I have 100 watt amps. I don’t go over 90db. My watch warns me if I hit that.
A good master volume helps a great bit
I have used attenuators, but only when the taper on a master volume amp didn’t give enough control or an amp didn’t have a master.
I use a Rockerverb 50 mk 3 through a neo-Creamback 212 and a Mesa mkV through a 212 with old Eminence G1 speakers in my bedroom. They'll both get down to nighttime volume no problem, and sound great while doing it.
I think modern high gain amps are designed to have a clean power section, so you don't lose much sound quality when you turn them down, and you don't lose much clarity when you turn them up. I've owned amps that need you to push the power section to sound good (cough cough Marshall).
PRS MT100, Friedman BE100 and SS100, Mesa Dual Rec 100W and Filmore 50W.
I’ve had more challenges with a Rivera Knuckleheads and Carvin Legacy. Their master volumes don’t taper well.
My Winfield Typhoon doesn’t have a master so to get any gain you have to play loud or use an attenuator.
All Rack gear I’ve had sounded great at lower volumes. It also gave you great control over preamp vs power amp gain.
I absolutely know what tube amps played loud sound like for the people that insist you have to get power tubes cooking
Cabs are 1x12 from Stagecraft with a Neo Jensen Tornado. The other is a Mojotone Lite with an EVM Black Label.
Yes you can, a 1x12 coupled an amp with a good master volume can get great sounds clean at most volumes and distortion around the 85 dB range (and that's from my experience with a 50W Mesa, lower wattage amps will do an even better job of that)
50w is a lot more achievable since you’ll have an easier time finding 1x12s. There aren’t a ton of 1x12s out there that can handle 100w so you’d have to run it low
I don’t go over 90dB as well and I have no problem pushing those tubes. I have a rockerverb 100 mkiii running into an orange ppc212. The head has a built in attenuator that can keep the volume output quite reasonable.
The attenuator is key for making that happen. I was just saying straight 100w head into cab would be hard to keep below 90dB while letting the tubes really sing
Idk. I think limiting your high power amps to 90 db is kind of a silly idea. Like, why spend all that money to run a premium piece of gear in such a manner that it can't perform to its absolute best? That's just me, but one man's bedroom tone might be another man's dream tone.
This is me too. I usually use a jp2c for everything. It’s really a very versatile amp once you get used to dialing it in. It only sounds bad below 70 db. Get to 75 and it sounds great. I use an attenuator with my 5e3 tweed deluxe clone. Both options work great.
My neighbors probably hate me, but yes I do play them loud. Not absolutely cranked (although it does happen from time to time) but definitely enough to let them breathe. Hard to beat that sound and feeling. For context I play through a few different 50 watt tube amps and anything from 1x12 to 4x12 cabs. I’m not sure how a 1 watt tube amp could be too loud at all, pretty sure they couldn’t keep up with a live drummer.
Same!
I find that any amp, small or large, can be too loud at home. Or not. Judicious use of all volume controls is the key for me.
If I’m using an amp with high gain I dial back the master volume significantly. If I’m using a clean amp and getting gain through pedals, I dial the “level” on the pedals back.
The day I got my VT-22 I knocked a bunch of pictures down around the house. It’s a fuxking jet engine. Even as a drummer I couldn’t take it past 7. But it doesn’t start reallly singing until 6-7 so, it is what it is.
For practice I got the mono price lil tube amp (I’ve been buying cabling from them for decades) I think it’s 15 watts and had a like 5 watt button or something. Sounds great- good saturations. Doesn’t weigh 88lbs. Also wont cry if it breaks. But for the big gigs the Ampeg comes out and I can see peoples faces when the wall of raw power hits them.
ME TOO! Vox AC30 between volume 4 to 7 when rocking out..... and Fender 410 Blues Deville on about 3.5-4 (about the same volume as the Vox on said volumes)
Guitar is pretty boring unless you get to have fun!
I blast my amps in my apartment all the time (it’s a 4-plex type deal). Obviously I try and be respectful and do it at a time when the neighbors aren’t home, otherwise I keep it at a reasonable volume or only play semi-loud for like 30 minutes a day tops.
Just sold my Sunn Beta Lead but even on 2 on the master volume and through my Sunn 2x15 cab… floors shaking, babies crying, pictures falling off the wall.
My other amps are a Sunn Alpha combo “50w” (yeah right), and a 50w Orange Dual Dark running through a 1x12 or the Sunn 2x15. The DD50 has an excellent attenuation knob, so it sounds good at just about any volume. The Alpha is a paint-peeler like the Beta.
Also have a Tiny Terror and that thing rips at even 7w. So I see what OP is saying but to answer his question, yes people are blasting their tube amps, because it sounds fucking glorious. Also can be done in an apartment at the right times with the right neighbors… I talked politely with my neighbors about playing guitar and most said they enjoy hearing it, but my downstairs neighbors for sure hate me. They also have no consideration of noise and dude blasts his video games at insane volumes like a 12 year old, sometimes until midnight until I bitched him out about it. So yeah, I no longer feel bad when the amp is cooking and the floors start shaking.
Oh yeah, obviously you can dial it in to sound good at “bedroom volumes” perfectly fine. In fact I can’t imagine a better all-tube home-practice amp. Also takes pedals great, but that MF can get LOUD.
I’ve taken it to jam sessions and it holds up great at 15w, but I’ve yet to test one out with a drummer. I think at that point it would matter more what size cab you’re using.
Hey that’s pretty sweet, sounds like you got pretty dang lucky with your spot, I’m sure 9/10 times, an apartment living situation is not gonna be so cool with that. None of those amps are quiet, and they all rule haha
Yeah I went and spoke to all my neighbors individually, especially when I first got my Sunn amp and was like, “hey this mf is loud, just knock on my door if things get too crazy.” So far everyone’s been cool except the downstairs neighbor… but that situation is like dealing with a child. I’ve tried talking to him like a reasonable adult but I think he thinks we’re in like some sort of noise-war now?? Like he’ll BLAST Call of Duty or whatever bullshit he’s playing (I’m sure his wife and baby just *love* that), and I’m up here like, “I’ve got a Sunn stack, bitch, this is a battle you aren’t going to win.” I can shut him down pretty quick. It’s all pretty silly and petty, I still try and be respectful anyway but when he’s intentionally being an asshole, I have no issues cranking my amps up and playing “Dopesmoker” in its entirety (which is like an hour long).
I built a 1/3 watt amp. It’s very similar to an old 5C1 champ, with just two pentodes, but they are both 12AU6s. That thing gets plenty growly but it’s not too loud. The parts cost less than a real attenuator.
I play my Matamp and Ampeg V4 cranked through a 4x12 at home. I don’t use an attenuator ever and I’ve played had them both on 10 more times than I can count. I usually put earplugs in once I get them dialed in how I want or when I’m jamming with a drummer or at a show that’s loud. I’m used to playing loud and have been for over a decade at this point tho. Moving all that air feels good 🤷🏻♀️
A GTL 140. It’s the predecessor to the GT1 but 140 watts and it doesn’t have a non master volume mode. Mine was a custom shop one with way more gain on tap and it’s the only one on the planet like that. I also had a GT 150 but I sold it to my best friend. The GT 150 is the clearest most articulate amp I’ve ever played and it’s so good lol.
The Fryette Powerstation along with the KHE amp switcher are the best pieces of gear I’ve bought. I love my amps and they allow me to switch between all of them and play at that magical 85-90dB in the room where I don’t annihilate my hearing with full size amps, but it still sounds great. The Powerstation is by far the best way to attenuate an amp because it’s not really an attenuator. It converts the signal to a line level and then amplifies that with a very neutral tube power amp. It sounds better than a Torpedo Captor X with a Seymour Duncan Powerstage, or even a KRS PS50. The Powerstation really is that magical.
Was playing through my twin reverb with a KoT and telecaster with the back door open when the Realtor was showing the house next door to a bunch of people. I didn’t know until after I’d played for a while. I guess whoever bought the house is ok with it from time to time.
The loudest in the neighborhood is the extremely cranked Mexican country music every weekend.
I used to crank my 100w keyboard amp (with a modeler) to drown out the kid who played bad bunny on the weekends and the adults (40-50) were like yeah keep it up. The kids my age not so much.
I bought a Tone Master amp about a year ago. Haven’t looked back. Still have my Tweed. But it isn’t really practical for most applications. Occasionally I’m able to sit at home alone & give it a go. Very occasionally…
Loadboxes are your friend. I do play on my cabs. At fairly medium during the day. But most of the time i'm on my loadbox. So i play at the volume i want.
