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Tube Watts vs. Solid State Watts, Conversion?

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#21
Rickett Customs said:
Forget watts altogether. Watts alone do not equal "loud".....

With tube amps, you get something that solid state does not offer, perceived loudness from both odd and even order harmonics ,so a 300 wat tube head may be perceived "as loud" as say a 900 watt SS head. Do a search on odd and even harmonics, if you need that answer.... Not enough space in a post to fully describe them both.
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The odd versus even harmonics thing dates back to the 1960s and germanium transistors. It very much went away twenty years later with the introductions of FET opamps and MOSFET output devices.
 
#24
B-string said:
"Percived" loudness will not equate to a measured "loudness" as in db.
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Ah yes, but of course there wouldn't be all these threads asking about why a 300 wat tube amps seems louder than a higher powered SS amp ;)

Something compels people to pose the same questions over and over again...... Perceived or not.
 
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#25
Cates said:
Everybody who has tried to equate Tube watts to Solid State watts has said different things.

It seems like from what I've heard, 1 SSW = 6-8 TubeW

My own ears seem to confirm that...for example...the Ampeg V4 I have has been the loudest amp I've ever played (I've not played an SVT...), and that's comparing it to some 600W and 800W SS amps who were just flat-out blown away volume-wise by the V4.
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:rollno: :rollno: :rollno:

How was this measured ?

Were you using the same exact cabs with all of those heads ?

If not, then you have no real comparison as different cabs have different voicings and sensitivity levels.

Yes, there is a "percieved" difference in tube vs SS, but to say that a tube = 6 - 8 SS watts is just absurd.
 
#29
Bass_Pounder said:
:rollno: :rollno: :rollno:

How was this measured ?

Were you using the same exact cabs with all of those heads ?

If not, then you have no real comparison as different cabs have different voicings and sensitivity levels.

Yes, there is a "percieved" difference in tube vs SS, but to say that a tube = 6 - 8 SS watts is just absurd.
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Psh...for your information I was playing 600W and 800W SS amps thru 810 cabs...which is clearly more powerful than a 412 (and if you say otherwise then I'm going to have to say that "is just absurd"). I can't say that it was the same cab I played in each instance, but I doubt the original V4 412 beats any 810 on the market.
 
#36
Huh, I don't see anywhere that I snapped at one person for bringing up the fact this is a topic that has been done before. Actually, I did criticize the fact only a few ppl address the part of my question that was seldomly addressed. So either find something better to do than try and police politeness, or just get over yourself in general. I asked a question b/c I wanted to hear an answer. Last time I checked, that's the point of a forum.

Drop the dramatics.
 
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#39
And there is your answer.

billfitzmaurice said:
Tube amps are subjectively louder because they compress the signal when pushed hard. 6dB of compression is like quadrupling your power. You can get exactly the same effect from an SS amp if you have a high quality tube compressor, like this one:
Invalid Link Removed

But I'd take the six grand and buy a tube amp instead. :eek:
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#40
Cates said:
Psh...for your information I was playing 600W and 800W SS amps thru 810 cabs...which is clearly more powerful than a 412 (and if you say otherwise then I'm going to have to say that "is just absurd"). I can't say that it was the same cab I played in each instance, but I doubt the original V4 412 beats any 810 on the market.
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And you know that any 810 on the market is "more powerful" than the V 412 how ?

What are cab voicings ?, what are their sensitivity ratings ?

You can't just look at a cab rated for "X" watts and automatically say it is a more powerful cab because it's rated higher or has more speakers.

Also, based on how you are saying it, I am assuming that it was amps and cabs that you were allowed to use as either part of a show backline, or a tryout in a music store. If so, that tells me you did not know enough about the particular head and cab combo, or spend any appreciable time with the setup to really know it's capabilities.
 
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