However, Wikipedia tells me that the Watusi is a solo dance that enjoyed brief popularity during the early 1960s. Not sure if that was Tube Watusi or Solid State Watusi.
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Tube watts vs Solid State watts
- Thread starter Clark W
- Start date
Psychoacoustics.
A tube amp produces more upper frequency harmonics (especially when overdriven) compared to an SS amp and since human brain perception is to hear higher frequencies as louder you get this scenario.
Lol I use to have a similar stack like yours
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Rather than try to figure out why, it will save you time and energy to accept the fact that into the same cab, a 100 tube head will seem louder than a 100 watt solid state head. A 300 watt tube head will seem louder than a 300 watt solid state head.
With just a few exceptions, tube heads pretty much stop at the 300 watt range. Peavey had a 400 watter, Reeves still makes a 400 watt one. But they never got popular. Why? Hardly anyone needed a tube head louder than the 300 watt Ampeg SVT. That one has been the standard backline head for decades, has had plenty of power to satisfy most bass players needs.
Now switch over to solid state, and we see tons in the 800 watt, 1200 watt range, etc. That’s what it takes to match the 300 watt SVT head.
The above are generalities, there are obviously people with very different needs who have made very different rigs with very different types of components producing very different results.
With just a few exceptions, tube heads pretty much stop at the 300 watt range. Peavey had a 400 watter, Reeves still makes a 400 watt one. But they never got popular. Why? Hardly anyone needed a tube head louder than the 300 watt Ampeg SVT. That one has been the standard backline head for decades, has had plenty of power to satisfy most bass players needs.
Now switch over to solid state, and we see tons in the 800 watt, 1200 watt range, etc. That’s what it takes to match the 300 watt SVT head.
The above are generalities, there are obviously people with very different needs who have made very different rigs with very different types of components producing very different results.
A watt is a watt yes. And volume should correlate with the numbers provided the numbers are true to the meaning in the first place.
But there is a difference between "volume" and "loudness". Two 100dB signals may both register at the same volume but one might appear louder than the other depending on compression ratio and upper harmonic detail.
I don't worry about tube amp watts. I've had tube amps, been there done that.
I'm currently using 700 D Class watts and sounding pretty good with it.
I'm currently using 700 D Class watts and sounding pretty good with it.
I forgot about that one. The Fletcher-Munson curve, AKA, the loudness button on the stereo tries to address and compensate for that.
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- Feb 12, 2006
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Tube amps operate internally at lower current and higher voltage. The output transformer is an unfortunate necessity in order to match the output to the speaker by simultaneously reducing the voltage and increasing the current to match 4, 8 or 16 ohm loads.
If a tube amp designer could eliminate the output transformer, that's probably the first part most would get rid of first. The second would be the power transformer and there are some practical examples of where switch mode power supplies have been used in place of a conventional power transformer to save significant weight.
Actually, a solid state amp when overdriven tends to produce more higher ordered harmonics than a tube amp when overdriven.
My 300 watt tube SVT-VR head into my 6x10 Ampeg cabs was a revelation when I first plugged them in.
I was blown away because my 1200 watt SVT 4 Pro that I had for years playing into the same cabinet was aenemic in comparison.
I was blown away because my 1200 watt SVT 4 Pro that I had for years playing into the same cabinet was aenemic in comparison.
I hope you notice the number of likes you received compared to the bassist that was so critical. Please feel free to ask more questions "that have been asked before". It was interesting enough for me to read the same old material again.
I think that if people never repeated anything that was said before there'd be no one on TB.
Isn't it so that the tube amps are supposed to produce 2nd order harmonics while ss amps mostly suppress them? What I am aiming at is that while an ss amp may get in fact louder compared to a tube amp when overdriven but with an unpleasant sound? So people don't even compare it therefore we accept the "fact" that tube amps get louder simply because the distorted signal is actually useful compared to that of an ss. At least that's how I hear it.
Thanks for this, I've always wondered. If you'll indulge me a bit, do speakers tend to have a maximum voltage or maximum current? Is there a normal voltage/current ratio that amp manufactures shoot for? Does the ratio of V:I make any appreciable difference in perceived volume/tone?
Oh yeah, there's that. I spent some time reading up on it last night. I started here...
Fletcher–Munson curves - Wikipedia
Invalid Link Removed
A google search provides way too many links on it to post back here.
- Apr 18, 2008
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And that is the answer to the “guitar watts versus bass watts” part of your original question.
Now all that’s left is the “tube versus solid state” miasma....
Oh yeah I noticed. I also noticed that one of the few that "liked" the critical bassist's remark is someone I bought a piece of gear from on here. He just got the last dollar he'll ever get out of me
And I also noticed that the critical bassist hasn't been back either, much less bothered to reply. Just a quick in and out attack and gone. That's okay, there are those who would rather learn, or help others learn that have shown up, and that's the important thing to me. Some people like to be a part of the parade, others like to rain on it and make everyone as miserable as they are. Just a part of life online I guess.
Thanks for your comment and support!