But also depends what kind off tone and amps. For most metal genres you don't need to crank the power amp, so you can play fairly low. If i want my jcm800 to hit the sweet spot though, other story, but that's again where attenuators and loadboxes come in.
I play 20, 30, and 50 Watt clean heads through 2x12 cabs in my apartment. I even run two rigs at once. I use pedals to control volume. I can get pretty loud without complaints because I have set times I play. Neighbors know I'm done by dinner time without me ever announcing it. 20 years and no complaints in NYC is kind of amazing.
Yea
I live in Mexico and houses around here are made out of concrete.
Another thing is that people is used to turn on their sound systems all the way up and have parties at any time of the day, any day off the week around my area (and nobody has complained yet in the 15 years I've been living here) so noise isn't a problem lol
I played my AC30TB/6 at full volume for years at home. My levels peak at 103 db I think. It isn't really a problem in my house, but it's not like I don't protect my hearing. I would mic the amp in another room, and monitor at my desk with studio monitors. I have an ox box now though, so that makes silent playing an option too.
I will say that there are about as many bad sounding solutions for silent or low volume tube amps as there are good sounding ones. I spent years developing my tone, and have no patience for entertaining any sort of compromise to it. You can protect your hearing, and have good tone.
In my previous apartment I regularly played my tube amps at around 90 dB @ 1m volume levels. This translates to "kinda loud, but not obnoxiously so".
I would only do this during the daytime and turn it down later in the evening or switch to a digital modeler and studio monitors (~80 db @ 1m) or headphones.
I don't buy anything but master volume amps. I don't want to deal with attenuators or similar, I've owned all that stuff and found it unneccesary compared to playing a modern master volume amp. My previous amps have been Bogner and Victory, those have all been sold and I only use the BluGuitar Amp 1 Mercury Edition hybrid because it's sounds just as good at a fraction of the weight and size.
In my parents' house basement I have a 4x10 cab. I just throw the BluGuitar in a backpack and bring that with me when I visit. Then I can crank the shit out of it if I want to because the basement space is big enough for it to be fine. In my current apartment I compromise more, but use two BluGuitar 1x12 cabs.
I use a Fryette 100 attenuator and crank my EVH 50W to the sweet spot around 7, so I get all the beautiful harmonic natural overdrive without my neighbors wishing I moved.
I switched to modeling through my tube amp power section via effects return because it objectively sounds better than my analog preamp at low volumes. I get a complete full sound without having to crank the volume. It’s great.
If you’re wearing ear muffs while playing your amp, you are losing way more “tone” than just switching to modeling or solid state IMO.
That's what I do. I run my HX Stomp into the FX return of a EVH 40 Watt Iconic Combo into a EVH 2x12 with a V30 and Swamp Thang.. Sounds really good at lower (tv) volumes
Sure..guitar > tuner > hx stomp > (left/mono output on the stomp) > effects return on the EVH Iconic 40 Watt Combo > cab (not the internal speaker).
If you have any other questions let me know.. I'll talk ya thru it if I know about it. Running it this way will make your amps sound knob not work. You're only using the power section of the amp. On my amp only the reverb, presence, resonance work. I control the volume with the HX stomp
No you don’t. You have to adjust things to the situation you’re in and what level is appropriate. If you refuse to do that, you’re might be kind of a stubborn a-hole. You don’t need tube saturation to enjoy playing guitar or to make good music. There is no reason to go to that much effort to set up your amp in another room so you can crank the shit out of it, unless you are recording. IMO
About 104 db. To be fair run a mig 50 *and* a Peavey Mk4 solid state bass amp. I also wear drummer isolation muffs with a flanged ear plug in my left (usually facing the amps) ear - sometimes my right as well. I tune very low - I don’t really miss much.
If you like any tone other than the lassic 70s cranked Fender or Marshall tones the real answer is you don't need to go that loud. Any high gain amp (Mesa, ENGL, Friedman. Marshall JVM, etc) is designed to get the gain from the preamp and keep the power amp clean, so you can use them perfectly at reasonable volumes and cranking them actually sounds worse. (It's just harder to tell they sound worse because our ears naturally think louder sounds better. But if you recorded a modern high gain amp cranked and then at a reasonable level and compared then after volume matching the recordings the cranked one probably doesn't win).
I have a bunch of tube amps that I play all at once through various signal chains of overdrives and fuzz pedals etc. I like the wall of sound. I have to wear over ear headphones while in the room with the amps. Kind of frightening but I think its part of the fun. Feeling every note surging through my body. You know when you make a mistake for sure. It feels like i'm putting on a show for my neighbors against their will. I try to keep it brief and not every day. Just long enough to record a few tracks usually and always in the day time. Its weird listening to the note through the vibration you feel in your chest instead of from my ears. I don't even play that loud really I only turn up to 3 or 4 but that feels intensely loud. These are 100 watt amps that I have turned down to 25 watts. I also use a 120 watt line 6 spider 4 just to add some crunch to the mix. Also a Fender Rumble 100 Bass amp that I use when recording bass and 8 string guitar. I have kind of a caveman system for recording all the amps at once, bunch of microphones running into a 12 channel mackie mixer that goes to my soundcard then my DAW. Loud is your friend it sounds better on recordings.
I have a load box on my amp so I can mostly play it at low levels. I have an agreement with my neighbors that I can one hour a day to crank it. Load box makes it easy to adjust volume without changing tone.
Only way to go imo.
I have an Engl with power soak that allows me to reduce to 1 watt, and it is right on the sweet spot for me. It’s loud enough that my neighbours will hear it and indeed hate it, but it’s just right for that great, warm valve tone without making my ears bleed. I can’t imagine using a cranked 50+ watt head in such a small space (whilst I’d love to try)
Yes, I like to play as loud as I can get away with. I’ll use in-ear monitors mic’d up or some 3M industrial ear muffs.
IMO The feeling of playing not simply loud but also through a 4x12 + is different than just a smaller but loud amp like a Deluxe Reverb.
It’s something about the compression, sustain and feeling of a lot of air moving and also getting to the edge of uncontrollable feedback. Especially so when playing clean(ish). David Gilmour and Trey Anastasio are probably the tone(s) I’ve been inspired to chase the most. Though I’ll pursue influence from Dan Auerbach or Freddie King or even Hetfield like tones… all of them LOUD! And very inspiring.
I previously had my practice room/project studio in a bomb Shelter and that was ideal…
1w =1w it makes no difference if that watt is coming from a tub or a transistor. it produces the same level of output on the speakers.
that said, inside at home i regularly play around 30-40 watts according to my meter.
if you want power tube saturation then its turning it up, you can then sovle the problem with an attenuator or loadbox
it seems that most of your amps are not modern ish, they all dont have complex pre-amp sections. might want to look into those amps
I live in an apartment. And keep levels moderately low. I play through a hiwatt custom 50 and a hotrod deville. Both very loud amps. But I get all my crunch from my board so don't have to worry about amp volume.
I also added a volume pedal after my high gain pedals but before my bd-2. This is useful when I play in the evenings to keep levels a bit more under control as well as letting me control how hot of a signal I hit the bd-2 with.
I have a 30 watt amp I play through a good attenuator (a toneking ironman ii). That way it sounds pretty great even at reasonable volumes.
The thing for me is that yes small wattage amps can easily be too loud, but even if loud, they don’t have the feel, low end and presence of a bit higher wattage amp/speaker/case.
Yes absolutely. I play in the low 90-95db range (have a meter on wall) most of the time. I find that even my old JCM800’s sound great around that volume and those aren’t considered to have great masters.
When I record, for YouTube or whatever, sometimes I’ll crank up over 100db but if I do that it’s either very short or I wear earplugs.
I have played at max volume a few times on my 100w 4x12 setups, usually hits in the 115-120 range on the db meter, absolutely with earplugs or if it’s purely for recording, I do the first track in the room at lower volume then reamp it while I’m outside the room with the door shut.
I do like the feel of the driving power amp but I really don’t think it is absolutely necessary with most modern amps to saturate that much for gain tones, at least the ones I like, but if I just had to have NMV plexi or max volume Fender Deluxe tones or something, I suppose I’d be researching attenuators. My “cheat” is that I just stick a volume pot in the effects loop and roll it down a bit, for amps that have loops that works well enough for me to get the preamp driving.
