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Post subject: Re: Have you ever dimed a 100 watt amp?
Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 4:33 am
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Post subject: Re: Have you ever dimed a 100 watt amp?
Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 9:55 am
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strayedstrater wrote:
C'mon, that's a cheap shot.


And by no means the first time.
A pattern has been developing for some time now.
It takes a long time to build credibility but once it is destroyed it's all over.

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Post subject: Re: Have you ever dimed a 100 watt amp?
Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 8:39 pm
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I have had a few amps that exceed the 100 W mark: a Peavey Deuce that was rated at 125W peak power and a Traynor Mk III that was rated at 135W peak,sadly I don't have these volume demons anymore but I still have my 120W Vox AD-120-VTH with the 412BN Vox cabinet loaded with 4 Stephen Grindrod designed Wharfedale 12"s.I have pulled out all the stops on all 3 of them but just very briefly because unless you are far away from them ( behind them if you are wise) and in a very wide open space,your face will melt and your Eustachian tubes will explode.I have 2 50W Marshall JCM 800s and even running them at peak volume puts you deeply into ear bleed territory.

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Post subject: Re: Have you ever dimed a 100 watt amp?
Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 4:23 pm
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I've never dimed a 100 watt amp, but I did have to run my old ('70s) Ampeg V4B right up to clipping to get anything meaningful out of those early fhit SVT cabs with guitar speakers. I hated that cab. It was basically a giant low-midrange driver. Diming the volume wouldn't have added even one more decibel; it would've only increased the power-stage distortion.

My very first amp, however, was a 4-watt Kay with an 8" speaker. It used to weigh about 8 pounds total (combo). I could lift it with my pinky finger. It had a volume control and a tone control. I used to run that thing WFO as often as possible in an attempt to break it. I was never successful.

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Post subject: Re: Have you ever dimed a 100 watt amp?
Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 7:30 pm
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craig.p wrote:
My very first amp, however, was a 4-watt Kay with an 8" speaker. It used to weigh about 8 pounds total (combo). I could lift it with my pinky finger. It had a volume control and a tone control. I used to run that thing WFO as often as possible in an attempt to break it. I was never successful.
Haha! Same here, not a Kay though. It was from Best Products, I don't even think it had an 8" speaker. To get anything above "conversational" volume out of it I had to run my MXR distortion pedal output "dimed" and even then you could shout over it.

I replaced it within a few months with one of those pine "Rock" amps.
Still not loud, but it could work with the drums if he didn't play too loud.

That held me until I saved enough for a Peavey Deuce.

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Post subject: Re: Have you ever dimed a 100 watt amp?
Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2018 3:41 am
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craig.p wrote:
Diming the volume wouldn't have added even one more decibel; it would've only increased the power-stage distortion.



Yeah, most amps are close to full volume with the volume knob about halfway up. Above that, a little more volume but a lot more compression and distortion.

Not all amps -- some don't hit full volume until the knobs are 3/4 all the way up. (Most Orange amps.)

And on amps with gain & master volume, the knobs are interactive. With the gain low you may have to set the master very high, with the gain high you may reach full volume with the master less than halfway.
-------------------
Stevie Ray played crazy loud, but he didn't dime his amps. He just ran 3 or more amps together, all of them set about halfway -- right on the edge of power tube distortion.

He was typically way louder than guitarists using a single dimed Marshall stack.


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Post subject: Re: Have you ever dimed a 100 watt amp?
Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2018 5:53 am
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Well, I wish everyone got that. I get so sick of reading forums where someone says his new amp was eardrum-splittingly loud and it was only on 2, with the obvious implication that it was running at only 20% power output at that setting and had another 80% to go.

I mod amps as part of my work. I should come up with a new service: increase amp power for a flat $200 fee, one-day turnaround time. (Change the gain pot to something with a different taper.)

Groan...

