Amp Wattage

I am considering a Fender Amp, but I hear on the net various opinions. Do you really need a 100 watt amp or does a 40 watt give you more than enough for any venue? Understand we are talking about the AMP for a single guitar player and NOT the PA system used by a band. I am considring the Fender Mustang 40, but I also like the Fender Champion 100. Your thoughts? Thanks

I was wondering when the wattage subject woul come up . You will probably find a higher wattage will give you more clean headroom as the amp is not being pushed as hard , I have looked this subject up on the net and the answers vary, so it can be a bit confusing . The bigger the number of speakers you have , the more air you are going to move . I have an Egnater Rebel 30 running a Mesa 1x12 cab . The Egnater has variable wattage for each channel (1-30) and and you can change the output valves between 6v6's and el84's or a combination of both . At home I have it set at 1 watt on both channels and cranked up , it is bloody loud ! According to the Egnater manual , if you double the wattage , you gain about 3 decibels in volume , In saying that , decibels is a strange measurement and I am not sure of the formula , For example , if you have a jet engine revved up , putting out 100 db , and then add another 3 jet engines revved up , it doesn't mean your will have 400 db . The company Iused to work for did industrial sound control , the test rig was powered by a 3000 watt amplifier powering a multitude of speakers , putting out 135db of white noise ( ear splitting and painful ) . After going through 10 meters of special insulation and soundwave splitters , the end level on one test was 70 db . So sound is a funny thing . In the end , the choice is yours , it is what you like . You can get a smaller amp and push it hard ( put a mike in front ) or have a big amp idling away . Hope this helps.

It can make a big difference for wattage depending if you are using a valve amp or solid state. You will need a higher wattage solid state amp to reach the same volume levels of a lower wattage valve amp.

The general rule i go by is for live performances with a band you would need at least a 50W valve amp or 100W solid state amp if you didn't plan on having it mic'd up.

If you are planning on having the amp mic'd up then you can get away with using lower wattage amps.

Originally Posted by: johnv31552

I am considering a Fender Amp, but I hear on the net various opinions. Do you really need a 100 watt amp or does a 40 watt give you more than enough for any venue? Understand we are talking about the AMP for a single guitar player and NOT the PA system used by a band. I am considring the Fender Mustang 40, but I also like the Fender Champion 100. Your thoughts? Thanks

How much power you need in an amp mostly depends on application.

Like fuzzbox mentioned, if you are playing live gigs & need to be heard over a drummer & PA, then you probably need a 50W amp with at least 1 12 inch speaker if not 2 or 4 speakers. You can probably get it done with an amp in the 20-40 W range. 100W amps are total overkill for the vast majority of player regardless of the situation.

If you are in a big hall, you are usually mic'd through the PA anyway, so you can easily use a smaller amp anyway. I played in small clubs to medium sized halls (civic arenas) using a 50W JCM800 Marshall for decades. I often had to turn the cab away from the crowd, put a baffle in front of it, or even just turn it down to make the sound engineer happy.

It sounded great! But it was just too much in context with the other instruments and, or PA.

If you are playing an open mic in a coffee house, or at home in your living room, then you only need 10-15W in a little combo amp with one speaker. In fact most amps cranked at 10W are much, much louder than most people imagine. And smaller means easier to carry around, too!

Nowdays, I do mostly studio work & the occasional gig. The vast majority of time in the studio I use one of 2 small combo amps:

2-8W combo with 1 12 inch speaker.

10-20W combo with 1 12 inch speaker.

And both of those are just right for everything I do. :)

It's more important for you to be able to get the tones you want (FX, settings, basic tone) from the right amp than to worry about the wattage. Another factor that I think makes a big difference, but is often over looked is speaker size. You're going to get a better, fuller sound from a 10 or 12 inch speaker in a good sized combo than a smaller speaker. No matter how much wattage you have, a small speaker foten sounds to small & "boxey".

Hope this helps!