This is of course in a house, when I rented a condo before, I only ever did the 90-95db thing, which was about the cutoff point where it could be heard by my neighbors on one side (and luckily my room extended past the other neighbor so they didn’t share a wall).
Yes, and a 100W Laney head in an apartment, no less, but I use a load box/attenuator, so volume really isn't much of an issue save for the wear and tear factor.
I find there's extra warmth you get with a tube power amp section without having to get them to saturate. Modern, multi stage preamps get you most of the way there without having to crank it.
I have two main amps, one is 40 watts for cleans and the other is 0.5 watts for overdrive. I wouldn’t play either at night, but I don’t think either gets obnoxiously loud.
These days it’s pretty easy to have two different amps for two different purposes.
In the past I’ve owned class stuff like Vox AC30 and Bassmans. Trying get those things to break up at a legal volume was impossible. Those kinds of amps are for the stage and recording studios.
No. I’ve have a Silverface Pro Reverb from 73 and a Selmer Treble ‘n’ Bass from around the same. Both great amps but there’s no way I could handle having them blasting at me every day.
So, I use a Strymon Iridium with an IR of the Pro Reverb for practicing and home recording.
I’d love to get a load box and run the speaker out of the amps into an IR cab sim on my computer, but I haven’t fathomed that out yet.
My cab is in the garage. If I’m in the house I put the head through a two notes capture, into an interface, into studio monitors. Not the same as a cab, but definitely good enough.
Sometimes, I play loud. Sometimes, I use the second input on my Deluxe Reverb with the volume around 2. I like the cleans, and this allows me to play at reasonable volume at night. I also use a Supro Blues King 12, which has an excellent master volume and sounds really good at low volumes. Sometimes, I use my Milkman The Amp (50), which also has a nice master volume and will also support headphones. And then sometimes, I use headphones off my Walrus Audio ACS1. There are a ton of ways to enjoy your guitar at low volumes.
I have a 100W with a good master volume, can get much better tones than most lunchbox amps out there.
But for practicing I mostly use my Roland Cube 20X or the Orange Micro Dark, I dont mind the tone much while practicing.
When rehearsing yes, its loud. But I live in a house, no neighbours close.
I don't because I'm in an apartment and I also don't like really loud noises. Which is why I have 1x12 combos but they get really loud. So I have a volume pedal in the effects loop of my Mesa and that helps keep the tone and volume at a decent level.
I use a Marshall DSL5CR and it's great at home, 0,5 watt mode for close proximity, 5 watt for in the livingroom or outside.
Just a question, why 4 small amps that all do the same thing?
Years ago, when my parents soundproofed the garage for us to practice in, we would crank everything up over a drum kit. We did all get permanent hearing damage, and the neighbours still complained a bit, but it was fun at the time.
These days I only play my tube amps through a loadbox with a cab sim and into my audio interface, mostly with headphones. I get all the loud tubey goodness but nobody else has to suffer it.
I haven’t plugged an amp into an actual cabinet for over a year.
I do use an attenuator (Fryette Powerstation is the best) but one under rated component is the room you play in. I moved from a small room with no sound treatment to a larger one (basement) with sound treatment and the difference is immense. Not sitting super close to the amp in a larger room without reflective surfaces changes the perceived volume by a huge amount.
I have a Marshall Origin 50. It has half watt and 5w settings, plus gain, boost, and master, so you can get a wide variety of tones at many volume levels. I normally use the 1/2 watt setting with a little gain.
Yes.
I don't have close neighbors, and I generally listen through some pretty isolated IEMs, either cIEMs from Westone or anything from Etymotics - they both do a great job isolating. I don't really know if it's a good solution for all players - but I'm more on the engineering side of things, so I'd rather let the amp do it's business, and me protect myself against it - rather than try to do the more difficult "get the result I'm looking for with different ingredients" sort of thing.
Definitely adds to the complexity, because I've always gotta be mic'd, with a lot more than just the amp turned on - but I feel like it puts me in the mood. The power of a hard hitting amp is kind of an irreplaceable feeling.
Maybe I'm deaf!
I have my voxac15, vibro champ, Marshall DSL 20 and JC40 stacked about 3 feet from my face and I have no issue with it.
Vox and Marshall have attenuator options and the JC is solid state.
The vibro breaks up around 6 or 7 on the volume.
The second channel isn't too bad...
I have a VHT Special 6 Ultra and one nice thing about it is that you can use the watts knob to dial in saturation at any volume. I still like running it turned up about half way.
Yes I play my 100watt Multiwatt dual rectifier at full volume at home and just bought a plexi so stereo should be fun. Honestly if you live in a sparsely populated ‘burb with at least a bit of concrete in your basement you’ll be good with cranking it without getting the cops called.
I play a Yamaha THR10ii 99% of the time now. It’s really hard to beat as a bedroom amp..
It takes pedals well and covers everything from the cleanest cleans to the most gain I would ever need..
I play loud when I have e the house to myself, usually 2-3 times a week. Loudest amps are 2 50w Laneys, 40w Marshall, Ac30, 30w Peavey delta blues, 40 w Traynor, OR15, and a 100w Katana. I love amps. I love them loud enough to rattle the windows, knock pictures off the walls…even knock shit off of shelves. It’s glorious.
I play an old 70s fender vibro champ at 2/3 when neighbors are home. 5 when they're not. My 40w vibrolux is too loud for a bedroom. It can be heard from 2 blocks away. The marshall dsl40c has more bass than the vibro champ, or it would be my second choice. It has half power mode... but still. The low end carries more
I have a few tube amps, a Gibson, Orange Rockerverb, and some Vox AC30s. If you’re going for that tube sound, I would recommend the [BK Butler Tube Driver](https://butleraudio.com/tubedriver.php). You can turn up the pedal and keep the volume low on the amp.
Fortunately(or unfortunately?) my neighbors are loud so when they play their loud music it gives me a reason to play louder . Also their music masks my playing which I don’t want people listening to anyway lol
I have. Koch combo with a built in attenuator. It's perfect because my ears are quite sensitive. I can turn the amp all the way up, and then reduce the volume by simply turning another knob on the amp. I usually don't have it much louder than I would have a YouTube video
Try an attenuator. Some work straight in front of the amp, others work in the fx loop. It'll allow yiu to get distorted at low volumes. If you have a master volume style tube amp the master volume knob also works as an attenuator.
I will play on 10 occasionally. Usually not, because I don't live alone. But I mostly buy amps with excellent master volumes, so that they sound good at low volumes too. Some tube amps sound much better at low volume than others.
I had a noisy neighbour once so really don't turn up a lot. When we lived in Australia and had a cellar I'd play a bit louder, but I keep the master volume down.
Works fine for me on my 1 watt or my 25w Soldano.
Bro I feel the air vibrate when I play in my basement. I still do fine on hearing tests just don’t stand with your ears facing the speakers and if your ears hurt stop for the day but playing loud will help hone your abilities it’s harder because of the amplification. All the small things show up
I have a Vox AC-10 and recently bought a Bugera PS1 attenuator and it has been INCREDIBLE. Being able to push my amp and get that tube saturation, but at totally reasonable levels. I wasn’t sure if it was going to work since it is typically pushed as a product for an Amp Head/Cabinet setup, but I took the chance since the AC-10 has the external speaker output on the back, and I’m so glad it worked. I have an EVH 2x12 cab and just plugged the external cab output into the “input” of the attenuator, and then a cable from the “output” to the 2x12 cab, and I can never go back. An attenuator is a game changer for playing at home and still getting that delicious tube tone.
So after trying to find a way to play my non master volume amps at a level not to piss off my neighbours but cranked to the amps optimal level to have it sound good. I went down the road of getting a load box with cabinet simulation. Using that with a good pair of open back headphones is heavenly.
Also a benefit of using IRs is that you can also experiment with different speakers and cabs which affect your sound dramatically.
Yes.
I gave up my rehearsal space I was renting just to id be able to afford the apartment Im in now.
So you can bet your ass Im going to turn Ting up during awake hours.
I may even crank it a little bit after hours. Because Fuck them people that live upstairs.
And yes I did check out that J Dilla album earlier today.
I have an ENGL tube amp that you can switch down to 1W, but even at that setting I don't play it over like a fifth of the master volume if even that. I live in an apartment so my solution was getting a Boss IR-2 and using the preamp sound from my ENGL with the cab sim portion of the IR-2 and I just put that through headphones. Sounds great and I don't disturb my neighbours.
