Laney and Hartke, speaker material question

[RestInPieces]

Ok here's the deal. I'm looking for a good combo for practising and maybe small gigs, and I have narrowed down the options a bit and I have come to the conclusion that my next amp will be either Laney RB4 or a Hartke A-100S (some limited edition model)

Here are the links if you want to check them out

Hartke

http://www.thomann.de/fi/hartke_a_100s_ltd_edition.htm

Laney

http://www.thomann.de/fi/laney_rb4_richter_bass.htm


But my question here is, which one is louder? They both have a 15 inch speakers and such. The real difference between these two amps is the wattage and the speaker material. Hartke has 100 watts and aluminum speaker, Laney has 160 watts and a celestion speaker. I think they both suit me tonewise and the only difference here is the firepower (or is it?)

I don't have any experience on Hartkes or Laneys so I'm asking for the opinion of my fellow TB'ers here. Well I have tested one Hartke and that was at our school. I think it was a 60 watt Hartke (don't remember the model), and it could easily fill the gym hall of our school. Well the volume wasn't ear-bursting, but still.

The "wise people" have told me that Hartkes are basically louder than any other brand when the wattage is same. Is it true? Or is it just total bs. And could the 160 watt Laney be louder than the Hartke?

[RestInPieces]

[JimmyM]

the hartke will probably be a little less loud than the laney. but it has nothing to do with hartke having any perceived extra loudness (which it doesn't). whoever told you that was grossly misinformed.

what you should do is buy the one that you like the sound of the most and don't sweat the wattage issue. it's really not that big a difference anyway. now going from 100w to 500w would be a different story.