Orange Amps Forum

andy, i have a question.

i recall an interview with angus young wherein he said he preferred his 200 watt amp head because he really liked the "power" that he felt. [marshall head, i think].

[[[NOTE: this post is NOT designed to criticize angus young at all]]]].

query: what would one gain from such wattage, as opposed to a 50 or 100 watt amp? and i'm assuming for purposes of this question that all such amps would be judged on a clean setting.

let me add to the query, please. i'm a power tube distortion type of player. what would 200 watts of rated power do for me, or anyone else?

cheers,

sv-

Just my two cents... I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that a 200W amplifier requires a more robust transformer.

when playing on a large stage, as AC/DC do, the 200w will make the air move behind you and you can probably hear it from anywhere on stage. i remember reading a thing with angus young back in the 90's though, where he said his amps on stage were for show, and he kept a cranked JTM45 mic'ed up behind them for his actual stage tone. this may have changed since then.

query: what would one gain from such wattage

Tinnitis

irish_admiral wrote:

query: what would one gain from such wattage

Tinnitis

+1

I don't go to gigs any more unless I have ear plugs or cotton wool jammed in my ears!

If you like power tube distortion, you would find a 200-watt tube head to be very clean and probably somewhat disappointing. Pete Townsend would be the best example of the high-powered sound without running a bunch of pedals up front. While his sound was huge, loud, and very dynamic, there wasn't that much power tube distortion going on. You do gain a lot in terms of dynamics from that kind of power, but you generally need to rely on pedals or a good Master Volume to get decent distortion out of a 200-watter.

sidvicious wrote:andy, i have a question.

i recall an interview with angus young wherein he said he preferred his 200 watt amp head because he really liked the "power" that he felt. [marshall head, i think].

[[[NOTE: this post is NOT designed to criticize angus young at all]]]].

query: what would one gain from such wattage, as opposed to a 50 or 100 watt amp? and i'm assuming for purposes of this question that all such amps would be judged on a clean setting.

let me add to the query, please. i'm a power tube distortion type of player. what would 200 watts of rated power do for me, or anyone else?

cheers,

sv-

More tubes, bigger transformers, and more power makes for thicker, bigger sound overall. Even at the same volumes, 100W amps sound bigger than 50W amps...200W amps sound bigger and thicker than 100W amps.

200W is a lot of power, don't get me wrong. But the law of diminishing returns is in affect here. 100W is very loud too.

-Nick

Trower plays through two 100 watt Marshalls. Santana plays through two Mesa Mark I heads. These guys could play through smaller rigs if they wished, but they like this sound and haven't found anything they like better.

sidvicious wrote:atilla [andy] the hun

So... Do we actually know each other Sidney? I mean, was that just an inspired guess? I'm pretty sure I've never actually mentioned here that my real name is Atilla...

fiveightandten wrote:

sidvicious wrote:andy, i have a question.

i recall an interview with angus young wherein he said he preferred his 200 watt amp head because he really liked the "power" that he felt. [marshall head, i think].

[[[NOTE: this post is NOT designed to criticize angus young at all]]]].

query: what would one gain from such wattage, as opposed to a 50 or 100 watt amp? and i'm assuming for purposes of this question that all such amps would be judged on a clean setting.

let me add to the query, please. i'm a power tube distortion type of player. what would 200 watts of rated power do for me, or anyone else?

cheers,

sv-

More tubes, bigger transformers, and more power makes for thicker, bigger sound overall. Even at the same volumes, 100W amps sound bigger than 50W amps...200W amps sound bigger and thicker than 100W amps.

200W is a lot of power, don't get me wrong. But the law of diminishing returns is in affect here. 100W is very loud too.

-Nick

I'm with Nick and the guys here. Big iron (transformers) sounds bigger. Even at lower volumes...

I've never played a 200W Marshall Major or Hiwatt DR201 myself, but with my 100W DR103 I can really hear how big the clean sounds are compared to my other amps at similar low volumes. Can't really put it much better than my good friend John P did in this thread on gigging with 200 watters...
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showth ... p?t=338033" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=338033 John Phillips wrote:It's not about power, it's about tone.

