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"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I think it’s a manageable volume in a two guitar band. Much less and I’d have the same problems as I have with an 18 watt where it doesn’t cut through at all.
They are nowhere near the volume of a 50 or 100w plexi.
I am hoping this this has the volume to keep me where I want in the mix and the headroom so that it can take fuzz pedals and not get lost totally.
I was gigging a Supersonic 60 Combo and that was way way too loud. It was ferocious. In a bar with 300/400 people in I still never got it past 3 on the volume.
The 18W-type circuit compresses heavily because it's a cathode-biased Class AB, like almost all cathode-biased push-pull amps - they are *not* the same thing as Class A despite popular/manufacturer myth. In fact, the characteristic sound of a typical cathode-biased amp (AC30, Fender 5E3 Deluxe, 18W etc) is exactly *because* it's Class AB and *not* Class A.
But - and this is the surprise! - the 20W Laney Lionheart is actually very unusual and runs the four EL84s in parallel-single-ended, unlike any other 4-EL84 amp I know of. Although this is not technically quite the same thing as Class A, it does have one important matching characteristic - constant current draw, and hence no compression. This gives it a much more dynamic sound, which makes it louder in a mix.
The Supersonic is a fixed-bias amp (with a solid-state rectifier, so no compression from that either) and hence is extremely dynamic as well as far more powerful. It might not actually have got a *lot* louder beyond 3 on the volume control (I can't remember - it might just go into overdrive), but the bigger transformers also help to avoid compression and retain bass and treble better, which also increases the perceived volume.
The JTM45 is going to be somewhere in the middle of all this lot... it's a fixed-bias amp, but valve rectified so it has an in-between amount of compression, and at 30W it's probably going to be about the same volume or slightly louder than the 20W Laney. It also has quite a 'dirty clean' sound so it's warmer and less cutting than the Fender.
Try it and see, anyway . You don't need to know all this stuff, but it might help understand why there is sometimes apparently not very much correlation between power and volume - and that's even ignoring speaker efficiency, which is at least as important as amplifier power.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
It does make sense.
In a two guitar band 18 watts just wasn’t enough and when it came to fuzz, forget it. Too much compression. In a studio though, brilliant.
The Supersonic, it does get louder up to 5/6 at that point it starts to compress. Now I’ve never done a gig where that amount of volume would be acceptable.
The Lionheart I have said for years is a near perfect amp for me. Plenty loud enough to gig with, the tone is great, takes pedals extreamly well, I like the reverb and it’s 4x10. Actually that last bit is also a negative as it’s a bitch to move. Not because it’s heavy, it’s just awkward.
The JTM is going to be used with a 2x12 with G30H 70th Aniversay speakers. I don’t know much about these, it’s what we’re in it when I bought the cab. It might sound good or it might be that I put a couple of Greenback/Creambacks in? Any experience of these speaker @ICBM ?
The Creamback 65 and 75 are tighter and slightly darker than the Greenback and H30, and I probably wouldn’t want that with a JTM-45.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Just to answer questions on volume. I just turned it up full in the house. My Mrs went funking mental.
Turns out its a gigging amp