Go tube or not.

[WackyT]

I'm thinking of getting myself an Epi Valve Jr head and cab for Christmas. Hopefully, I'll be able to actually play something by then.

[TS808]

Wattage of a tube amp can be deceiving. Tube amps are rated at "clean" power, yet most people like to drive them to the point of breakup to get better responsiveness (is that a word?) out of them.
In order to double the volume of a tube amp, you need to increase the rated watts by ten times.
So, if Warren buys his half watt amp, which is .5 watt, my Valve Jr, which puts out 5 watts, will be twice as loud, and someone else's 50 watt Marshall, or Traynor Blue, or what have you, will be twice as loud as my Valve Jr....

Great point. To decrease loudness by 1/2 you have to go 10 times less actually if I recall correctly. A 10 watt amp is 50% as loud as a 100 watt amp if I recall correctly.

I found this which explains wattage:

http://hometheater.about.com/cs/audi...apowermada.htm

There are better sites out there that deal with guitar amplification specifically, but I found that one first

Check out www.amptone.com. I believe that is the site that really covers this topic.

[DaveO]

Anybody tried this one?

http://www.music123.com/Epiphone-Val...:referralID=NA

Dave