Big amps just have a different sound - much bigger and deeper - than smaller ones, and you don't have to crank them to hear it.

I did have a Major a long time ago... a beautiful-sounding amp at any volume from bedroom upwards. I never turned it up all the way in public, or anywhere even close.

I do miss that amp... I sold it because it was too large, too heavy and far too expensive to retube, not because it was too loud.

The Hiwatt DR201 has an absolutely stunning tone at any volume, too - better even than the DR103.

If you've never heard the tone these amps have, please don't dismiss them as pointless dinosaurs or lecture people that 'you don't need that much power'.

...and this one about 'big iron'...

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?p=3119651 John Phillips wrote:If all other factors are equivalent (which they aren't always), then yes an amp with bigger transformers sounds bigger.

There are a lot of things you can do to make a small amp sound bigger, which are becoming more common as 'small' no longer always means 'cheap' or 'practice amp', but in the end the biggest sounds will always (IMO) come from the big amps.

That's exactly why I prefer to use a big amp turned down than a small amp turned up, as well.

But the speakers and cab are still more important than anything in the amp. Try playing a small amp through a 4x12" .

Think that is fair. I'm in the 'you don't NEED more than about 30W live for guitar' crew. But you don't always need to turn very powerful valve amps up to hear the difference they can make.

FWIW I love power section distortion too. It sounds and feels different from preamp distortion. (Though I often find a combination of the two is the best of both worlds.) Oh and not all power section distortion is actually the power valves themselves distorting! Think that all that lovely power section distortion from a cranked 'Plexi' Marshall really is the power valves distorting? Think again... John again on that:
[quote="http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showpo ... stcount=19" John phillips"]

jorual wrote: In the past, the old amplifiers had the distortion from Power Tubes and you should put the amp very loud to get distortion.

Nowadays this is not as common unless you have a NO MASTER VOLUME AMP like a Marshall Plexi.

...which is a perfect example of an amp which gets most of its distortion from the phase inverter and tone stack driver, despite having no MV.

Just because an amp has no MV does not mean that it has only power tube distortion, or even any power tube distortion at all - it just means the distortion is coming from somewhere after the volume control... which is typically after the very first gain stage.
[/quote]

BTW I seriously shudder to think what a real 200W valve guitar rig would do cranked fully.
Terrifying thought!


Andy.

sorry for my late reply to the replies guys. my isp has been glitchy.

i'm also in the 30 watt club, more or less. i've played 200 watters before but since everything is mic'd why bother with it. and, i didn't see a difference in tone with a simple increase in rated wattage.

the point about transformers is a good one. dongle-narf dale was a transformer nut and had specialized transformers modded for his twins, if i recall correctly.

one of my dogs got loose; gotta go.................

a.hun wrote:

sidvicious wrote:atilla [andy] the hun

So... Do we actually know each other Sidney? I mean, was that just an inspired guess? I'm pretty sure I've never actually mentioned here that my real name is Atilla...

i was just a wild guess, man, after i had a glass of bourbon....

sidvicious wrote:...dongle-narf dale was a transformer nut and had specialized transformers modded for his twins, if i recall correctly...

dongle-narf Dale is the pile of poop.

Randy Bass wrote:

sidvicious wrote:...dongle-narf dale was a transformer nut and had specialized transformers modded for his twins, if i recall correctly...

dongle-narf Dale is the pile of poop.

this family friendly software makes for some interesting interpretations!

buy a matamp GT200 and crank it!



This behemoth of an amp is a return to the sources for Matamp in 2009. Fine tuned for the bass, this amp has 200 watts of pure clean valve sound before hitting any distortion.

TESLA_EL34 wrote:This behemoth of an amp is a return to the sources for Matamp in 2009. Fine tuned for the bass, this amp has 200 watts of pure clean valve sound before hitting any distortion.

It is also a miracle amp which doesn't even need switched on for the power indicator to glow green. Very Eco Friendly!


Andy.