Question for the high wattage amp guys here about playing at home

[Dopethrone]

Somebody’s low on lithium

Do they still put that shit in tubes?
If so, I'm good

It got boring around here. Laura doesn't even sell tubes anymore. "Charvel Dan" hasn't been whispered in years. Fortin is behind the Wizard of Oz curtain. "Weird mids" season STILL comes around with the consistency of mercury retrograde and no one even cares..NO ONE CARES CORALLL !

 

[jchrisf]

Well, I ended up getting a Ceriatone 2204.. hope that is the perfect sized home amp

 

[panhead]

I love it .ya

it’s weird . You just never know . Maybe metal zones would good if you just ran them through fenders lol

You can use a metal zone as a boost and parametric. Warren Haynes did it for years before the klon

 

[Racerxrated]

The best way to get cranked big iron sound is cranked big iron. I don’t jack my master volumes as high as some here but when practicing I prefer not to - I don’t need to hear faults that loud.

I have 95% big iron in my collection and they all get play time. Do they sound their best cranked? You bet, is it something everyone should experience once in their life? You bet. Is it for everyone? No, not at all. Hence load boxes and attenuators to make the best of their situation.

The real truth is that the big iron uncastrated is hard to beat.

This. /thread.

There is one thing that you just can’t replicate by using an attenuator…speaker response. You can’t replicate it, simulate, etc etc….only way is the unleashing of wattage on your speakers. Volume always wins. If you have family in the house you just have to pick a time when you can get away with it. Even if it’s twice a year, still worth it.

 

[glpg80]

This. /thread.

There is one thing that you just can’t replicate by using an attenuator…speaker response. You can’t replicate it, simulate, etc etc….only way is the unleashing of wattage on your speakers. Volume always wins. If you have family in the house you just have to pick a time when you can get away with it. Even if it’s twice a year, still worth it.

The boss just turns her TV up so she can hear it.

The only difference is that back when I was a teenager my parents could tell me to shut the fuck up for their TV time. Now I own the fucking house and I do what I want

 

[Techdeth]

You can use a metal zone as a boost and parametric. Warren Haynes did it for years before the klon

I tried years you ago for shots n giggles but that pedal annoyed me . Just my opinion though

 

[Metalhex]

Who needs big iron when you have small silicone?

Seriously though, this amp gets damn loud and pushes "some" air at high volumes.

 

[rstites]

This. /thread.

There is one thing that you just can’t replicate by using an attenuator…speaker response. You can’t replicate it, simulate, etc etc….only way is the unleashing of wattage on your speakers. Volume always wins. If you have family in the house you just have to pick a time when you can get away with it. Even if it’s twice a year, still worth it.

I don't even think it's speaker response nearly as much as the acoustic interaction of the guitar strings and volume, especially if you're using higher wattage speakers. The thing you really can't replicate is that physical sound-wave reinforcement of the instrument in the room with a loud guitar amplifier. You know you get to that level where just a slight change of angle between the guitar and amplifier shifts the response because of acoustic reinforcement.

That's also why you need so much less gain with that loud amplifier. It's generating sustain just with volume alone. When I'm in front of an old loud amplifier, I can turn down the distortion and just the volume handle the sustain. It's glorious. It's loud. It also really doesn't need a 4x12, but they're fun.

 

[creep66]

Sound treat your practice room and you can play loud as hell without the cops getting called.

 

[311splawndude]

Something else that ties into all of this....

I was explaining the phenomena of the electric guitar experience to my brother who knows nothing about it. I explained the signal chain to him this way.

1. Guitar Pick Up 'picks up' the string vibration. A Pick Up is basically magnets wrapped in copper wire. Signal then leaves guitar on a copper wire to the amplifier.

2. Amplifier has, in addition to tubes and resistors etc, a set of Transformers that affect the tone. A Transformer is basically big magnet wrapped in copper wire. Signal then leaves the amp on another copper wire to the speakers.

3. What are Speakers made of? A big magnet and a voice coil wrapped in ....you guessed it. Copper.


See a trend?

 

[Metalhex]

Something else that ties into all of this....

I was explaining the phenomena of the electric guitar experience to my brother who knows nothing about it. I explained the signal chain to him this way.