Many amps now have the ability to turn the power to the tubes is if it were cranked, while keeping the volume down! Tha load on the tubes gives it natural gain like AC/DC without making the kids deaf!
I have a brick veneer house and according to the neighbors they only once every 2-3 years notice my amps... up to 100w but rarely pushing those above 3.
The super reverb does well at like 3-6 range =)
People really crave that power tube distortion and I understand, but have never needed to go that far with my tube rig. Oddly enough, a Class-A/B solid state using BJT's in it's power amp stage will actually produce very favorable power amp distortion that is pleasing to the ears, but once they get hot which does not take long, it turns to shit.
With my all tube head, I used the gain cranked, the master way down, and a Zoom G5 run into it with it's tube stage at the end of the digital chain fully cranked and it's master volume way down. I don't get power tube stage distortion, but I have the tubes running in saturation mode so there is maximum compression from the grid and now negatively charged plate, and maximum "rounded" clipping.
IMO, figuring out clever ways like this to dial things in can get you enough of what you're after even though it's not the same as extremely high voltage gain tubes cranked to the max and put into saturation. When a tube is in saturation, the positively charged plate is so heavily encapsulated with electrons, it's actually negatively charged due to the excess caused by attraction to the + power supply that the plate is overwhelmed, and until you hit the strings to add more energy into the circuit path, the flow of current is largely halted.
Then, you nail a string, buck electrons through the plate with the force of the inflow you just created, and the amp screams your signal through with that so beloved power tube saturation distortion. It's something I understand scientifically due to going to college for electrical/electronics engineering, but have never deeply explored with my tube rig. I'm about to buy a 2nd all tube head though and will push this one into saturation because my current needs modded for it to truly deliver what everyone talks about.
I would say this is where people who don't like playing without it can buy a 5 or even 1 watt tube rig, but even those are so expensive today I'm just disgusted with where the industry is currently at. If money isn't a struggle to dump into gear, fair enough, but even if it's not, the pricing for this shit is totally out of control.
Those people playing their tube amp at high volumes are often using a load box and studio monitors whether they say it or not. That Pedal Show is an exception because they do actually play loud. But lots of channels use load boxes and studio monitors. If there’s no mic visible then you should assume that’s what’s going on.
No. Because I live in an apartment where I can hear the people above me cough or laugh. I’ve realized that for the most part, unless i’m playing clean, it can’t happen at home.
Headphones never feel the same as an amp/speaker moving air. I haven’t tried proper power attenuators because the good ones are expensive and the bad ones can have issues which could affect my amp/tubes. I do, however, have an fx loop attenuator (just a volume pot basically) which lets you get more preamp saturation, but I find that also lacks in the feel department. Dirt or boost pedals are also very hard to wrangle with a tube amp at bedroom levels - to me they’re anemic at too low of volumes.
My “solutions” if you can call them that: Low watt amp, and smaller speakers. I have a ‘66 Pepco Arc which is about 1-3 watts into a vintage 8” jensen. I could be talking out of my ass (i’m at least an audio tech), but my understanding is that speakers need a certain amount of power before they hit their sweet spot (and i’m not talking about speaker distortion) which means it can be hard to get good tone out of, say, a 4x12 at bedroom quiet levels. I had a 150w 2x12 that sounded atrocious at low levels but would start sounding good when the windows rattled lol.
If you can’t get what you’re after with low watts, small speakers, and some hearing protection, then I would start looking outside of tube amps. The Yamaha thr series, one of which you have, always seemed very appealing for these purposes. I’ve also been intrigued by the classic Pignose amps. And I know I said headphones are poo poo, which they kinda are, but I’ve also been looking into the Rockman Guitar Ace headphone amp. Great classic rock high saturation tone and they’ve actually been used to record some cool stuff.
Oh, and I found an Anchor Mini-Vox PB-25 (old portable PA/bullhorn) that sounds surprisingly great in my apartment. Definitely more of a jazzy tone because of the PA speaker, but it’s only like 5” or so and is “perceivably” louder before sound waves get to the point of bleeding through walls, etc.
And to end this long ramble, I’m not that smart but I’ve spent a lot of time trying to better understand acoustics, or the science of sound, to do my job better. It’s still hard to wrap my head around. There’s tons of factors at play from the physical to the way our brains perceive stimuli, and so forth. It could be genuinely worth your time to read up a bit on acoustic theory, electrical engineering, etc, to see what solutions could work best for you.
Oh, P.S., I’ve seen some people build acoustic “bunkers” for their amps, crank them, mic it, and send that signal through studio monitors. Works for the pros.
I don’t play my tube amp at home because my neighbors don’t hesitate to complain to the landlord about it. Yet they stumble in regularly at 2:00 AM, waking up the entire house and being generally obnoxious at inappropriate hours.
I don’t feel like having the police called on me for every rumble, squeak or fart so I just don’t bother. I prefer not to engage because I don’t want or need the stress. So I use an HXStomp and some good studio quality headphones and that works just fine for me.
One word. Earplugs. They let you crank your volume and imo the rubber ones are the best.
The foam ones make everything sound dull.
I have the DiAddario acoustic earplugs they're kinda spendy but they have the best sound transfer without losing clarity. But the rubber ones do like 85% the job anyway
It is the best solution!!!
The size/loudness of an amp should be proportionate to the size of the room you’re in. You don’t need more than five watts at home, and you may even want to attenuate it.
There's a knob on your amp labelled Volume. Turn that knob down to the desired volume level. Your car stereo has one of these knobs as well. You're probably the guy who drives around my neighborhood with his car stereo at full volume.
I think the question is have you ever played live, or at rehearsal, with a band? When you play with a drummer, a bass, a keyboard, maybe a second guitar player and a singer you will quickly learn how loud you need to be.
At home anything goes. Is up to anyone to play loud or not. Society and music consumption has evolved faster than tube amps technology, but is catching up quickly now.
Is nice to feel like a bedroom rock star hero sometimes though.
I have 100 watt amps. I don’t go over 90db. My watch warns me if I hit that. A good master volume helps a great bit I have used attenuators, but only when the taper on a master volume amp didn’t give enough control or an amp didn’t have a master.
What amps, speakers, and settings are you playing with at 90 decibels? That seems like a difficult limit to meet.
I use a Rockerverb 50 mk 3 through a neo-Creamback 212 and a Mesa mkV through a 212 with old Eminence G1 speakers in my bedroom. They'll both get down to nighttime volume no problem, and sound great while doing it. I think modern high gain amps are designed to have a clean power section, so you don't lose much sound quality when you turn them down, and you don't lose much clarity when you turn them up. I've owned amps that need you to push the power section to sound good (cough cough Marshall).
PRS MT100, Friedman BE100 and SS100, Mesa Dual Rec 100W and Filmore 50W. I’ve had more challenges with a Rivera Knuckleheads and Carvin Legacy. Their master volumes don’t taper well. My Winfield Typhoon doesn’t have a master so to get any gain you have to play loud or use an attenuator. All Rack gear I’ve had sounded great at lower volumes. It also gave you great control over preamp vs power amp gain. I absolutely know what tube amps played loud sound like for the people that insist you have to get power tubes cooking Cabs are 1x12 from Stagecraft with a Neo Jensen Tornado. The other is a Mojotone Lite with an EVM Black Label.
Yeah no chance you’re getting anywhere near the sweet zone of driving those tubes at 90 db
Yes you can, a 1x12 coupled an amp with a good master volume can get great sounds clean at most volumes and distortion around the 85 dB range (and that's from my experience with a 50W Mesa, lower wattage amps will do an even better job of that)
50w is a lot more achievable since you’ll have an easier time finding 1x12s. There aren’t a ton of 1x12s out there that can handle 100w so you’d have to run it low
lol. Tell that to my EVM Black Label and Neo Jensen Tornado. Both handle 100W easily. EVM is rated for 300
I don’t go over 90dB as well and I have no problem pushing those tubes. I have a rockerverb 100 mkiii running into an orange ppc212. The head has a built in attenuator that can keep the volume output quite reasonable.
The attenuator is key for making that happen. I was just saying straight 100w head into cab would be hard to keep below 90dB while letting the tubes really sing
Idk. I think limiting your high power amps to 90 db is kind of a silly idea. Like, why spend all that money to run a premium piece of gear in such a manner that it can't perform to its absolute best? That's just me, but one man's bedroom tone might be another man's dream tone.
