Do we have different perceptions of loud compared to Americans?

professorben

Gassage said:

It is very obvious.

Our mains electric is 240v.
Theirs is 110v.

So our therefore our amps sound 2.2 times louder when on the same settings.

Why others can't see this is beyond me.

So many will not see the deliberate hole in this argument lol. 

You sir, are a mixer!! 

Reverend

When I toured the States a couple of years ago I was using the other bands KMD 100w head running on full. It was not all that loud. 

Here I use 100w JMP 2203 and had it on 2 when playing the Forum. 

ecc83

Gassage said:

It is very obvious.

Our mains electric is 240v.
Theirs is 110v.

So our therefore our amps sound 2.2 times louder when on the same settings.

Why others can't see this is beyond me.

You are technically incorrect there sir. Power goes as to the SQUARE of the voltage so we are 4.76 times louder!

Dave.

Cirrus

Have you ever read one of those "things about Britain foreign people think are weird" articles?

Usually once it gets past the point about separate hot and cold taps and saying sorry to people who have bumped into us, I don't recognise many of the things foreign people say we do.

And therein is a lesson.

Wise Shitashi says:

It's easy to make a judgement about an entire nation based on your very small sample size, and a very limited subset of experiences.

It's very easy to be wrong about it.

Maynehead

I dimed a 50W Plexi clone (Blockhead) once through a 2x12.

I almost died.

digitalscream

Maynehead said:

I dimed a 50W Plexi clone (Blockhead) once through a 2x12.

I almost died.

I once ran a VH100R at 2.5 on the master volume, into a 4x12" with V30s in it.

I think they heard me in Scotland.

Modulus_Amps

Ha ha I used to play in a church like that, their hands are up in submission as the guitar was probably too loud. My sister went to a church in the states and said the worship band sounded like Creed...... not sure if that actually hits the edifying mark.

Seriously though I did some recording with a 50w amp of mine, cab was in a separate room, Nick playing the guitar started playing eruption, with the amp proper dimed, at the end on the drone note the jack popped out the back of the speaker cab due to the amount of vibration, it happened again later on too. I don't think there are many places you could get away with doing that on this planet.... and if you do put some duct tape on your speaker cables to hold them in

Gassage

ecc83 said:

Gassage said:

It is very obvious.

Our mains electric is 240v.
Theirs is 110v.

So our therefore our amps sound 2.2 times louder when on the same settings.

Why others can't see this is beyond me.

You are technically incorrect there sir. Power goes as to the SQUARE of the voltage so we are 4.76 times louder!

Dave.

Darn it.

I am SOOOOO tempted to start a thread on TGP about this.

impmann

You *can* play a gig in the UK with a 50 or even a 100w Marshall dimed - especially if you need to do so to get "your sound".

However, you won't get invited back and unless you are playing Wembley Stadium, I can safely say YOU ARE TOO LOUD (sorry for shouting but they must be chuffing deaf).

shaunm

Cirrus said:

Have you ever read one of those "things about Britain foreign people think are weird" articles?

Usually once it gets past the point about separate hot and cold taps and saying sorry to people who have bumped into us, I don't recognise many of the things foreign people say we do.

And therein is a lesson.

Wise Shitashi says:

It's easy to make a judgement about an entire nation based on your very small sample size, and a very limited subset of experiences.

It's very easy to be wrong about it.

Totally correct. 

I wasnt intentionally starting this thread as "slate the Americans" far from it. It was due to the fact I went to band practice last night, put my amp on 3 and though "shit, that's loud". I got home and googled JCM 800 2204 volume and found quite a few references to "it's only 50 watts just turn it up, it's not that loud". 

On this site I cant remember many folk saying the same thing. We often discuss how to attenuate because the volume is too much.

Cirrus

I think maybe it comes down to forum culture.

There's a few forums that seem to be mostly populated by a certain kind of macho guy who will say stuff like that.

On the other hand, my overwhelming impression from TGP is that literally everyone plays in church P&W bands and either play in dedicated venues with amp closets off-stage or play stereo AC30s through Strymon pedals with the master volumes set to 0.5 while a soundman berates them for not giving him enough control to do god's work.

sgosden

Gassage said:

ecc83 said:

Gassage said:

It is very obvious.

Our mains electric is 240v.
Theirs is 110v.

So our therefore our amps sound 2.2 times louder when on the same settings.

Why others can't see this is beyond me.

You are technically incorrect there sir. Power goes as to the SQUARE of the voltage so we are 4.76 times louder!

Dave.

Darn it.

I am SOOOOO tempted to start a thread on TGP about this.

I'd quite happily add some very wrong maths on the thread to prove your point.

in a similar play to the arguments on the facebook posts "only genius' will be able to work this out" basic algebra things.

ThePrettyDamned

Churches in the states are newer builds and designed for modern music, so they often have acoustic insulation. 

They're probably fantastic venues to play as they're designed to make you sound good, rather than to make the huge pipe organ sound even bigger and more oppressive (or is that better? Idk) 

Although I don't think all Americans do dime them. It was in the states that the 5 watt craze began, and the great boutique overdrive boom (it makes my amp sound like it's on ten, does this timmy!). So if people reckon they max out the volume on a superlead, they're either lying or they have an attenuator. Probably. 

thecolourbox

I am at risk of sounding very culturally stereotyping here, as much as I have liked pretty much every American I have met, they do have rather a culture of needing to show that they are bigger/louder/more impressive than xyz in everything - I personally think that it's more game talk on an anonymous forum to make themselves sound badass when really they are probably playing through a Pod2 stunning along to "From heaven you came helpless babe" or something by Graham Kendrick *






*aware that the implication of my knowledge of songs and writers like that gives away some of my musical past that I wish not to talk about, it was before I sold my soul to the devil in return for mastery of the rhythm guitar part of some obscure Strokes B-side track

Moltisanti

plus it's the internet so the commenter has probably never actually seen a JCM800 let alone played through one up loud.
I have a 50w JCM800 and it's brutally loud, on the high input on 3 it is cutting through a loud band with a hard hitting drummer

PolarityMan

digitalscream said:

Maynehead said:

I dimed a 50W Plexi clone (Blockhead) once through a 2x12.

I almost died.

I once ran a VH100R at 2.5 on the master volume, into a 4x12" with V30s in it.

I think they heard me in Scotland.

Sad thing was it was still quieter than our dummer.

normula1

I used to have a house with 9" thick walls and at the time I had modded my 50 watt JMP Marshall as per a JCM800 and I did on several occasions run it at full volume. I wasn't in the same room mind
Now that I'm older, wiser, deafer, it's back to stock albeit with a post phase invertor master and for those rare occasions it runs into a cab an attenuator as well.

Teetonetal

Just for a laugh I turned by Pleximan up to 50w mode and Started to increase the Volume - it's just way too much. Just drowned out everything else in the room. Sounded great though but far too loud.

shaunm

@Moltisanti have you ever played your amp up full? I've got mine to 3 and thought that was starting to dwarf the volume of the rest of the band

rawk100

I thought Americans all played banjo's?