50 Watt volume

[TheRazMeister]

Hey guys, a followup on my favorite topic...."live volume"
I have a 50 watt rectoverb combo....I played at a small club yesterday that could handle 200-250 people if full (my estimate). I turned the amp master to about 12:00 o'clock with the channel volume on about 1:00 and got looks of horror from the bartenders and those not directly in front of the stage. I ended up pulling back to about 11:00 and still was plenty loud. My buddy was shocked at how loud a 50 watt amp could be. For those that claim 30 watts is not enough to gig with, see the chart below, because according to that, even 18 should be more than enough.


40 watts is 94% as loud as 50 watts.
30 watts is 86% as loud as 50 watts.
25 watts is 81% as loud as 50 watts.
22 watts is 78% as loud as 50 watts.
20 watts is 76% as loud as 50 watts.
18 watts is 74% as loud as 50 watts.
15 watts is 70% as loud as 50 watts.
12 watts is 65% as loud as 50 watts.
10 watts is 62% as loud as 50 watts.
9 watts is 60% as loud as 50 watts.
8 watts is 56% as loud as 50 watts.
7 watts is 55% as loud as 50 watts.
6 watts is 53% as loud as 50 watts.
5 watts is 50% as loud as 50 watts.
4 watts is 47% as loud as 50 watts.
3 watts is 43% as loud as 50 watts.
2 watts is 38% as loud as 50 watts.
1 watt is 31% as loud as 50 watts.

 

[musicbox]

I believe that the issue isn't with overall volume, but with usable clean headroom. If you're playing with a full band, 50 watts just barely cuts it for a stand out/lead/solo clean tone. That's why you have guys complaining about 50 watters not being "loud" enough. Sure, a 20 watt deluxe reverb is loud enough to gig with, but you can forget about having a usable clean sound.

 

[RR]

I know someone that gigs with a 6 watt Fender Tweed Champ of course its mic'ed through the house PA and monitors and his band plays blues but the sound person loves him for that.

 

[strumminsix]

musicbox, you gave the argument for intelligent people. But seriously, most guitarists I know have said that 40W isn't loud enough to gig with and no, they weren't talking about clean headroom like say you or I would.

IMO, for small to medium sized bars 50W is perfect.

In fact 50W should be pefect anywhere since larger bars should mic you.