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Tube watts vs Solid State watts
- Thread starter Clark W
- Start date
The benefit of using a second cab, or creating a full stack, is better dispersion, enhanced bass response, and you get to hear yourself better because the top cab is closer to your ears. Doesn’t necessarily need to be louder.
One 410 is really popular, so apparently using just one cab doesn’t really limit one’s ability to become a successful bassist however.
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I've not seen a mention of "RMS versus peak" ratings. When I was starting out in bands, tube amps were generally rated something like "50 watts RMS, 100 watts peak." RMS = "root mean squared." Solid state amps like the Kustom roll-and-tucks, newish at the time, did not use RMS ratings. That 22-watt Fender Deluxe Reverb produces 22 watts RMS, but it can peak much higher.
- Feb 12, 2006
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- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
It depends. Higher ordered harmonics are generally due to the more rapid change in slope at the point where the amp clips, and the flatness of the clipping. The higher the dV/dT, the greater the amount of higher order harmonics.
In many distortion pedals, this is desirable, but for more subtle and inclusive tones it's less desirable.
When developing circuits that intentionally overdrive, these are some of the characteristics that we pay close attention to.
Taking the distorted signal and adding high frequency eq can increase the ratio of higher ordered harmonics.
No, not really, though this is mostly based on commonly accepted lore and folk mythology.
For a whole variety of reasons, tube amps tend to clip more gently and generate a harmonic spectrum more heavily weighted in lower ordered harmonics. This can be manipulated to some degree, but generally holds true.
The voltage and current are directly inter-related to impedance, following Ohm's law.
Amplifiers generate an output voltage, the current I that flows is defined by I = V/Z where Z is the complex load impedance presented by the speaker.
Where difficulty occurs is if the amp can not deliver the current that's required by the linear equation above, at that point the transfer function becomes non-linear.
Our guitar player just got himself one of those cute little 15W all-tube PRS amps + a 2x12" cabinet.
1) That thing sounds awesome
2) It's also crazy loud. Think he has the volume on "2" when we're gigging..
I need at least my TH350 to keep up with that..
Regards
Mark
1) That thing sounds awesome
2) It's also crazy loud. Think he has the volume on "2" when we're gigging..
I need at least my TH350 to keep up with that..
Regards
Mark
After skimming the responses, I didn’t find any describing the basis for the answer to the Q you posed.
Fundamentally, the energy in a wave varies inversely with the wavelength. Longer wavelengths of similar amplitude (volume) compared to higher frequency waves have more energy in them. That means that your guitar player doesn’t need as many watts (power = energy/time) to generate a given output amplitude.
The same thing happens when you are singing. Higher pitch parts are much easier to project than lower register parts, which require getting your whole chest behind the effort. Also why double basses are larger and much more physical instruments to get to project not as well as the tiny violin.
Basically, Physics.
Regarding bass amps, the Tube vs solid state discussion is more a matter of religion; and I’ll take a pass on that one.
Think about it. Most of Rock ‘n Roll was inspired, written, and performed using tube watts. If you want to totally nail that old sound, you need to use the same tube watts. It’s as simple as that.
I don't need a whole lots 'a money
I don't need a big, fine car
I got everything that a man could want
I got more than I could ask for
Now, I don't have to run around
I don't have to stay out all night
'cause I got me a sweet, a sweet lovin' tube amp
And she knows just how to treat me right
Well my baby, she's all right
Well my baby, she's clean out of sight, don't you know that
She's
She's sounds some kind 'a wonderful
She's sounds some kind 'a wonderful yes she is, she's a
She's sounds some kind 'a wonderful yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah
I don't need a whole lots 'a money
I don't need a big, fine car
I got everything that a man could want
I got more than I could ask for
Now, I don't have to run around
I don't have to stay out all night
'cause I got me a sweet, a sweet lovin' tube amp
And she knows just how to treat me right
Well my baby, she's all right
Well my baby, she's clean out of sight, don't you know that
She's
She's sounds some kind 'a wonderful
She's sounds some kind 'a wonderful yes she is, she's a
She's sounds some kind 'a wonderful yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah
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This explains why pink noise is used to tune a PA system over white noise! Thanks for helping me make the connection between electrical and acoustic.
Keep playing bass, messing with your phone, and playing on the computer, I think that can be arranged.
I'm still waiting for the list of things that don't give you cancer, according to the state of California.
A friend of mine who is a professional guitarist (studio, national tours, etc) once said that guitarists actually “play the amp”
What he meant was that they rely on power amp saturation, speaker distortion, and the “boxiness” of the cab to get their tone. So, they often use low-powered tube amps that are cranked high enough to get all that happening. You’d be amazed how many classic rock albums were recorded with 5-18 watt combos like Fender Champs, Gibson GA-5s, Voxa AC-15s, and Supros ... not the 100 watt Marshall stacks you might imagine.
In contrast, most bass players these days are looking for clean amplification. If you want loud, clean, accurate reproduction of low-frequency tones, you’re going to want more headroom from the amp and more sophisticated speaker/cab designs.
What he meant was that they rely on power amp saturation, speaker distortion, and the “boxiness” of the cab to get their tone. So, they often use low-powered tube amps that are cranked high enough to get all that happening. You’d be amazed how many classic rock albums were recorded with 5-18 watt combos like Fender Champs, Gibson GA-5s, Voxa AC-15s, and Supros ... not the 100 watt Marshall stacks you might imagine.
In contrast, most bass players these days are looking for clean amplification. If you want loud, clean, accurate reproduction of low-frequency tones, you’re going to want more headroom from the amp and more sophisticated speaker/cab designs.
Or according to any other gov't based entity. Seems like everything around us "may" cause cancer. Between being involved in music, computers, and the automotive parts industry, I'm doomed.
One quick trick (just in case you didn't know it) to search TB much faster than the built-in search is to start a Google search with "site:www.talkbass.com". That will limit search results to just TB
Thanks for the tip!One quick trick (just in case you didn't know it) to search TB much faster than the built-in search is to start a Google search with "site:www.talkbass.com". That will limit search results to just TB
You can also narrow the search by choosing a time period from the last 24 hours, week, month, year or anytime.One quick trick (just in case you didn't know it) to search TB much faster than the built-in search is to start a Google search with "site:www.talkbass.com". That will limit search results to just TB
This method has always worked great for me. Give it a try. I hope members find this useful.
Cheers,
Tom
