Quote:
Originally Posted by blue
It's tough. What a lot of folks who grew listening to classic rock through early metal were hearing was power section distortion, not preamp distortion. That's pretty much what the loud Marshall experience is.
A lot of bedroom amps let you lower the power section volume, and control gain with the preamp section. That's a great development to get distortion at low volumes, but it isn't what we've been raised on. So it sounds lacking to folks who have gigged with amps they've turned up above "6".
That's why I like my Mesa Transatlantic. It has the "Master Volume" and "Gain" (actually lets you bypass the master volume on channel 1) abilities of modern amps, but it also lets you pick how many power tubes you're running so it lets you push the power end at 7, 15, or 25 watts.
Even a 7 watt amp being run hard is too loud for bedroom if you ask me and sends me running for my ear plugs. But the character changes as soon as you turn up past 5 or 6 which can be doable depending on your living situation. It's just a different sound.
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Interesting..... for me personally (who is newly back into electric guitar and has not played electric since 1969)
I have no expectations of sound... (also I personally do not really care for significant metal-ish type distortion) Which is why I suppose I really enjoy the sound of my Supro 50 watt tube amp. Even at the low volume levels I normally play it at, in the house. The clarity and "warmth" ( yes funky cliche') even at only a 1/4 volume or less is IMO, superb.
I also have a 20 watt SS practice amp an, Orange Crush 20 RT (with the HP spk. cutout feature, for stealth practice ) that has as you describe a clean channel and a dirty channel with both volume and gain on the dirty channel , that can distort quite a bit a low volume , but I actually the play the clean channel almost all the time . But between the two amps at low volume I still much prefer the tube amp
those two.