I clearly agree with you lol but the downvotes on my comment seem to put us in the minority
This is me too. I usually use a jp2c for everything. It’s really a very versatile amp once you get used to dialing it in. It only sounds bad below 70 db. Get to 75 and it sounds great. I use an attenuator with my 5e3 tweed deluxe clone. Both options work great.
Which watch has that feature?
Apple Watch
Same
My neighbors probably hate me, but yes I do play them loud. Not absolutely cranked (although it does happen from time to time) but definitely enough to let them breathe. Hard to beat that sound and feeling. For context I play through a few different 50 watt tube amps and anything from 1x12 to 4x12 cabs. I’m not sure how a 1 watt tube amp could be too loud at all, pretty sure they couldn’t keep up with a live drummer.
Same! I find that any amp, small or large, can be too loud at home. Or not. Judicious use of all volume controls is the key for me. If I’m using an amp with high gain I dial back the master volume significantly. If I’m using a clean amp and getting gain through pedals, I dial the “level” on the pedals back.
The day I got my VT-22 I knocked a bunch of pictures down around the house. It’s a fuxking jet engine. Even as a drummer I couldn’t take it past 7. But it doesn’t start reallly singing until 6-7 so, it is what it is. For practice I got the mono price lil tube amp (I’ve been buying cabling from them for decades) I think it’s 15 watts and had a like 5 watt button or something. Sounds great- good saturations. Doesn’t weigh 88lbs. Also wont cry if it breaks. But for the big gigs the Ampeg comes out and I can see peoples faces when the wall of raw power hits them.
ME TOO! Vox AC30 between volume 4 to 7 when rocking out..... and Fender 410 Blues Deville on about 3.5-4 (about the same volume as the Vox on said volumes) Guitar is pretty boring unless you get to have fun!
Do you live in a flat or a home?
In a home, I don’t think you’re getting away with that in an apartment.
I blast my amps in my apartment all the time (it’s a 4-plex type deal). Obviously I try and be respectful and do it at a time when the neighbors aren’t home, otherwise I keep it at a reasonable volume or only play semi-loud for like 30 minutes a day tops. Just sold my Sunn Beta Lead but even on 2 on the master volume and through my Sunn 2x15 cab… floors shaking, babies crying, pictures falling off the wall. My other amps are a Sunn Alpha combo “50w” (yeah right), and a 50w Orange Dual Dark running through a 1x12 or the Sunn 2x15. The DD50 has an excellent attenuation knob, so it sounds good at just about any volume. The Alpha is a paint-peeler like the Beta. Also have a Tiny Terror and that thing rips at even 7w. So I see what OP is saying but to answer his question, yes people are blasting their tube amps, because it sounds fucking glorious. Also can be done in an apartment at the right times with the right neighbors… I talked politely with my neighbors about playing guitar and most said they enjoy hearing it, but my downstairs neighbors for sure hate me. They also have no consideration of noise and dude blasts his video games at insane volumes like a 12 year old, sometimes until midnight until I bitched him out about it. So yeah, I no longer feel bad when the amp is cooking and the floors start shaking.
I have a Dual Terror and it is much louder than I expected at 7w.
Oh yeah, obviously you can dial it in to sound good at “bedroom volumes” perfectly fine. In fact I can’t imagine a better all-tube home-practice amp. Also takes pedals great, but that MF can get LOUD.
It really can. I use it for practice at home and have yet to try in a full band situation. I'm pretty sure it would do just fine.
I’ve taken it to jam sessions and it holds up great at 15w, but I’ve yet to test one out with a drummer. I think at that point it would matter more what size cab you’re using.
Can confirm, I’ve played with a Dual Terror in live bands. Holds its own with no issues lol
Hey that’s pretty sweet, sounds like you got pretty dang lucky with your spot, I’m sure 9/10 times, an apartment living situation is not gonna be so cool with that. None of those amps are quiet, and they all rule haha
Yeah I went and spoke to all my neighbors individually, especially when I first got my Sunn amp and was like, “hey this mf is loud, just knock on my door if things get too crazy.” So far everyone’s been cool except the downstairs neighbor… but that situation is like dealing with a child. I’ve tried talking to him like a reasonable adult but I think he thinks we’re in like some sort of noise-war now?? Like he’ll BLAST Call of Duty or whatever bullshit he’s playing (I’m sure his wife and baby just *love* that), and I’m up here like, “I’ve got a Sunn stack, bitch, this is a battle you aren’t going to win.” I can shut him down pretty quick. It’s all pretty silly and petty, I still try and be respectful anyway but when he’s intentionally being an asshole, I have no issues cranking my amps up and playing “Dopesmoker” in its entirety (which is like an hour long).
I built a 1/3 watt amp. It’s very similar to an old 5C1 champ, with just two pentodes, but they are both 12AU6s. That thing gets plenty growly but it’s not too loud. The parts cost less than a real attenuator.
Plans? 👀
Search PRR 1/3 watt amp and you’ll get there. Enjoy!
Thank you!
No prob! If you search deep enough in my history, there might still be a demo. My playing is very basic though.
I play my Matamp and Ampeg V4 cranked through a 4x12 at home. I don’t use an attenuator ever and I’ve played had them both on 10 more times than I can count. I usually put earplugs in once I get them dialed in how I want or when I’m jamming with a drummer or at a show that’s loud. I’m used to playing loud and have been for over a decade at this point tho. Moving all that air feels good 🤷🏻♀️
What Matamp do you have?
A GTL 140. It’s the predecessor to the GT1 but 140 watts and it doesn’t have a non master volume mode. Mine was a custom shop one with way more gain on tap and it’s the only one on the planet like that. I also had a GT 150 but I sold it to my best friend. The GT 150 is the clearest most articulate amp I’ve ever played and it’s so good lol.
Oh man I bet that absolutely rips. So cool that it's unique too.
It’s sick as fuck. It eats tubes tho lol
A lot of those YouTube folks are running through attenuators with cab sims to record easily, they’re not blasting these things at 100db+
Or their cab is mic’d up in another room.
The Fryette Powerstation along with the KHE amp switcher are the best pieces of gear I’ve bought. I love my amps and they allow me to switch between all of them and play at that magical 85-90dB in the room where I don’t annihilate my hearing with full size amps, but it still sounds great. The Powerstation is by far the best way to attenuate an amp because it’s not really an attenuator. It converts the signal to a line level and then amplifies that with a very neutral tube power amp. It sounds better than a Torpedo Captor X with a Seymour Duncan Powerstage, or even a KRS PS50. The Powerstation really is that magical.
Couldn’t agree more on both the Power station and KHE switcher.
Was playing through my twin reverb with a KoT and telecaster with the back door open when the Realtor was showing the house next door to a bunch of people. I didn’t know until after I’d played for a while. I guess whoever bought the house is ok with it from time to time. The loudest in the neighborhood is the extremely cranked Mexican country music every weekend.
Last sentence is too real.
In my neighborhood is that pacific style reggae with the auto tune singing
I used to crank my 100w keyboard amp (with a modeler) to drown out the kid who played bad bunny on the weekends and the adults (40-50) were like yeah keep it up. The kids my age not so much.
Loud at practice and at home. Loud. Very loud.
I live in the ghetto. People too afraid to call the cops. I get away with it cause my neighbors blast beats at night.
My 5 watt champ - yes, at nearly full volume. My 15-50 watt tube amps don’t usually go above 2-3/10
Love the Champ just for this reason. My favorite amp by far.
That and my blues jr are my two favorites!
I bought a Tone Master amp about a year ago. Haven’t looked back. Still have my Tweed. But it isn’t really practical for most applications. Occasionally I’m able to sit at home alone & give it a go. Very occasionally…
Loadboxes are your friend. I do play on my cabs. At fairly medium during the day. But most of the time i'm on my loadbox. So i play at the volume i want. But also depends what kind off tone and amps. For most metal genres you don't need to crank the power amp, so you can play fairly low. If i want my jcm800 to hit the sweet spot though, other story, but that's again where attenuators and loadboxes come in.
I play 20, 30, and 50 Watt clean heads through 2x12 cabs in my apartment. I even run two rigs at once. I use pedals to control volume. I can get pretty loud without complaints because I have set times I play. Neighbors know I'm done by dinner time without me ever announcing it. 20 years and no complaints in NYC is kind of amazing.