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Post subject: Re: Have you ever dimed a 100 watt amp?
Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2018 11:37 am
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Post subject: Re: Have you ever dimed a 100 watt amp?
Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2018 6:08 pm
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craig.p wrote:
I've never dimed a 100 watt amp, but I did have to run my old ('70s) Ampeg V4B right up to clipping to get anything meaningful out of those early fhit SVT cabs with guitar speakers. I hated that cab. It was basically a giant low-midrange driver. Diming the volume wouldn't have added even one more decibel; it would've only increased the power-stage distortion.


Likely the culprit was the quartet of 7027A output bottles. That tube ran notoriously clean and Ampeg's output stages were designed pretty conservatively. A better choice of amps (sticking with an Ampeg platform) would've been a B-25B head or a VT40.

I've dimed a few mega-stacks in my time......a pair of Twin Reverbs, a Twin Reverb plus a Dual Showman, a Marshall 100-watt SLP with two 1960 cabs, two Sunn Model T's (the real Model T, not that emasculated Fender re-issue). In each instance the events were outdoors, mitigating *somewhat* the inevitable effects. But there's really no logical reason to abuse one's sense of hearing with such flagrant overkill.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Have you ever dimed a 100 watt amp?
Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2018 6:26 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
I've dimed a few mega-stacks in my time...... But there's really no logical reason to abuse one's sense of hearing with such flagrant overkill.

Arjay

I hear ya, Arjay. :lol:
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Post subject: Re: Have you ever dimed a 100 watt amp?
Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 4:45 am
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Arjay: I'm sure it wasn't the V4B's output stage. I had that thing on the bench several times and it routinely put out well over its power rating. It was that crummy squareback cab. I had other Ampeg amps at the time: a V6B and a B25B. So, for a particularly large gig one day, I played the V4B through the V6B and B25B cabs stacked sideways. (I know, I know... mixed cabs in the same frequency range. But volume was the crucial need, and I was willing to trade smooth response for it.) It was so loud that people in the back of the auditorium kept asking me to turn down. The amp wasn't even close to clipping.

The B25B was a relative weakling. It could do very small rooms, maybe 75 people, but beyond that, forget it. In fairness to that amp, though, it was never intended to serve beyond that point. Those were jobs for its bigger brothers (V4B and SVT).

Funny SVT story: I bought one once, new, way back in the '70s. Had to be special-ordered. So, it comes in and I head out to the store. I walk in, and there it is on the floor, already unboxed for me. And... I can't lift it at first. So I get down on my knees and start looking underneath the amp for where the shop owner has bolted the thing to the floor to bust my balls as a joke. I hear much laughter from behind the glass counter. I didn't realize the amp weighed something like 90 pounds. Should've checked first, before I put the deposit down. I brought it back a couple weeks later. It was just... nonsense.

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Post subject: Re: Have you ever dimed a 100 watt amp?
Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 5:00 am
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craig.p wrote:
But volume was the crucial need, and I was willing to trade smooth response for it.) It was so loud that people in the back of the auditorium kept asking me to turn down.

Sounds like a nightmare. This is why I never go to clubs/bars to see local bands. Too many people packing in the equipment like they're playing Madison Square Garden. That kind of volume is just never pleasant to the ear, clipping or not. Wedding DJs are also frequent offenders.


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Post subject: Re: Have you ever dimed a 100 watt amp?
Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2018 7:28 am
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ghost_of_strings wrote:
craig.p wrote:
But volume was the crucial need, and I was willing to trade smooth response for it.) It was so loud that people in the back of the auditorium kept asking me to turn down.

Sounds like a nightmare. This is why I never go to clubs/bars to see local bands.....That kind of volume is just never pleasant to the ear, clipping or not.
I've become the same way...used to LOVE checking out live bands in my area...now the only ones I'll go see "occasionally" are the ones that I know personally, and know me personally. There is a mutual respect amongst us all, and the guys I know are not apposed to some input from me on sound levels and/or sound quality---and I'm not obnoxious about it either. And they know they are welcome to critique my levels as well; because some times it's easier for another musician to move around in the room and/or gig to find the hot spots and sweet spots.


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