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!