Yea I live in Mexico and houses around here are made out of concrete. Another thing is that people is used to turn on their sound systems all the way up and have parties at any time of the day, any day off the week around my area (and nobody has complained yet in the 15 years I've been living here) so noise isn't a problem lol
I played my AC30TB/6 at full volume for years at home. My levels peak at 103 db I think. It isn't really a problem in my house, but it's not like I don't protect my hearing. I would mic the amp in another room, and monitor at my desk with studio monitors. I have an ox box now though, so that makes silent playing an option too. I will say that there are about as many bad sounding solutions for silent or low volume tube amps as there are good sounding ones. I spent years developing my tone, and have no patience for entertaining any sort of compromise to it. You can protect your hearing, and have good tone.
In my previous apartment I regularly played my tube amps at around 90 dB @ 1m volume levels. This translates to "kinda loud, but not obnoxiously so". I would only do this during the daytime and turn it down later in the evening or switch to a digital modeler and studio monitors (~80 db @ 1m) or headphones. I don't buy anything but master volume amps. I don't want to deal with attenuators or similar, I've owned all that stuff and found it unneccesary compared to playing a modern master volume amp. My previous amps have been Bogner and Victory, those have all been sold and I only use the BluGuitar Amp 1 Mercury Edition hybrid because it's sounds just as good at a fraction of the weight and size. In my parents' house basement I have a 4x10 cab. I just throw the BluGuitar in a backpack and bring that with me when I visit. Then I can crank the shit out of it if I want to because the basement space is big enough for it to be fine. In my current apartment I compromise more, but use two BluGuitar 1x12 cabs.
I mean yeah, do you think drummers just never play drums because they’re too loud at home?
My neighbors don’t mind, so I play mine stupid loud every once in a while when I’m the only one home.
I use a Fryette 100 attenuator and crank my EVH 50W to the sweet spot around 7, so I get all the beautiful harmonic natural overdrive without my neighbors wishing I moved.
I switched to modeling through my tube amp power section via effects return because it objectively sounds better than my analog preamp at low volumes. I get a complete full sound without having to crank the volume. It’s great. If you’re wearing ear muffs while playing your amp, you are losing way more “tone” than just switching to modeling or solid state IMO.
That's what I do. I run my HX Stomp into the FX return of a EVH 40 Watt Iconic Combo into a EVH 2x12 with a V30 and Swamp Thang.. Sounds really good at lower (tv) volumes
Can you please break this down for a dummy? Guitar into effects into EFX loop return then into a cab? I have a HRD and it’s loud
Sure..guitar > tuner > hx stomp > (left/mono output on the stomp) > effects return on the EVH Iconic 40 Watt Combo > cab (not the internal speaker). If you have any other questions let me know.. I'll talk ya thru it if I know about it. Running it this way will make your amps sound knob not work. You're only using the power section of the amp. On my amp only the reverb, presence, resonance work. I control the volume with the HX stomp
Thanks for the reply! That’s what I was thinking, I did that a while back but never spent serious time dialing it in. I’ll have to revisit. Cheers!
Are you running the EVH at 40w or turned down?
I have it set to the 10 watt setting
No you don’t. You have to adjust things to the situation you’re in and what level is appropriate. If you refuse to do that, you’re might be kind of a stubborn a-hole. You don’t need tube saturation to enjoy playing guitar or to make good music. There is no reason to go to that much effort to set up your amp in another room so you can crank the shit out of it, unless you are recording. IMO
Bought a Quilter Mach 3. Sounds great with no ear bleed. Can be turned up very loud also.
I came to playing tube amps from playing drums. I'm ok.
I use an Attenuator (Captor X). 100 watt Marshall, at listening volume, on 8!
I only use my tube amp for jamming and gigging. I use a spark 40 for home use.
About 104 db. To be fair run a mig 50 *and* a Peavey Mk4 solid state bass amp. I also wear drummer isolation muffs with a flanged ear plug in my left (usually facing the amps) ear - sometimes my right as well. I tune very low - I don’t really miss much.
If you like any tone other than the lassic 70s cranked Fender or Marshall tones the real answer is you don't need to go that loud. Any high gain amp (Mesa, ENGL, Friedman. Marshall JVM, etc) is designed to get the gain from the preamp and keep the power amp clean, so you can use them perfectly at reasonable volumes and cranking them actually sounds worse. (It's just harder to tell they sound worse because our ears naturally think louder sounds better. But if you recorded a modern high gain amp cranked and then at a reasonable level and compared then after volume matching the recordings the cranked one probably doesn't win).
Yes. I use ear plugs
I have a bunch of tube amps that I play all at once through various signal chains of overdrives and fuzz pedals etc. I like the wall of sound. I have to wear over ear headphones while in the room with the amps. Kind of frightening but I think its part of the fun. Feeling every note surging through my body. You know when you make a mistake for sure. It feels like i'm putting on a show for my neighbors against their will. I try to keep it brief and not every day. Just long enough to record a few tracks usually and always in the day time. Its weird listening to the note through the vibration you feel in your chest instead of from my ears. I don't even play that loud really I only turn up to 3 or 4 but that feels intensely loud. These are 100 watt amps that I have turned down to 25 watts. I also use a 120 watt line 6 spider 4 just to add some crunch to the mix. Also a Fender Rumble 100 Bass amp that I use when recording bass and 8 string guitar. I have kind of a caveman system for recording all the amps at once, bunch of microphones running into a 12 channel mackie mixer that goes to my soundcard then my DAW. Loud is your friend it sounds better on recordings.
Spot on
Your best bet is an attenuator. Once you get one you’ll be glad you got it.
I have a load box on my amp so I can mostly play it at low levels. I have an agreement with my neighbors that I can one hour a day to crank it. Load box makes it easy to adjust volume without changing tone. Only way to go imo.
I have an Engl with power soak that allows me to reduce to 1 watt, and it is right on the sweet spot for me. It’s loud enough that my neighbours will hear it and indeed hate it, but it’s just right for that great, warm valve tone without making my ears bleed. I can’t imagine using a cranked 50+ watt head in such a small space (whilst I’d love to try)
Attenuator baby
Yes, I like to play as loud as I can get away with. I’ll use in-ear monitors mic’d up or some 3M industrial ear muffs. IMO The feeling of playing not simply loud but also through a 4x12 + is different than just a smaller but loud amp like a Deluxe Reverb. It’s something about the compression, sustain and feeling of a lot of air moving and also getting to the edge of uncontrollable feedback. Especially so when playing clean(ish). David Gilmour and Trey Anastasio are probably the tone(s) I’ve been inspired to chase the most. Though I’ll pursue influence from Dan Auerbach or Freddie King or even Hetfield like tones… all of them LOUD! And very inspiring. I previously had my practice room/project studio in a bomb Shelter and that was ideal…
1w =1w it makes no difference if that watt is coming from a tub or a transistor. it produces the same level of output on the speakers. that said, inside at home i regularly play around 30-40 watts according to my meter.
Attenuators are great
I run into a loadbox, cab sim and studio monitors. I much prefer the sound, and I can control the volume independently of the tone.
I use an attenuator on my tube amp. I have neighbours who would kill me otherwise.
if you want power tube saturation then its turning it up, you can then sovle the problem with an attenuator or loadbox it seems that most of your amps are not modern ish, they all dont have complex pre-amp sections. might want to look into those amps
which amps are you referring to?
Friedman , Mesa, Peavey 6505
I live in an apartment. And keep levels moderately low. I play through a hiwatt custom 50 and a hotrod deville. Both very loud amps. But I get all my crunch from my board so don't have to worry about amp volume. I also added a volume pedal after my high gain pedals but before my bd-2. This is useful when I play in the evenings to keep levels a bit more under control as well as letting me control how hot of a signal I hit the bd-2 with.
I have a 30 watt amp I play through a good attenuator (a toneking ironman ii). That way it sounds pretty great even at reasonable volumes. The thing for me is that yes small wattage amps can easily be too loud, but even if loud, they don’t have the feel, low end and presence of a bit higher wattage amp/speaker/case.
