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I have a JCA20h that I play through a Whitebox 1x12 that has a tonker in it. Would I notice much of a volume difference if I got a higher watt head?

Depends on how many more watts

I wanna kinda change my question again. Let's say 100w through a 1x12, and then 20w through a 4x12. Which one would be seemingly louder?

Hmm that's a good question, and it depends on a lot of variables, including speaker sensitivity rating. I'm inclined to believe that the 100w would still be louder; even though the 4x12 would be pushing serious air, it's not going to push any more than what the wattage of the amp is pumping out, and the difference between 20w and 100w is quite significant.

I'm just speculating though, somebody smarter than me will chime in I'm sure.

Man, that so totally depends on the design of the amp.
My 20 watt full tube Marshall 2061X is ridiculously loud for such a small amp, I usually don't get to turn it up past 3 or 4 at live gigs.
A good AC30, which is only rated for 30 watts, is incredibly loud as well, in my experience much louder than for instance most regular modern 100 watt channel switching amps.
As for speakers it's more the efficiency of the speaker instead of how many you're using I think, offcourse 1 against 4 is probably going to make quite a difference but 1 against 2 and 2 against 4 not as much really, strange enough.
Put an Alnico Gold in most amps and they might actually appear to be almost twice as loud as before, those new Celestion Creambacks are pretty loud also.
Oh yeah, the cab design makes a huge difference as well, say take a new Orange cab in which the sound stays in the box quite a bit compared to like a Bogner for instance and your amp might appear to be only half as loud.
Yaddayaddayadda, strange shit really.

I think I might just get a 4x12 w/ tonkers. I would only get paperclips and strings for my amp if I were to sell it.

Moustache_Bash wrote:I think I might just get a 4x12 w/ tonkers. I would only get paperclips and strings for my amp if I were to sell it.

I'll give you paperclips, string, twine, and staples in a stapler.

odontophobia wrote:

Moustache_Bash wrote:I think I might just get a 4x12 w/ tonkers. I would only get paperclips and strings for my amp if I were to sell it.

I'll give you paperclips, string, twine, and staples in a stapler.

PM'd.










































































Just kidding.

All things being equal (a phenomenon as readily observed as a frictionless plane) doubling speakers is supposed to add 3dB and doubling wattage is supposed to get you 3 dB louder. Speaker efficiency varies, cab efficiency varies, interspeaker phase effects varies in weird and wild ways (especially in a 412), and tube amps don't really scale quite linearly in design characteristics when built bigger.

Big cabs can have a big impact, but they're an ass pain. Then again, a 100 watter can be, too. If you're looking for big, doomy bass, much as I like them otherwise, those JCA-20Hs are barking up the wrong tree stock, and probably even with the resonance mod. If the Dwarvernaut mod has been reverse engineered, maybe that'd help, but there are limits to what you can get out of a pair of EL-84s.

Human sound perception is a strange phenomena.

Doubling wattage to add 3dB , but I can't see that adding speakers will add volume. Otherwise I could get a 1 watt amp, hook it up to 10 4x12s and blow away everyone. As far a I know more speakers = greater spread of sound = greater perceived volume, but the actual volume will be the same.

It'll add volume till your amp cant power the total load.

AxAxSxS wrote:It'll add volume till your amp cant power the total load.

Yep. Each speaker has a threshold of sensitivity, especially when asked to flap out lower frequencies. That's one fact that messes with the 3 dB frictionless plane.