100w v 50w

qnn-mdfssr · Post by **qnn-mdfssr** » Sat Jan 28, 2017 1:55 pm

I'm sure this question has been asked a million times. I will soon be placing an order for a Science Decolonizer within the next month or so. Now that they do 50w versions, I'm not sure if it's something I should go for.

Mostly play death/black metal and generally play in my room. I want to be doing more live gigs so I don't know if the extra 50watts is useful for me.

waltdogg · Post by **waltdogg** » Sat Jan 28, 2017 1:57 pm

more usually = more headroom and bass response

colossus · Post by **colossus** » Sat Jan 28, 2017 2:52 pm

A 100w tube head will be hard as fuck to play in your room if you're talking apartment sound levels. Hell, even 50w would be hard. I had a 7w and had to leave it around 2 if I didn't want to get angry knocks.

popvulture · Post by **popvulture** » Sat Jan 28, 2017 3:40 pm

Haven't played a Science yet (dammit) but in my experience, 100w is total overkill. Depends on the type of music you're making, of course, but this is especially pertinent to the playing in your room issue.

ognoy · Post by **ognoy** » Sat Jan 28, 2017 3:41 pm

My amp is around 50w(YBA-1) and I don't see any scenario which that would not be enough, at least with guitar.

And if I was only playing at home I would be thinking about getting some kind of attenuator/load. Or just an ampsim and a decent pair of monitors.

odontophobia · Post by **odontophobia** » Sat Jan 28, 2017 3:44 pm

ognoy wrote:My amp is around 50w(YBA-1) and I don't see any scenario which that would not be enough, at least with guitar.

And if I was only playing at home I would be thinking about getting some kind of attenuator/load. Or just an ampsim and a decent pair of monitors.

Or an amp with dummy load and headphone out.

In which case:

Mesa F-series to the rescue. Head and combo. Have multiple wattage versions and each has power scaling.

hotknife · Post by **hotknife** » Sat Jan 28, 2017 3:46 pm

Mate. Better buy some earplugs too. 50w will push your shit in.

qnn-mdfssr · Post by **qnn-mdfssr** » Sat Jan 28, 2017 5:48 pm

I'm not so concerned about neighbors because the 'loudness'knob with Science amps seems to be pretty nifty and I never really cranked my 6505 to full volume when I had it.

BoatRich · Post by **BoatRich** » Sat Jan 28, 2017 5:55 pm

I prefer 100w for playing most heavier shit, especially when downtuned. 50w tends to feel strained at high volumes and low tunings. That said, if you're just playing standard tuned guitar in a house/apartment most of the time, 50w is probably more than enough.

peaches · Post by **peaches** » Sat Jan 28, 2017 6:17 pm

Science are/willbesoon taking orders???

harpies · Post by **harpies** » Sat Jan 28, 2017 7:26 pm

Ditto the above question.

Also, aren't the new amps supposed to have an attenuation option or wattage switching? If so, another reason to go for the hundred.

jrfox92 · Post by **jrfox92** » Sat Jan 28, 2017 7:56 pm

harpies wrote:Ditto the above question.

Also, aren't the new amps supposed to have an attenuation option or wattage switching? If so, another reason to go for the hundred.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure all the new models are supposed to have wattage switching.

frigid midget · Post by **frigid midget** » Sat Jan 28, 2017 8:33 pm

Yeah, expect a little bit more low end and overal headroom from 100W. "More" as in 'probably barely noticeable in most circumstances'.

I've also got a 50w (I think more like 45 though), and it stupid loud. Don't get me started on dummy loads and attenuators. It's a pricey way to fuck up your amps and/or attenuator. Or, at best, you'll just get a meh version of how your amp's supposed to sound. I'm getting a 1/4 power switch installed. Should be the safest and most 'natural' sounding way of taming all that power and scaling it down to living room -friendly levels. No extra shit to haul around and hook up, risk free, and cheaper than most attenuators.

As far a sheer volume goes, doesn't the 100 vs 50 watt difference actually translate to an utterly inaudible difference of just 3db?

waltdogg · Post by **waltdogg** » Sat Jan 28, 2017 8:37 pm

speaking from experience with my hellhawk, the loudness knob does effective attenuate the power without losing much tone at lower (bedroom) volumes. however, when playing in a live situation you need to really crank the amp usually to or past 12 o'clock to breakthrough the attenuation.

and yes, in terms of audible volume the difference brtween 50 and 100 watts is only 3dB which is hardly an audible difference. but with more power usually comes more headroom and bass reponse which tends to make people think 100 watt amps are *significantly* louder than 50 watt amps when all that's really happening is the amp has extra power to produce frequencies we can't hear but can feeeeeeel.

qnn-mdfssr · Post by **qnn-mdfssr** » Sat Jan 28, 2017 8:49 pm

waltdogg wrote:speaking from experience with my hellhawk, the loudness knob does effective attenuate the power without losing much tone at lower (bedroom) volumes. however, when playing in a live situation you need to really crank the amp usually to or past 12 o'clock to breakthrough the attenuation.

and yes, in terms of audible volume the difference brtween 50 and 100 watts is only 3dB which is hardly an audible difference. but with more power usually comes more headroom and bass reponse which tends to make people think 100 watt amps are *significantly* louder than 50 watt amps when all that's really happening is the amp has extra power to produce frequencies we can't hear but can feeeeeeel.

Good to hear about the loudness knob being as effective as it seems. It seems like the extra physical oomph 100w offer wouldn't be all that critical for me. I'm not playing any slam riffs really and since I'll be doing 80% of my playing at home, I think a 50w will be sufficient.

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100w v 50w

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