- The relationship between 'loudness' and power is [u]not[/u] linear. To sound twice as loud, you need to drive the speakers with [u]ten times[/u] as much power! That means you will need about 150 Watts driving similar speakers to sound twice as loud as your 15 Watt amp. :eek:
- That lovely touch-sensitive distortion we all know and love, only happens when the output power section of a tube amplifier is pushed hard enough to saturate. That usually means a 15 Watt amp is very loud. A 100 Watt amp becomes a threat to your ears!
- If you use a small amp, you can get the kind of tone you want, at reasonable sound levels, and then use a microphone or a DI (direct input) to feed your signal to the house PA system. You get the same tone everywhere you play because you always use the same settings.
- Your sound can be mixed with the other musicians' in a predictable way at the mixer panel, instead of hit-and-miss attempts to balance several separate large amps.
You can experiment with different kinds of microphones, and different placements, but I've gotten very good results just by hanging an old SM57 over the speaker cabinet by its own cord so that it is near the edge of the speaker. :D