1. Guitar Pick Up 'picks up' the string vibration. A Pick Up is basically magnets wrapped in copper wire. Signal then leaves guitar on a copper wire to the amplifier.

2. Amplifier has, in addition to tubes and resistors etc, a set of Transformers that affect the tone. A Transformer is basically big magnet wrapped in copper wire. Signal then leaves the amp on another copper wire to the speakers.

3. What are Speakers made of? A big magnet and a voice coil wrapped in ....you guessed it. Copper.


See a trend?

Copper is a good conductor for electricity. I wonder how much of a difference it would make if all of the wiring was gold.

 

[rstites]

Copper is a good conductor for electricity. I wonder how much of a difference it would make if all of the wiring was gold.

It'd cost more and break more often, but it wouldn't corrode.

Copper is the ideal conductor to use for wiring, mainly because it's relatively easy to work with: reasonably strong and yet pliable enough to work easily. It's also fairly inexpensive. There's not magic juju in copper, or anything like that, though. It's just a conductor that happens to be the best form a physical POV to use in circuits.

 

[311splawndude]

Yeah...

Think about how much our gear would cost it if was gold instead of copper?

I'd def be sticking to acoustic. All kidding aside, I wasn't trying to imply for the record that there was something extra special about copper. I was just trying to detail out what we mean sometimes when we say "Big Iron".

 

[Spaceboy]

lmao a 2204 for a home amp... a fantastic classic, but hope ya got an attenuator!

 

[jemplayer]

I use a great invention called ear plugs. Even got those fancy ones that are designed to flatter across the frequency range vs cheap foam ones. Work pretty good to.

 

[Dopethrone]

Yeah...

Think about how much our gear would cost it if was gold instead of copper?

I'd def be sticking to acoustic. All kidding aside, I wasn't trying to imply for the record that there was something extra special about copper. I was just trying to detail out what we mean sometimes when we say "Big Iron".

100w and up

 

[John 14:6]

The thing I LOVE about me Friedman Small Box 50 watt head is that it sound epic when I am playing in a band and sounds along with being loads more fun to play even a whisper volumes late at night at home. I have owned plenty of nice high wattage apms over the years and playing them at home with the volume barely cracked on was pretty much like driving a dragster around your living room. I gave away my practice amps years ago once I got my Friedman. They were thick with dust at that point.

 

[DanTravis62]

The thing I LOVE about me Friedman Small Box 50 watt head is that it sound epic when I am playing in a band and sounds along with being loads more fun to play even a whisper volumes late at night at home. I have owned plenty of nice high wattage apms over the years and playing them at home with the volume barely cracked on was pretty much like driving a dragster around your living room. I gave away my practice amps years ago once I got my Friedman. They were thick with dust at that point.

A good master volume is far more effective than a practice amp *shrug*

 

[TheToneDig]

I love that the people here at Rig Talk are hard rockers and have some of the coolest amps. I'm curious for those of you that have all these cool, high watt amps.. what do you play at home? And if it is your big amp, how do you do it without making your ears bleed and does it sound good at home volumes?

I'd also be curious for those that have a mini amp along with its big brother which one sounds the best at home volumes?

I wrote a book about this exact topic. See my sig.

With an attenuator and loadbox, you can even listen to a cranked 100W on headphones.

The problem becomes space. 100W are big units and weighty. So it makes more sense to buy lots of smaller amps than a few big ones.

50W was the nice happy medium but now amp makers are getting those tones into 20W and 30W amps in the past few years. Marshall Studio leads that one with their power staging.

Nobody will know the difference between 100W and 20W in a recording. Maybe not as much bottom end in 20W but EQ helps.

Basically, the secret is to use real valve heads and choice IRs! IRs and microphone choices for cab sims are everything.

Wet/Dry recording.

 

[ZEN Amps]

I love that the people here at Rig Talk are hard rockers and have some of the coolest amps. I'm curious for those of you that have all these cool, high watt amps.. what do you play at home? And if it is your big amp, how do you do it without making your ears bleed and does it sound good at home volumes?

I'd also be curious for those that have a mini amp along with its big brother which one sounds the best at home volumes?

Big amps most of the time for most situations. A Rivera Rock Crusher or Fryette Power Station is all you need, or just turn down the master volume if it's an amp that has stacks of preamp gain.