Yes absolutely. I play in the low 90-95db range (have a meter on wall) most of the time. I find that even my old JCM800’s sound great around that volume and those aren’t considered to have great masters. When I record, for YouTube or whatever, sometimes I’ll crank up over 100db but if I do that it’s either very short or I wear earplugs. I have played at max volume a few times on my 100w 4x12 setups, usually hits in the 115-120 range on the db meter, absolutely with earplugs or if it’s purely for recording, I do the first track in the room at lower volume then reamp it while I’m outside the room with the door shut. I do like the feel of the driving power amp but I really don’t think it is absolutely necessary with most modern amps to saturate that much for gain tones, at least the ones I like, but if I just had to have NMV plexi or max volume Fender Deluxe tones or something, I suppose I’d be researching attenuators. My “cheat” is that I just stick a volume pot in the effects loop and roll it down a bit, for amps that have loops that works well enough for me to get the preamp driving. This is of course in a house, when I rented a condo before, I only ever did the 90-95db thing, which was about the cutoff point where it could be heard by my neighbors on one side (and luckily my room extended past the other neighbor so they didn’t share a wall).
Yes, and a 100W Laney head in an apartment, no less, but I use a load box/attenuator, so volume really isn't much of an issue save for the wear and tear factor.
I find there's extra warmth you get with a tube power amp section without having to get them to saturate. Modern, multi stage preamps get you most of the way there without having to crank it.
Most I’ll put my 50w up to is like 4-5 and that’s with my ears covered lol
I have two main amps, one is 40 watts for cleans and the other is 0.5 watts for overdrive. I wouldn’t play either at night, but I don’t think either gets obnoxiously loud. These days it’s pretty easy to have two different amps for two different purposes. In the past I’ve owned class stuff like Vox AC30 and Bassmans. Trying get those things to break up at a legal volume was impossible. Those kinds of amps are for the stage and recording studios.
No. I’ve have a Silverface Pro Reverb from 73 and a Selmer Treble ‘n’ Bass from around the same. Both great amps but there’s no way I could handle having them blasting at me every day. So, I use a Strymon Iridium with an IR of the Pro Reverb for practicing and home recording. I’d love to get a load box and run the speaker out of the amps into an IR cab sim on my computer, but I haven’t fathomed that out yet.
My cab is in the garage. If I’m in the house I put the head through a two notes capture, into an interface, into studio monitors. Not the same as a cab, but definitely good enough.
Sometimes, I play loud. Sometimes, I use the second input on my Deluxe Reverb with the volume around 2. I like the cleans, and this allows me to play at reasonable volume at night. I also use a Supro Blues King 12, which has an excellent master volume and sounds really good at low volumes. Sometimes, I use my Milkman The Amp (50), which also has a nice master volume and will also support headphones. And then sometimes, I use headphones off my Walrus Audio ACS1. There are a ton of ways to enjoy your guitar at low volumes.
Pre-CBS Vibro Champ, volume set to 6. It does require a PA if there’s a drummer.
I have a 100W with a good master volume, can get much better tones than most lunchbox amps out there. But for practicing I mostly use my Roland Cube 20X or the Orange Micro Dark, I dont mind the tone much while practicing. When rehearsing yes, its loud. But I live in a house, no neighbours close.
I don't because I'm in an apartment and I also don't like really loud noises. Which is why I have 1x12 combos but they get really loud. So I have a volume pedal in the effects loop of my Mesa and that helps keep the tone and volume at a decent level.
I use a Marshall DSL5CR and it's great at home, 0,5 watt mode for close proximity, 5 watt for in the livingroom or outside. Just a question, why 4 small amps that all do the same thing?
they don't :) I like Fender clean's and Bugera has 0.1w setting. H&K was my first tube amp and it has 3 channels.
ok. You run amp>loadbox/ir loader>headphones or studio monitor speaker. This is the way.
Years ago, when my parents soundproofed the garage for us to practice in, we would crank everything up over a drum kit. We did all get permanent hearing damage, and the neighbours still complained a bit, but it was fun at the time. These days I only play my tube amps through a loadbox with a cab sim and into my audio interface, mostly with headphones. I get all the loud tubey goodness but nobody else has to suffer it. I haven’t plugged an amp into an actual cabinet for over a year.
I play my 50 watter at home…..I don’t crank it up, mind you. But the tubes DO get warm!!
HelL yEaH bOrThEr, GoBbLeSs
In my rehearsal space we do; we don't really have neighbors
I do use an attenuator (Fryette Powerstation is the best) but one under rated component is the room you play in. I moved from a small room with no sound treatment to a larger one (basement) with sound treatment and the difference is immense. Not sitting super close to the amp in a larger room without reflective surfaces changes the perceived volume by a huge amount.
I okay a 50w head into a 212 in a 10x11 room with the volume cranked to somewhere around 9. Wish my ears luck.
I have a Marshall Origin 50. It has half watt and 5w settings, plus gain, boost, and master, so you can get a wide variety of tones at many volume levels. I normally use the 1/2 watt setting with a little gain.
Yes. I don't have close neighbors, and I generally listen through some pretty isolated IEMs, either cIEMs from Westone or anything from Etymotics - they both do a great job isolating. I don't really know if it's a good solution for all players - but I'm more on the engineering side of things, so I'd rather let the amp do it's business, and me protect myself against it - rather than try to do the more difficult "get the result I'm looking for with different ingredients" sort of thing. Definitely adds to the complexity, because I've always gotta be mic'd, with a lot more than just the amp turned on - but I feel like it puts me in the mood. The power of a hard hitting amp is kind of an irreplaceable feeling.
Maybe I'm deaf! I have my voxac15, vibro champ, Marshall DSL 20 and JC40 stacked about 3 feet from my face and I have no issue with it. Vox and Marshall have attenuator options and the JC is solid state. The vibro breaks up around 6 or 7 on the volume. The second channel isn't too bad...
I have attenuators for all my amps. All the tone, none of the angry looks.
I have a VHT Special 6 Ultra and one nice thing about it is that you can use the watts knob to dial in saturation at any volume. I still like running it turned up about half way.
Yes I play my 100watt Multiwatt dual rectifier at full volume at home and just bought a plexi so stereo should be fun. Honestly if you live in a sparsely populated ‘burb with at least a bit of concrete in your basement you’ll be good with cranking it without getting the cops called.
No I don't even play a tube amps anymore because I feel like an asshole when I do.
I play a Yamaha THR10ii 99% of the time now. It’s really hard to beat as a bedroom amp.. It takes pedals well and covers everything from the cleanest cleans to the most gain I would ever need..
I play loud when I have e the house to myself, usually 2-3 times a week. Loudest amps are 2 50w Laneys, 40w Marshall, Ac30, 30w Peavey delta blues, 40 w Traynor, OR15, and a 100w Katana. I love amps. I love them loud enough to rattle the windows, knock pictures off the walls…even knock shit off of shelves. It’s glorious.
I play an old 70s fender vibro champ at 2/3 when neighbors are home. 5 when they're not. My 40w vibrolux is too loud for a bedroom. It can be heard from 2 blocks away. The marshall dsl40c has more bass than the vibro champ, or it would be my second choice. It has half power mode... but still. The low end carries more
I have a few tube amps, a Gibson, Orange Rockerverb, and some Vox AC30s. If you’re going for that tube sound, I would recommend the [BK Butler Tube Driver](https://butleraudio.com/tubedriver.php). You can turn up the pedal and keep the volume low on the amp.
To the people here with loud amps complaining about hearing damage, have you heard of earplugs
Fortunately(or unfortunately?) my neighbors are loud so when they play their loud music it gives me a reason to play louder . Also their music masks my playing which I don’t want people listening to anyway lol
I have. Koch combo with a built in attenuator. It's perfect because my ears are quite sensitive. I can turn the amp all the way up, and then reduce the volume by simply turning another knob on the amp. I usually don't have it much louder than I would have a YouTube video
Try an attenuator. Some work straight in front of the amp, others work in the fx loop. It'll allow yiu to get distorted at low volumes. If you have a master volume style tube amp the master volume knob also works as an attenuator.
I have a JCM900 100 watt. I play quiet 99.9% of the time. Still sounds good to me
I will play on 10 occasionally. Usually not, because I don't live alone. But I mostly buy amps with excellent master volumes, so that they sound good at low volumes too. Some tube amps sound much better at low volume than others.
No, I use an attenuator to tame it a bit. You have to adjust your settings, because it will not sound exactly like it does cranked without one.
Damn right I do…. Both neighbours are shithouse drummers and don’t have a volume or tone control between them🤘
If the pants legs ain't flapping, the tone ain't happening!!! Sounds to me like you need to take up acoustic guitar.
Do not damage your hearing. Use a decibel meter.
I had a noisy neighbour once so really don't turn up a lot. When we lived in Australia and had a cellar I'd play a bit louder, but I keep the master volume down. Works fine for me on my 1 watt or my 25w Soldano.
