Any reason 200 watts RMS solid state isn't as loud as 50 watts RMS tube?

[BrownSound1]

Originally posted by ELVIS
So are you betting or guessing ??

It was a half-assed, slightly educated, guess I'd bet. That is the way it works with solid staters though.

[Hardrock69]

The good simplified explanation (and this is from my experience also) is that put a 50-watt transistor amp next to a 50-watt tube amp, and you will not be able to hear the transistor amp over the tube amp even if they are technically at the same volume.


A funny experience I had with a 50-watt Marshall 2 X 12 JCM 800 combo I had back in the early 80s.

Some stupid gypsies moved into the house across the street from the duplex I lived in.

Every Sunday without fail, these fucking idiots about 10 AM would crank up the stereo to play ONE fucking record: The soundtrack album to the movie "Where The Boys Are".

Of course, I always sleep until noon on weekends, and back then being in my early 20s, I was more apt to sleep much later.

So after 2-3 weeks of hearing this lame bullshit album cranked up on Sunday mornings, I had had enough.


They usually cranked it up so loud it could be heard by everyone on the block, and would let the damn thing repeat for 2-3 hours.

So this particular Sunday, they started up again as usual.

I had been out drinking the night before, and was even more pissed off than usual about it.

As soon as I heard the shit start up, I got up and put on some clothes.

Then, I got my Marshall combo, and put it out on my front porch, pointing directly across the street at their house. Then I plugged a walkman into one of the input jacks, with Judas Priest's album British Steel in it, cued to the song "Rapid Fire".

I turned the power on, I dimed every knob on the front of the amp, then I pressed 'play'.

I stood there glaring at the house while the atomic blast drowned out their pitiful stereo.

Within 10 seconds, I saw someone pull the curtain aside, and I saw a glimpse of someone's face.

Rapid Fire ended.

I could no longer hear their stereo. For some reason they turned it off.

We never heard them play that stupid record again.

Fuckers.

[ELVIS]

Watts are still watts...

[Nitro Express]

Originally posted by cdwillis
I remember when I got my first tube amp it was a Peavey Classic 30 (great tone) 1x12 combo and I tried jamming with a friend with a 50 watt solid state Peavey 2x12 combo. I wasn't even up all the way and you couldn't hear him at all. The tube amp was much louder. I didn't have to read all that technobabble to figure that out.

LOL! Ever tried to read that magazine called Audiofile? It's full of technical gab. I don't know what's more boring reading Audiofile or The Holy Bible.

[Hardrock69]

They can write all they want about it, and Elvis can go on pronouncing "watts are still watts", but that will not change my perceptions of how tube amps sound vs. transistor amps.

[ELVIS]

Did you even read the tech article I posted ??

[Hardrock69]

Of course.

But that changes nothing.

WHY people perceive things the way they do is irrelevant.

It is like explaining to someone who is colorblind why they are colorblind, thinking that explaining WHY they are colorblind will somehow cause them to see things differently.

Does not change anything.


Tube Amps still 'sound' louder than transistor amps to me.

PERIOD.

[BrownSound1]

Volume is a whole different animal than wattage. For instance take a 50 watt Marshall and a 100 watter. The difference in volume between the two is barely audible...just a couple of db. However, the tone that the 50 watter makes is a bit different than the 100 watter. Tone circuits are damn near identical, but the 50 watter isn't quite as open sounding, due to having less head room. The 100 watter will sound bigger, but it isn't necessarily louder.

Full wattage in audio circuits can actually be attained at low volume levels. For instance something with a lot of bass or let's say the crack of snare drum can suck wattage up before you know it. When you have music going through an amp, the wattage is not constant, because the signal is always changing.


Of course it isn't like it matters, we all know solid state amps suck dick anyway.

[ELVIS]

But Soft69 likes his Crate!

When I was running two Super Leads I ran them with only two power amp tubes and the audible difference is not much...

And another thing to note when talking about overall audible volume is the efficiency rating of the speaker or speakers...

For instance every three db the sound pressure level (spl) roughly doubles, so a speaker that's 91db sounds way louder than an 89db rated speaker...

But to me, tubes are way more punchy and in your face, where a solid state amp is loud, you don't feel it as much thumping your head off like a tube amp...

And that's exactly what the tech article describes...

[Hardrock69]

And your nutshell version of the article is right on the money.

Way more punchy and in your face.

Yeah, the Crate is cool for recording purposes. But that is about it. Live it just does not have the balls, even though it has the tone and beautiful distortion.

It is kinda flat sounding, meaning slighly lifeless when compared to the character that tubes bring to your sound.

[ELVIS]