Choosing the right amp

[Buschman]

You were probably louder offstage than you think. 2x12s throws out lots of sound. Thing is the 18 is a soft amp. It has a real soft attack & lot's of compression. This makes it great for a 3 piece but not so great with more guitars or horns onstage with you.

[krash]

Speakers make a HUGE difference and also how saturated or distorted you want the tone can make a big difference.

My 72 amps have a power stage not unlike a beefed-up version of the 36W variations of the "18W" amps and with a 1x12 open-back combo and an Eminence Wizard, that amp is flippin' loud. Real loud. Not just "loud enough for bar gigs" but loud enough to make the audience run from the room with bleeding ears in a bar gig. Well that's an exaggeration but it's really, really loud when you get it cranked.

My 18W OTOH just does not have the oomph. I agree with the others. It's "loud enough" when it's dimed (mine has a 103dB/w/m Eminence Red Fang) for a bar gig but you're not going to win any contest for volume. It sounds great, really great, and in the studio it sounds real loud but on the stage it gets lost reasonably easily when things really get cooking. This is with one of the most efficient speakers on the market! Put a greenback or a Sammi in there and I think it becomes a practice amp.

A Rocket is not going to be a whole lot louder than an 18W with the same speaker. A couple of dB maybe. Liverpool might get louder still due to SS rect. and more drive to the power stage but it'll be very saturated comparatively. These amps have pretty low plate voltages and give up some volume as a result.

[Zippy]

I'll chime in...I am by no means an expert but I have (had) all the amps you mentioned and then some:

2) an Express built by Nik w/ Moose's trannies

3) an Express built by Nik w/ Nik's trannies

I sold both Expresses. Great dynamic amps. Everything that people rave about these amps is true. Harmonic, musical feedback whenever you want it. Just too loud for anything I do.

Did you ever try them with 6V6s?

[shinrock]

if you play in a rock type situation with a heavy handed drummer, do not i repeat DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON AN 18 WATT AMP. you will regret it.

[Mar]{o]

Thanks for your answers...

I just started to play with a drummer, but I don't have my band amp yet. This drummer has a SS Randall 200W amp there, 2x12 combo, I was really suprised because I had that amp volume really high and sometimes I noticed it wasn't loud enough Strange anyway... And I agree that if 18 watt wouldn't be loud enough for me, It would be really bad, because I would have to sell it and get something else. And I DON'T like the amps that are like Peavey Classic and that kind of stuff!

Now I'll have to do some more thinking about amp :S And my order will delay a little, because I started a Real McTube drive (heavily modded) just to get me started and ready for something bigger.

I guess I'll have to collect some more money and go for a TW Liverpool or a Plexi/JTM-45.

Any comments? Thanks!

[Mar]{o]

Another question... Has anyone compared Liverpool or Express to a Soldano SLO 100?

Any comments are appreciated!

Thanks!

[Darkbluemurder]

A SLO is a high gain amp which gets the bulk of its sound from the preamp. It is therefore radically different from any Trainwreck design which gets much of its tone from overdriving the poweramp.

[Mar]{o]

Yes, I know this, but I was thinking about comparing the tone of those two amps...

Thanks!

[Darkbluemurder]

The SLO has much more mids as well. This is mostly due to the 470k/2200pf network before the OD gain control, the 1000pf cap over the plate resistor on the 3rd gain stage and the 47k slope resistor and the 0.047 PI caps.