So one of the questions that seems to be asked alot is `is it loud enough to gig?`
Here is a brief bit of our gig from Sat night - medium sized pub fairly full of people. Amp miked but 95% of the sound coming from the backline. PA just used of a bit of spread. As a band we were quite loud, although not the most heavy handed drummer I`ve played with, far from being the quietest. Bass player running a 4x10 and a 1x15.
Signal chain was guitar, TU2, Xotic AC+, DD3 into Jet City 20HV (20w from 2xel84s). Cab is open backed Zilla with a v30 and a heritage. Amp set fairly cleanly - preamp on 5 and volume around 2. Drive mainly coming from the AC with the boost on the AC kicked in for the lead bits.
Hope this is helpful to someone and please feel free to share you own vids in the thread below in the `is it loud enough` proof section!
Cheers
Comments
I don't need it that loud for gigs, though, since it's mainly for on-stage monitoring (there's either a mic in front or the Helix is going DI).
That said, my Jet City JCA22H was a lot louder and had quite a bit more headroom by comparison.
Sorry, don't have any videos I'm not ashamed of, you'll just have to take my word for it!
I've done hundreds, literally hundreds of gig's with a Blackstar HT5 into a 1 x 12" cab. Never had a problem really. In this vid I'm using it ol skool, no IEM's or wedge, just relying on hearing it behind me. Excuse the lo fi sound
And one of the most common answers is "it depends".
If you want a true clean sound (think, Nile Rodgers) then you'll need something with more power than if you're happy with some breakup in your tone.
Also, you'll need less power if you have a "middy" tone.
R.
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The Tubemeister isn't ideal - it does fuzz a little at the bottom - but it's still easily good enough.
But, I'd agree that for funky cleans (or pop jangle etc) you can run out of steam with a low power head - depending on how much of a meathead you have on the drums. I'd also suggest that it depends on your pickups too - a pair of humbuckers isn't going to remain clean through a low powered head for long! However, a low output Strat will work well through say an AC30 for relatively clean stuff at volumes that make your eyeballs curl.
There's just so many ways of doing things these days, some use small amps mic'ed and IEM's ... some use no power section at all just modeller into PA and IEM's .... some are still ol skool big amps and no mic'ing .... because quite rightly a big amp has a nice under-stressed feel at low volumes
There is no answer really, you do what works for you and very often what's the least hassle.
If I may depart any wisdom though it would always be don't fight volume with volume .... got a loud drummer ? then reduce the volume of drums you hear via plugs or IEM's ... don't fight his volume by having louder backline ... tempting as that is sometimes.
Almost all of the bands I work with have sound engineers so all I'm ever worried about is what I hear, the FOH is their problem. In this situation almost any tiny amp is workable
Those lil' triodes are holding their own there Danny aren't they? And considering all the evil crap that has been written about the Five in the last decade they sound pretty good to me!
Dave.
In a backline-only pub, it needs to provide all the sound the audience hear.
In a small club, it needs to provide the sound you hear (the audience hear the PA).
From large clubs up to stadiums, it only has to be loud enough for the mic to be picking up mostly it and not have any significant bleed, because the audience are hearing the PA and you're using the stage monitors.
However, I hated the control knobs. It was almost impossible to see what my settings were. I don't think I'd be able to take something with those to a gig and feel comfortable.
Agree about the knobs! If I had one I would drill out the dull black paint and replace with Brilliant White!
I thought the mini-stack was two tens?
Dave.
@ecc83 did you see my comment the other day about repairing an HT club 40 and asking why the clean volume is a dual gang pot and why the PCB is drilled and marked for dual gang tone controls .... was this going to be a stereo amp at one point ?
I'm using a JCA50H now so it doesn't matter. Very heartening to see some Jet City love on here though.
Well I'm using 90 watts and getting on ok. I could be using 180 watts though that'd be more hassle, I'd have to balance the volumes individually and well, 90 is enough.