I'm wondering what folks are using for amps on stage. High watt, low watt, tube or transistor. I'm playing dirty low down distorted blues in a one man band. I've got a 100 watt Peavy Valve King, which I like, but I think is a bit too high watt to pump on stage by myself. I was wondering if anyone is using 15-30 watt amps. I'm mostly playing in squats and small clubs, and mic'ing everything to run through a PA.
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i just got a peavey blues classic 50 love it put wheels on it. but i want a micd tube amp sound. my little bugera is a good low watt recording amp but im worried i might need to blast it and 5 watts max is iffy. i also get good tone out of my micro cube strait into the pa but beware of sound men with this rig when i do my own sound is ok. last but not least try a 22 caliber or a 44 caliber electroharmonix stomp box amp into 1 of your cabinets. those little amps rip when plugged into a 4 /10 cab. a lotta different ways to go. by the way my peavey has a master volume. set your tones then turn the master up or down i can play real low and still get my tone
...other important considerations for amps could include - 1. will it fit in my car
2. can i lift it without getting a hernia,
3. is there room on the stage (-;
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It all depends on the sound I want. For a simple clean sound that can get a little distortion when cranked I like a 50 year old Silvertone (3) tube amp. 10 watts of very vintage tune and can be amped for a bigger venues. If I'm going for a "fat sound" for Chicago blues, I like my Fender Super 60 tube amp. 2 channel, with reverb, presence, etc. on the second channel. 60 watts driving a single 12" speaker, it is super flexible, very clean at low volumes and can hold it's own in rooms seating 2-300.
I've used a 15 watt valve amp in the early days-even that was total overkill.Nowadays I use a Roland cube 30x.Light in weight,relatively light on the wallet,valves dont blow (there arent any) and distortion quality perfectly adequate.Dont much like the reverb but you cant have it all I guess.Played small clubs to large fests-it always goes out thro the pa as you stated,.so venue size isnt an issue for your amp-thats an issue for the pa.
if you definitely wanna remain valve go low watt-look at how many manufacturers are (at last) cottoning on to the fact that big power valve amps are an impractical waste of time..making their amps well below 10 watts..if I were going down that route? I'd go 2 watts-seriously.Vox/Blackstar theyre all getting onto the low watt valve train-and with good reason in my opinion.
Just my pennies worth-aint written in stone :0) cheers HB
I use my amps for stage volume, I don't like monitors. If I'm alone on stage, 15 watts will cover any outside noise from bleeding into the mic. Now I play punk, and 100 tube watts sometimes ain't enough... I prefer tubes, but will be starting out with my Crate GT15R, which has decent sound, but may go more high end tube down the road, but probably in kit form. Actually, I may even go with a 1-5 watt all valve kit amp.
Anyone used VHT amps? This one's got nice specs and a great price: Click here for 20watt VHT info
30 to 50 Watt amps should be adequate, they say the lower wattage amps sound sweeter, and you could always mic a small amp up to a PA system, many of the "big" guys do this.
I've had great results with Orange's Dual Terrror 15/30 watt tube amps in the studio, pretty confident about using it live for the first time!
The Marshall 4 x 10" cabinet is smaller than usual (24" x 24") and is for projection rather than volume, though it's loud if it wants to be! (-;
Marshall ASD50D combo (2 x 8") sounds well clean with Flatpup 4 Humbucker.
Nice setup! I was pointing towards way low stage volumes mic'ed to the house system, so I just need to define the sound with the amp and reach volume levels that will be reasonable for mic'ing. I also want small, lugging my 100watt valve head and 4X12 cab down 2 flights of rickety stairs in an abandoned factory is getting old (like me), so I need to lighten up and slim down. I prefer separate heads and cabs out of habit, but would consider a combo. I'm also looking at this 15 watt 2 channel high gain amp kit: Click here for MadAmp kit specs
I'm thinking 15 watt because I can crank it to 11 with lower stage volumes.
I'm also thinking about a 1X10 or 2X10 cab, a bit more highs than a 12", maybe a bit more whiny and low-fi when pushed.
Yep, that's how I run my 15 watter: lots of gain to get the tubes to overdrive, but relatively low volume, let the PA do the work for the house. This works well with the Crate, but really well with the Fender Champ (which only weighs about 10 pounds).
Just for reference, Neil Young gets his monster distorted stage tone from a single mic'd old Fender Deluxe.
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