Quote from: Puguglybonehead on September 18, 2011, 01:07:24 PMThe reason why people think tube is louder then solid-state , is because . well SS practice amps are always given *s!!t* speakers .
As a guitarist, I've come to realize, not that much power is really needed. My band is a basic old-school punk band. (we started playing in 1978) Drums, bass, guitar, singer (if you can actually call what he does "singing"). In the past, I would use an 80 watt, 80 lb Traynor Mark 3 combo. This thing could blast a Fender Twin off the stage, no problem. It was way too much power! I only had occasion to turn it above 3 once. That was at an outdoor gig at Nathan Phillips Square.
I realized how much I hated hauling this 80 lb monster around. Now I use an old 20 watt Supro, a small combo with a single 10" speaker. It's so small, I can carry it to gigs in my backpack. I installed the best 10" speaker I could afford, an Eminence Ragin' Cajun. It's rated at 100dB SPL sensitivity. I've found this setup to be more than enough, even with an aggressive drummer. No problem being heard. Strangely enough, I'm still not turning this amp up much past 3.
I would think that a 20 to 30 watt amp in a combo with something like the 12" Eminence Wizard (103 dB SPL) would be more than enough for any situation. In fact, I'll bet that a speaker like that could make a decently designed 10-watt amp be heard just fine.
10W can do some serious *s!!t* with a 103db monster . ( no less 30W )
but i think it can at most do ... 105db .
i don't know about 30W , though . But my insane 30W DSP amp ( i have never been able to crank it up above 2 ) , came with a unnamed mad 10" 98db , can do some serious sound . It even won those dumb AC30's