Point of METAL amps over 50/60W?

[Eric Christian]

Okay, it got me wondering why do companies keep making 100/120/150W amps when you can't turn them more than half way even on huge venues?

Sound reinfocement to me seems relative to the space and its contents. I saw Slayer and Rob Zombie awhile back at the biggest stadium in Portland called the Rose Garden. If they were using one 50 watt amp each it would have sounded like a transistor radio even if it was mic'd to the PA. Instead each guitarist had around 24 Marshall 4X12 cabinets driven by huge racks of Marshall heads. Same as the outdoor show I saw the year before. It was loud but I watched the entire set without plugs because it sounded so damn good. And I'm not talking about the PA either, I'm talking about the sound coming directly from the amps.

My point is of course you need high watt amps. In fact several depending on the venue. There are two smaller venues in my city called The Hawthorne and The Roseland where touring bands never bring enough amps and cabs and you can never hear the guitars over the bass and drums coming from the PA. I've seen Deicide, Behemoth, Nevermore and many many more metal bands and the guitars are always buried.

 

[edsped]

There shouldn't be any reason for a drum kit to overpower a guitar amp if both are miked and competently mixed. Unless the PA system is just really that bad and/or poorly positioned.

 

[vancouvermetalguitarguy]

I personally chose a Triple Rectifier over a Dual or even a Single because I found the Single Rectifier to be too bright sounding of an amp but I still wanted a recto tone. Dual had the tone between and Triple and a Single, but once you turn it up loud in a jam space (yes we go QUITE LOUD at our jam space to compensate for the drummer), the Triple really kicks in with a HUGE bottom end, that's something a Dual doesn't do very well. The Dual tend to sag at the volume we play at.

That's my 2cents.

 

[vancouvermetalguitarguy]

The point of high wattage amps for metal is HEADROOM. There's a reason the triple rectifier sounds punchier than the dual

Didn't read your post bro, check out my post. I said exactly the same thing... then I read yours lol

 

[Runander]

Just out of curiosity, if we take Engl Invader as an example. There are two versions, a 100 watt and a 150 watt.

Now, 100 watt seems, to me at least, to be quite enough headroom. How much of a difference would it be to run the 150 version in terms of headroom? Is that just a way of making sure that the tone never ever breaks up early?

 

[vancouvermetalguitarguy]

Just out of curiosity, if we take Engl Invader as an example. There are two versions, a 100 watt and a 150 watt.

Now, 100 watt seems, to me at least, to be quite enough headroom. How much of a difference would it be to run the 150 version in terms of headroom? Is that just a way of making sure that the tone never ever breaks up early?

Read above

 

[BabUShka]

Why do you think Bass amps are often 500W+ ?

* Lower frequencies requer more power, thats a huge pluss for 7 and 8 string guitars
* You often want good clean headroom when you play in a band.
* Size matterts, the more power, then more manly.

That said, I really love my 18W tube amp

 

[Runander]

Read above

Yeah, I did. You didn't seem to understand my question, so right back at ya!

What I'm enquiring is: Is it really that much of a difference between the Invader 100 and Invader 150 when it comes to headroom?

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Is it really that much of a difference between the Invader 100 and Invader 150 when it comes to headroom?

Yes. Just look at the difference in sound between a Dual and Triple rectifier.

Headroom doesn't just mean being louder before breakup, or having a better clean channel, the more headroom the more punch and clear low end, at the expense of sounding a little thinner and not as bassy.

 

[vlover]

the more options a musician has, the better.

 

[KAMI]

if you want to improve the headroom of a 50/60 watt with el34's, swap them out for 6ca7's. That's what i did with my savage 60 and it sounds punchier and has bigger,cleaner, tighter headroom.