should i get a hundred watt amp for just practice?

spikes

New member
I was thinking of getting a new amplifier, then i saw a hundred watt AVT series... it sounds pretty fabulous, but with a hefty price tag, so i was wondering if it would be worth if i'd just use it for practice. can anyone out there help me with this decision?
 
For practise, if you really want the 12" speaker tone, you can get a 50watt or so version.

For transistor amp, (AVT is almost all transistor except for one preamp tube), it's still ok to get 100watt model too, bacause at practise volume, the tone is still quite ok.

If you get a all tube amp, better get a 10-30watts model, because any bigger, the volume (where you get good tone) will disturb your neighbours.
You need to turn up the volume up to some level before the sound becomes "sweet".
 
Eh mike, then just wondering, a 10 watts tubed amp. kustom im talking abt, is it as loud as my marshall avt-20 full blast? or softer? Thanks
 
That Kustom amp I believe is just come with a preamp tube only. NOT a full tube amp. So not likely louder.

Full tube amp mostly sound louder than transistor amps. But subjective, cause sometime we confuse a more fuller sound as louder.

Different manufacturer have different circuit designs. So same ratings amp may sound different in terms output level. I have seen really wimpy 100-130watts amp, softer than other model 65-80watts.
 
Hmm For my 20 watters, i put it at about 11-12 o clock. During the afternoons.

With my pedal's volume at 9-10 o clock pos. Its a multi efx btw.

Say if i buy a full tube 10 watts... (Which do you recommend?) And i push it up to the max. To get the fuller tone, it will tend to get.. Sharper or louder? Or roughly the same.


Because i was thinking of getting a tubed amp but like 10 watts or so. Cause i've heard from my friends if you get tubed amps, u gotta max it.. I'm living in a HDB so yeah...
 
Newbie said:
Hmm For my 20 watters, i put it at about 11-12 o clock. During the afternoons.

With my pedal's volume at 9-10 o clock pos. Its a multi efx btw.

Say if i buy a full tube 10 watts... (Which do you recommend?) And i push it up to the max. To get the fuller tone, it will tend to get.. Sharper or louder? Or roughly the same.


Because i was thinking of getting a tubed amp but like 10 watts or so. Cause i've heard from my friends if you get tubed amps, u gotta max it.. I'm living in a HDB so yeah...

Subjective. A tube amp will also have a range of sweet spot. The relations of you driving the pre side to distortion and the power amp side to distortion produces somewhat different tone. To max out the amp, dependent on circuit, you could get either nice brown sound or if it's over the limit, will also distort badly too.

Which is why you have some amps with a both gain and master volume control, and some (small watt or special design like fender black face) only ONE volume control (normally less distortion/gain or fixed gain). Thus we have effects like Overdrive and Tube Screamer.
 
slasher_inc said:
well its good to get a 100 watt amp.. so there's more power and e signal is clearer in clean tone...

Not necessarily so. Depend on the make and model, some brands are just "born dirty" sound. Some is clean "by nature".

Up to the manufacturer to spec the amp.
 
Amp

u shold get a rather cheap amp.. anyway, anyone here knows how much does a record cost from E-tracx at City hall area ? A record is a turntable disc.
 
Till today, there is still no "Cheap" full tube amp. Practise transistor amp can cost between $100-200 for a 10-15watt one.

A similar full tube 10-15watt practise amp cost between $400-500.
 
There is always the option of some kind of attenuator (THD, Weber Mass, Marshall Powerbrake) that you can use to get the tone at sensible volume.
 
Hmmm...

But which brands you guys recommend? Full tube. Say 10 to 15 watts. I'll go try. And models also. Thanks
 
lc15r is a good place to start... blues junior , if you lucky might get a small JTM marshall combo.. those are sweet too..

for solid state... peavey rage , tech21 trademark 10 , most fender solid states are decent. Avt just aint my thing.
 
Well, one things for sure is that the Kustom amp really sounds like shit.
It sounds and feels like those cheap 100 bucks amp that it it. no shit about it.

Where as if you want a loud and powerful, and someone pleasant tone. You can try the AVT20. Its loud and heavy as hell. Go Davis and demo one yourself if you dont believe.

Cleans are very nice and ringy, and the overdriven tubes from the gain in clean mode gives a very nice tube crunch sound if you have a relatively high-output pick-ups.

For the distortion wise, I find its nice and sweet, though not very flexible, but i think you should use your other effects for the kind of tone shaping/modelling that you're looking for.
 
A 100watt full tube amp isn't meant for bedroom practice. Even with a power attenuator, there's a limit to how much it can do.

I'm using the Carvin legacy 100 watt combo (in 50 watts mode) in my room, even with the Hotplate at -12db, its still pretty loud! Moreover, you would need to drive the powertubes of the amp at a considerable volume to get a really nice saturated warm tone and experience the tube sag.

You'd be better off checking out those hybrid amps with tube preamps like the AVT series. Or the 15watt tube amps like the Fender Blues Jr or Pro Jr. The Laney LC15 seems like a good choice too. But these are actually pretty loud for bedroom practice too!
 
Forget about about 100 watters. I'm using a 150 watt SS amp and it's too loud. I'll suggest a 15 watter all tube. Mesa F-series are good choices. Marshall DSL50 and THD Univalve would be contenders too.
 
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