Of course with IEM's being so common now some guys don't even use small amps or wedges ... just modeller into PA. As you get older and the gear seems to be getting heavier that starts to sound more and more appealing
This is why I use a 2x12" and a 50W (actually 40W) amp which never gets close to its rated output. Well, that and the fact that I make lots of mistakes and it's nice if I'm not so far forward in the mix that people actually hear them
Of course, I should caveat this by saying that we only play venues with a house PA and sound guy.
I have also gigged with small amps where applicable, my rehearsal combo has an 8" driver and 20w, it has drowned out modest drummers before on a gig! I still prefer the (quite) sound of a bigger amp.
The best live sound I ever had was a Laney VC15 with volume maybe about halfway up but micced and fully controlled. I used to get that brilliant feedback loop (guitar - amp - mic - monitor - guitar) which feels amazing but doesn't need crazy stage volumes. I loved that setup, but it needs a band who all understand how to balance a sound, and a soundman that you trust and doesn't look at you like you're nuts when you ask for "more me" in the monitors.
We play unmiced usually but try to get a sound out front that's as balanced as possible. If I had a big amp I'd have to adjust it to suit. I remember reading that Dweezil Zappa went from 'real' amps to his fractal set up primarily because he wanted people on the front row to hear the proper balanced sound of the band. Watching the recent rig rundown he did with Sweetwater there were comments about how relatively quiet it was on stage too.
Chris Fullard mixing a band on the other hand...
That was in the mostly pub covers scene though, I imagine the originals is slightly different in that the venues we're going for tend to be "proper" stages and clubs with a half decent pa and monitoring. When my band starts gigging I'll be using my 20w + 2x12 to start with but if the sound guys turn out ok I'll definitely be considering a Helix and going direct with a powered monitor.
Only one cab was plugged in and mic’d but the stack helped with the whole effect. It sounded good in the mix and especially good live direct as i sat in the audience in its line of fire.
Btw, on the Sunday I heard the same head without the cabs, instead a jcm800 cab. The difference was huge. Same support act on both nights used the same amp but different cabs. Suffice to say the modern cab was utter shite and muddied the sound.
The 4x12 vs 1x12 debate comes down to headroom. My amps are 50 or 100 Watts, all very loud and kept to just over 1 on the volume. The space and clean are supported by pedals pushing the amp in any direction I care. I’m currently enjoying the 2x12 100 watt. Keeping it high off the ground helps maintain a low volume as I get the full whack in my ears. Instead of constantly turning up I just adjust my stage position according to the speaker direction: more volume, closer to 90 degrees, less volume closer to 45.
Anyone ever tried such foolishness?
I was eating in a restaurant in Kathmandu when a band turned up. All the amps were in a rack, mixer, pa, two pods and a bass pod. Each player had a monitor and sounded great.
That's just about do-able. I did try a 2x12 but didn't like the tone.
Stage volume shouldn't be loud as you'll sound terrible in the mix but a 120watt head in to a 4x12 sounds amazing for what I do.
However, seeing some one turn up with a fridge size rack, mission control size pedal board, Apple Mac and stage props in a tiny venue was so bad an idea I actually laughed. I've never seen some one so full of themselves too. It actually caused more hassle than it was worth and still sounded bland.
Nobody has so far mentioned one advantage of a big (say 50W and up?) amp but whoever gave the 'car' analogy came close?
Reliability. All else being equal, driving the tits off 2 EL84s is going to be riskier than coasting along with 2 or 4 EL34s.
Dave.