Gigging amp at home

midlifecrisis

i use my katana 100 for gigging and home and rehearsal, i have  other amps but hardly use them at the moment

cruxiform

I don't gig either but I use a Blackstar HT40 Club in my flat and had no complaints from neighbours. In fact my Marshall DSL5 hardly gets any use!

erky32

Tend to use my Mustang 2 or 3 at house volumes, they have all the sounds in a small box to work stuff out on. Battery powered Vox mini5 for doodling on the patio, often using  my Xvive radios for simplicity!

professorben

Yep, my 4x12 Mesa Rack actually goes quieter than my Cube 30, just takes up a lot more space. 

Modulus_Amps

yes all the time, and others, but don't ever think your home settings will translate well to gig settings.......

Jetfire

My problem is that being mid terraced and my sons room is right above my very small music room and id agree that the a 12 inch speaker needs to be a certain volume to get the cone moving to make a decent sound. Tbh i used guitar rig in the house so im happy but just wondered if anyone did.  

underdog

TimmyO said:

I used my JCM800 at home (with attenuator). I honestly believe the best amp investment is a good attenuator - it opens up so many more options for amps where overall volume level is less of an issue 

My practice amp is an AFD 100 watt, it has built in power scaling which works very well, it's the best sound I've ever got at low volume so much so I've sold all but one of my 5w amps 

Like you said I think main amp plus an attenuator is better than buying a small amp for home use.

Jetfire

My h and k has built in attenuation so thats all good. But its still too loud ...well.. too loud for the wife anyway lol

StuartMac290

The only amps I keep at home are a pair of those wee Vox Mini 5 Rhythm things that my partner and I use for writing and practice. They're great fun, and I don't honestly see the need for anything more than that in the house. 

The only one of my amps I feasibly COULD use without my neighbours hearing it is my 3rd Power head and cab, which is my main gigging amp, due to the Hybrid Master thingy it has, but I really don't fancy having a head and cab kicking around the house much. 

Danny1969

I use a Champion 110 for giging and it's the amp I use in the house if I can be bothered to plug an amp in. When I was in my teens I preferred to use my Marshal Jubilee 100 watt head and 4 x 12" in the house but I couldn't be arsed now

newi123

Yep - only one amp here! But in saying that I usually noodle unplugged at home. V Rarely plug in!

clarkefan

I only play at home and I can't stand "small" amps.  They might be perfectly fine volume wise for gigs and easy to move around, but they always sound small to me at home-type volume.  

Maybe it's because I've had big amps for donkey's years, they just sound better to me even when I limit the volume.

MtB

Yep, my Sound City 50+. And when I get it back from Dave - @DJH83004 has just serviced it - the neighbours are going to get it full blast - teach 'em to have noise kids during the day!
(Oh and Dave informs me that it's now kicking out a healthy 60 watts before clipping - I need to know what that additional 10 watts sounds like)

DJH83004

Mike (MtB), I can't take any credit for it kicking out more power, its the same as it ever was, just that we have a measure on now
The SC 50+ is a very underrated amp, a very compact 'small box' head, good quality components e.g. Partridge transformers and a very neutral character making it ideal for pedals. The active tone controls do make it a little on the noisy side, but with gives it a awful lot of flexibility on the eq side, if you have the patience to dial it in. 

MtB

And the thing I appreciate most about the amp is the sensitivity switch, gives a reduced output - certainly low enough to play at home levels, and importantly reducing the preamp noise floor.

(http://soundcitysite.com/amp_descriptions.htm#sensitivity)

Sensitivity Switch
In brief, and relatively speaking,
the sensitivity switch, located on the rear panel of the Sound City 50 Plus
Mark 4 and 120 Mark 4 amplifiers, makes the amp louder in position 1 and
quieter in position 2.
    
The sensitivity switch affects the preamp by changing the cathode
biasing point of the V3 ECC83 by means of switching a resistor in or out in
series with the main biasing resistor of that stage.
    
"Cathode bias" raises the cathode voltage above ground by
means of a resistor. The voltage drop on the resistor causes the voltage on one
side of that resistor to be at a different potential than the the voltage on
the other side of the resistor. The cathode is at a positive voltage above
ground, and the grid is at ground level. Think of the cathode being at ground
potential, with the grid being negative.
    
The sensitivity switch works by making this negative voltage less
negative, with relation to the cathode, by means of taking one of the cathode
resistors out of the circuit. Then if the bias voltage is smaller, the voltage
from the previous part of the circuit seems greater and provides more
amplification in the valve. On some SC schematics, this switch is labeled
"GAIN."

Roland

Given that I put my guitar through the pa I'm quite happy to use my Matrix Q12 at home, and at about the same volume as I would use live. It's one of the advantages of digital gear.

ESBlonde

I use my home amp at rehearsals and have done a couple of gigs with it too, Marshall AVT20.

The Fender HRD combo has been used at home but not for some months. I also have a small box 50w marshall non MV which I treat to some home use at low volume, sounds fantastic.

crunchman

I mainly use my Kemper at home.  I have played it out a few times through the PA so don't know if that counts.

slacker

I've got some small amps and an attenuator but I tend to use the larger amps. It's takes a while to dial the eq in right for home volume but I got used to it. 

I tend to run my amps clean anyway so super clean isnt a problem. 

John_P

thr10 at home.     I usually gig with a jubilee or super bass - sometimes both so I'd need to leave in somewhere a little bigger.   Plus I don't need to set anything up - gig amps are ready to go out the door and thr is plugged next to the sofa.