School me on this

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VH1R2

VH1R2

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What is the major difference between a 50 W head vs a 100 W head.

I'm assuming the 50 watt would break up earlier at high gain would not have the same volume 5 Dbs or so lower at full power.

I'm looking at some used heads and some new.


Some of you guys are wizards with your gear, helll this place sound live stream the guys from here. Some solid musicians roam here.
 
Honestly, if you have a 100W head you can just pull two (outer or inner) power tubes and you now have a 50W amp.

Quick way to see/hear the difference.
 
Ben Waylin said:
Honestly, if you have a 100W head you can just pull two (outer or inner) power tubes and you now have a 50W amp.

Quick way to see/hear the difference.
Click to expand...
Interesting I did not know you could do that.

What do you use
 
VH1R2 said:
Interesting I did not know you could do that.

What do you use
Click to expand...
My main amp I use for recording is my JCM-800.

I run it with two 6CA7s pulled, and variac it down to 70VAC

bbqchh6.jpg
 
Ben Waylin said:
Honestly, if you have a 100W head you can just pull two (outer or inner) power tubes and you now have a 50W amp.

Quick way to see/hear the difference.
Click to expand...

You’re missing the most important parts of doing this - You have to half the impedance selector on the secondary of the OT to compensate the higher plate impedance seen at the primary of the OT from pulling two tubes.

So you use the 8 ohm plug for a 16 ohm cab and the 4 ohm setting for two 16 ohm cabs in parallel or 8 ohms total

Also note you have to pull inner pair or outer pair but also note that most, but not all, amps are wired for a push pull pair in this manner. Some amps you have to pull the two leftmost or rightmost for example.
 
glpg80 said:
You’re missing the most important parts of doing this - You have to half the impedance selector on the secondary of the OT to compensate the higher plate impedance seen at the primary of the OT from pulling two tubes.
Click to expand...
I run a 16Ω cab, or 16Ω reactive load into this speaker tap..

JTrARSl.jpg
 
VH1R2 said:
What is the major difference between a 50 W head vs a 100 W head.

I'm assuming the 50 watt would break up earlier at high gain would not have the same volume 5 Dbs or so lower at full power.

I'm looking at some used heads and some new.


Some of you guys are wizards with your gear, helll this place sound live stream the guys from here. Some solid musicians roam here.
Click to expand...

The major difference is in volume and headroom. 100W is twice as loud as a 10W all tube amp.

50W amps saturate the preamp earlier because you can get away with more preamp volume for a given perceived loudness. Because of this they seem gainier and provide more compression at a slightly more generous volume.

Personally I like the headroom of high wattage amps. The power side won’t compress and reproduces the preamp tone as is.
 
Ben Waylin said:
Another way I like to run this amp is by loading one 8Ω tap with a 16Ω reactive load, and the other with the 4x12 cab

PUz1JBu.jpg
Click to expand...
Ben I have a million dollar idea, we will make the Ben5153-1/2 amp head. With a smoke pot built in for full effect.

We price these at 7,999.00 custom built we will get them out within a year or 3

Deal ???
 
Ben Waylin said:
That's how I recorded this track

Click to expand...

Dig that track!! Good job. Home studio? Drum machine/software?

OP, in general, the same amp at 100w will be about 3 dbs louder than the 50w, sound more open with bigger low end, and feel a bit stiffer.
A 50w cranked to noon will tighten up, have plenty of thump, more mid push and sing. A 100w will be more stout, pummel anything nearby with powerful force.
If an amp gets its gain from the preamp, a 100w will sound big and open even at lower volumes. A 50w may need a bit more volume to open up, and those lower 20ish watt amps will need even more volume to open up, won't have the bigger low end and extended highs at any volume, always being a bit more congested in the mids.
 
It really depends on the specific amp, and what you're using it for.

Aside from the volume & break up difference; I find the low end is beefier in a lot of 100w heads, but that's not always the case. If you play clean a lot, there's often a big difference in headroom and overall tone in a 50 vs 100 watt.
 
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