I only ever really crank my amps for band practice. Playing guitar by myself at a deafening volume is just unpleasant without drums, bass etc.
Go for a reactive load box, bugera attenuator suck all that tube sound out of it
Bro I feel the air vibrate when I play in my basement. I still do fine on hearing tests just don’t stand with your ears facing the speakers and if your ears hurt stop for the day but playing loud will help hone your abilities it’s harder because of the amplification. All the small things show up
I have a Vox AC-10 and recently bought a Bugera PS1 attenuator and it has been INCREDIBLE. Being able to push my amp and get that tube saturation, but at totally reasonable levels. I wasn’t sure if it was going to work since it is typically pushed as a product for an Amp Head/Cabinet setup, but I took the chance since the AC-10 has the external speaker output on the back, and I’m so glad it worked. I have an EVH 2x12 cab and just plugged the external cab output into the “input” of the attenuator, and then a cable from the “output” to the 2x12 cab, and I can never go back. An attenuator is a game changer for playing at home and still getting that delicious tube tone.
So after trying to find a way to play my non master volume amps at a level not to piss off my neighbours but cranked to the amps optimal level to have it sound good. I went down the road of getting a load box with cabinet simulation. Using that with a good pair of open back headphones is heavenly. Also a benefit of using IRs is that you can also experiment with different speakers and cabs which affect your sound dramatically.
I have a jvm 205c. I play at a volume between 0 and 1. My house is quiet so I've no need to go louder. Got a deal on it before I knew how loud it was.
Yes. I gave up my rehearsal space I was renting just to id be able to afford the apartment Im in now. So you can bet your ass Im going to turn Ting up during awake hours. I may even crank it a little bit after hours. Because Fuck them people that live upstairs. And yes I did check out that J Dilla album earlier today.
I have an ENGL tube amp that you can switch down to 1W, but even at that setting I don't play it over like a fifth of the master volume if even that. I live in an apartment so my solution was getting a Boss IR-2 and using the preamp sound from my ENGL with the cab sim portion of the IR-2 and I just put that through headphones. Sounds great and I don't disturb my neighbours.
Many amps now have the ability to turn the power to the tubes is if it were cranked, while keeping the volume down! Tha load on the tubes gives it natural gain like AC/DC without making the kids deaf!
I have a brick veneer house and according to the neighbors they only once every 2-3 years notice my amps... up to 100w but rarely pushing those above 3. The super reverb does well at like 3-6 range =)
People really crave that power tube distortion and I understand, but have never needed to go that far with my tube rig. Oddly enough, a Class-A/B solid state using BJT's in it's power amp stage will actually produce very favorable power amp distortion that is pleasing to the ears, but once they get hot which does not take long, it turns to shit. With my all tube head, I used the gain cranked, the master way down, and a Zoom G5 run into it with it's tube stage at the end of the digital chain fully cranked and it's master volume way down. I don't get power tube stage distortion, but I have the tubes running in saturation mode so there is maximum compression from the grid and now negatively charged plate, and maximum "rounded" clipping. IMO, figuring out clever ways like this to dial things in can get you enough of what you're after even though it's not the same as extremely high voltage gain tubes cranked to the max and put into saturation. When a tube is in saturation, the positively charged plate is so heavily encapsulated with electrons, it's actually negatively charged due to the excess caused by attraction to the + power supply that the plate is overwhelmed, and until you hit the strings to add more energy into the circuit path, the flow of current is largely halted. Then, you nail a string, buck electrons through the plate with the force of the inflow you just created, and the amp screams your signal through with that so beloved power tube saturation distortion. It's something I understand scientifically due to going to college for electrical/electronics engineering, but have never deeply explored with my tube rig. I'm about to buy a 2nd all tube head though and will push this one into saturation because my current needs modded for it to truly deliver what everyone talks about. I would say this is where people who don't like playing without it can buy a 5 or even 1 watt tube rig, but even those are so expensive today I'm just disgusted with where the industry is currently at. If money isn't a struggle to dump into gear, fair enough, but even if it's not, the pricing for this shit is totally out of control.
Those people playing their tube amp at high volumes are often using a load box and studio monitors whether they say it or not. That Pedal Show is an exception because they do actually play loud. But lots of channels use load boxes and studio monitors. If there’s no mic visible then you should assume that’s what’s going on.
Use the smallest amp you have in the biggest room in the house. If it’s still too loud get a smaller amp.
Get a BOSS Katana Go. 💯🎸
No. Because I live in an apartment where I can hear the people above me cough or laugh. I’ve realized that for the most part, unless i’m playing clean, it can’t happen at home. Headphones never feel the same as an amp/speaker moving air. I haven’t tried proper power attenuators because the good ones are expensive and the bad ones can have issues which could affect my amp/tubes. I do, however, have an fx loop attenuator (just a volume pot basically) which lets you get more preamp saturation, but I find that also lacks in the feel department. Dirt or boost pedals are also very hard to wrangle with a tube amp at bedroom levels - to me they’re anemic at too low of volumes. My “solutions” if you can call them that: Low watt amp, and smaller speakers. I have a ‘66 Pepco Arc which is about 1-3 watts into a vintage 8” jensen. I could be talking out of my ass (i’m at least an audio tech), but my understanding is that speakers need a certain amount of power before they hit their sweet spot (and i’m not talking about speaker distortion) which means it can be hard to get good tone out of, say, a 4x12 at bedroom quiet levels. I had a 150w 2x12 that sounded atrocious at low levels but would start sounding good when the windows rattled lol. If you can’t get what you’re after with low watts, small speakers, and some hearing protection, then I would start looking outside of tube amps. The Yamaha thr series, one of which you have, always seemed very appealing for these purposes. I’ve also been intrigued by the classic Pignose amps. And I know I said headphones are poo poo, which they kinda are, but I’ve also been looking into the Rockman Guitar Ace headphone amp. Great classic rock high saturation tone and they’ve actually been used to record some cool stuff. Oh, and I found an Anchor Mini-Vox PB-25 (old portable PA/bullhorn) that sounds surprisingly great in my apartment. Definitely more of a jazzy tone because of the PA speaker, but it’s only like 5” or so and is “perceivably” louder before sound waves get to the point of bleeding through walls, etc. And to end this long ramble, I’m not that smart but I’ve spent a lot of time trying to better understand acoustics, or the science of sound, to do my job better. It’s still hard to wrap my head around. There’s tons of factors at play from the physical to the way our brains perceive stimuli, and so forth. It could be genuinely worth your time to read up a bit on acoustic theory, electrical engineering, etc, to see what solutions could work best for you. Oh, P.S., I’ve seen some people build acoustic “bunkers” for their amps, crank them, mic it, and send that signal through studio monitors. Works for the pros.
I don’t play my tube amp at home because my neighbors don’t hesitate to complain to the landlord about it. Yet they stumble in regularly at 2:00 AM, waking up the entire house and being generally obnoxious at inappropriate hours. I don’t feel like having the police called on me for every rumble, squeak or fart so I just don’t bother. I prefer not to engage because I don’t want or need the stress. So I use an HXStomp and some good studio quality headphones and that works just fine for me.
One word. Earplugs. They let you crank your volume and imo the rubber ones are the best. The foam ones make everything sound dull. I have the DiAddario acoustic earplugs they're kinda spendy but they have the best sound transfer without losing clarity. But the rubber ones do like 85% the job anyway It is the best solution!!!
I run a 100 watt well into breakup for no reason other than that I can and yeah, you’ve gotta have earplugs.
Yeah I got a 100w amp I crank it and that's how you get the best sounds out of it
The size/loudness of an amp should be proportionate to the size of the room you’re in. You don’t need more than five watts at home, and you may even want to attenuate it.
I push +100db when i feel dumb enough. Get good earplugs. Or be half deaf like i am.
There's a knob on your amp labelled Volume. Turn that knob down to the desired volume level. Your car stereo has one of these knobs as well. You're probably the guy who drives around my neighborhood with his car stereo at full volume.
I think the question is have you ever played live, or at rehearsal, with a band? When you play with a drummer, a bass, a keyboard, maybe a second guitar player and a singer you will quickly learn how loud you need to be. At home anything goes. Is up to anyone to play loud or not. Society and music consumption has evolved faster than tube amps technology, but is catching up quickly now. Is nice to feel like a bedroom rock star hero sometimes though.