100 watt amp
 

I was looking at the Ampeg Micro CL. It is rated at 100 watts. Most people say it is a practice amp, well suited for the bedroom.

I have also looked at the Bassman 100T. People say this is a great amp for small to medium venues. And, it has a switch to lower the power to 25 watts for use as a practice amp.

I know one is solid state and the other is a tube amp, but I have also read where people have said "Watts is watts."

How is it that these 2 amps are viewed so differently for a power/use standpoint given that they are both 100 watts?

Its about the cab you pair them with, and the way they approach clipping.

If you have enough cab you can be quite loud with a 100 watt amp. You just need the sensitivity to get you there.

As far as watts are watts goes, yes this is true. One difference between a tube and SS amp is they way they sound when they reach that 100 watts of clean power. As a SS amp clips the distortion produced does not sound great to many people's ears. Tube amps on the other hand have a much more pleasing distortion mixed with some natural compression. A lot of tube amps can be pushed deep into distortion resulting in almost double their clean power rating.

Yup, a watt is a watt- but a tube amp can sound great at 2x it's rated wattage, where a solidstate amp will sound like poo. And +1, it's really all about the speakers.