How loud is 15 watts VALVE?

[ibanezjunkie]

just so i know, is 15 watts valve as loud as say...30 watts SS?

http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/product/24872-laney-vc15-110-15-watt-guitar-valve-amplifier-combo.html

been looking at the Laney VC15-110...

i know most valve laney stuff is awesome (expecially the LCs IMO) but how is the VCs?

i looked at the 30 watt one but its double the price, i dont have that kinda money.

[birv2]

IJ,

I don't know an exact formula, but it's WAY louder than 15W SS. I have a Peavey Envoy that's 40W, and my 15W Pro Jr blows it out of the water. I've never played anywhere yet where I had to put the volume knob above halfway. Usually less.

Not sure where you're playing, but you'll probably find 15W plenty. There are always mics for those stadium gigs....

Bob

[duhvoodooman]

LOUD. And if you run it through an extension cabinet, it'll be even louder.

[Tibernius]

just so i know, is 15 watts valve as loud as say...30 watts SS?

It should be about the same volume as 45watts Solid State. Remember as well that twice the volume is ten times the watts, so the 30 watt Laney wouldn't be much louder than the 15.

[ibanezjunkie]

hmm, i was just hoping to be heard over a 30 watt SS bass amp.

which it looks like ill have no problem doing

5 watts valve is suprisingly loud actually, 15 watts must be thunderous.

thanks =]

[bigG]

I learned this formula long ago:

You have to double the wattage (RMS) to get a 3dB increase in volume (loudness). For instance, 10w is only 3dB louder than 5w, 20 w is 3dB louder than 10w, 40w is 3dB louder than 20w, etc...Using this example then, 40w is 9dB louder than 5w...

(BUT, tube watts are louder than SS watts, so you must compare apples to apples. An SPL [sound pressure level] meter is handy, and cheap at Radio Shack. I use one to balance all speakers in my surround sound home theatre.)

Roughly, a dB (decibel) is defined as the smallest incremental increase in loudness discernable to the average human ear, so 3dB is not that terribly much of an increase.

And that pretty much covers just abt everyting I know re electronics! :D

[ibanezjunkie]

hmm, so if tube watts are louder

and twice the wattage is only an increase of 3dB valve...

then i should drown out 30 watts bass then...

lol

[guitartango]

The laney looks nice, i have a 15w fender blues jnr and can rattle the windows with ease.

[ibanezjunkie]

my blackheart is damn loud...maybe loud enough for gigs, but i still want something that doesnt have to be on absolute maximum to be heard

[ibanezjunkie]

hmm i just read a thread about a fender super champ so i googled it, and it looks good.

does anyone have any opinions on this?

also, how does it compare to the VC15?

[tunghaichuan]

Wattage is wattage.

What really matters is how the wattage is measured and how much harmonic distortion is present in the signal.

The reason that a tube/valve amp sounds louder than a solid state amp has to do with the way the two very different devices distort.

A transistor will stay clean right up until the point that it distorts, then it goes into square wave city. Pushing power transistors into distortion is a bad idea normally, because they just don't sound good. Most of the SS amps develop distortion in the preamp and use the power amp running clean to amplify the distortion sound.

A tube will distort gradually. In fact there can be a fair amount of distortion in the signal, but it doesn't sound like distortion, it sounds "fat" or "warm." The classic OD sound coming from tube amps is a relatively clean preamp signal driving the crap out of the power section.

A 15 watt transistor amp will put out 15 watts crystal clean. It can be pushed to give more than 15 watts, but this usually sounds very bad.

A 15 watt tube amp will also put out 15 watts crystal clean, but may put out 20 watts when pushed moderately, or 25 watts when driven hard. In fact most tube amps sound better when pushed hard.

tung

[ibanezjunkie]

it might just be my ears...but to me this sounds blaaady awessomee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwCZZEBgqg8&feature=related

:dude:

[markb]

A 15 watt valve amp is too loud for home use. Sometimes it's too loud for the gig. Sometimes it's not loud enough. It all depends what else is going on. I used to play through a Fender Blues Jr, our bass player used a 200w Ashdown combo. Guess who was asked to turn it down?
Yes, a 15w valve guitar amp will be much louder than a 30w bass practice amp but that's due to the the amount of distortion we're willing to put up with.

[oldguy]

it might just be my ears...but to me this sounds blaaady awessomee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwCZZEBgqg8&feature=related

:dude:

Either a link didn't work:cry: ..............or you like listening to square white boxes???:messedup: :messedup: :crazyguy:

[just strum]

......or you like listening to square white boxes?

Great name for a band, but someone would say it's not politically correct.

Funny, more talk about how loud an amp is and little talk about how good an amp is.

[ted s]

But does it smell good ?

[marnold]

Another thing to remember is that the human ear doesn't hear bass frequencies as well as the rest of the audible spectrum. Generally speaking, bass players need TONS of wattage to be heard. As much as I love my Acoustic B20, I could never use it in a band situation unless I was only playing along with acoustic players. But for my purposes, it's awesome.

[ShootTheGlass]

Roughly, a dB (decibel) is defined as the smallest incremental increase in loudness discernable to the average human ear, so 3dB is not that terribly much of an increase.

Its a logarithmic increase though; 3dB is twice as loud, -3dB is half as loud :)

I never understood why guitarists would say 10w from a tube is more powerful/louder than 10w SS:technically speaking its incorrect, but tung summarized that nicely, in that once clipping occurs, your signal is shot to poo with SS.