Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: willo on January 17, 2006, 11:16:48 PM
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Here's a cool website I found debunking some of the common myths regarding amplification. I'm sure quite a few of you here already know all this, but I'm sure plenty of people may find some of it surprising.
http://www.guitarnuts.com/amps/myths.php
:D
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hey thanks for that man! i'll be having a read
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Good site, Willo.
ALL guitarists should know about the wattage thing. So many people write off "low" wattage amps for gigging based on a misconception that watts are a linear indication of loudness.
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ALL guitarists should know about the wattage thing. So many people write off "low" wattage amps for gigging based on a misconception that watts are a linear indication of loudness.
Indeed, I learnt that off my electrician brother-in-law. He explained to me that doubling the wattage DID NOT mean doubling the volume. It's hard to get your head around - you'd think the increase was directly proportional - but, well, it's not. Still don't exactly understand why, although I'm sure HJM explained it a while back, something about 100W being 3db louder than a 50W, and a db is an audible (to the human ear) difference in volume. I think :?
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something about 100W being 3db louder than a 50W...
No - 3dB more is a doubling of volume.
The problem is that - as far as volume is concerned - watts aren't linear, decibels aren't linear, bloomin' nothing's linear! It's no wonder people get confused.
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something about 100W being 3db louder than a 50W...
No - 3dB more is a doubling of volume.
The problem is that - as far as volume is concerned - watts aren't linear, decibels aren't linear, bloomin' nothing's linear! It's no wonder people get confused.
ha...i thought I had it sussed! Meh...I'm only a guitarist, I just stomp on boxes and hit strings. All this electronic stuff baffles me :P
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It has been a long time since I read it, but I think that the brain measures or translates the changes in acoustics in a Logaritmic way. I think.
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10db is a doubling of percieved volume, 3db doubling of wattage.
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10db is a doubling of percieved volume, 3db doubling of wattage.
Oh, bum. So I still don't understand it. :D
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That's pretty awesome, and it's deffinitely worth getting the word out there. I already knew a lot of that thankfully, but it's suprising how people get set in their ways. The stuff about "all tube" circuits was something I wasn't aware of though.
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Many so called 'all tube' amps have a solid state rectifier. Oh well, as long as it sounds good.
If there's anyone who thinks his small combo isn't good enough, hook it up to a speaker cabinet before you buy a new amp.
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Hell yeah, I've been tempted to take my C7 combo down to Coda and see if they'll let me run it through an Orange 4X12 to see how it sounds.
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haha, this site looks like Another Job for the Mythbusters Team!! Mythbusters is awesome!
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That was a great site Willo. It made me smile a bit remembering a guy I used to play in a band with years ago who had a rich father and whatever gear he decided he wanted and when he went to buy a 100w amp cost it would be "twice as loud" as the other guitarists 50w amp.
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I always thought that a 10W amp was half as loud as a 100W amp due to the non linear thing.
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Many so called 'all tube' amps have a solid state rectifier. Oh well, as long as it sounds good.
yeah, most modern, high gain all-tube amps have ss rectification. things like vox ac30's have tube rectos...
And, yeah, feline, i think doubling the volume means (approximately) multiplying the wattage by 10.
EDIT: my savage se has a half power switch (switches from pentode to triode operation), and it's definitely not "twice" as loud in full power mode- it's "perceptibly" louder...
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My god, what a fool ive been.
I was once a "hormonal weenie" when it comes to amps, but now i have been enlightened. I didnt think 65w was loud enough for gigging....but now im just so happy.
Hoorah!!!
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anyway you can always mic an amp
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me exactly same as tmhh (too much hiphop) lol.
what amp do you have tmhh?? i cant think of many amps with 65watts apart from my crate gt65..
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I always thought that a 10W amp was half as loud as a 100W amp due to the non linear thing.
I think thatīs correct too...
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yer a 10 watt amp is half as loud as a 100watt.
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I always thought that a 10W amp was half as loud as a 100W amp due to the non linear thing.
Yep - 10dB rule...10-100w is 10dB, 50 to 100 is closer to 3dB
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I run my 40w amp through a hot plate set to -8dB for normal gigging levels. Does this mean that an equivalent 10w amp with no attenuation would be louder (all other things being equal)?
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Jeez Ive been calculating the loss of a wifi signal through 2 stud walls, 2 windows and a 75 meter airgap.
Please allow me to escape such calculations
rob...
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3 db is double real normal hearing type percieved volume.
3.05db really, but hey, who really cares that much?