Express Wattage Measurement

[Littlewyan]

For anyone interested I measured the wattage on my TW Express this morning.

Clean output - 36W
Distorted Output - 75W

Quite a loud bugger. Especially considering to get the clean output reading I had to turn the volume down to 0.5, every EQ down to 0 except for Treble which was about 3 I think. IF I remember rightly with the EQ on 5 and the volume on 1 it was already close to 75W!

[geetarpicker]

True these things are quite strong sounding. Still the best way to get cleans with these amps is to lower the guitar knobs. Also some audio taper pots come on quicker than others for sure. My '85 express volume pot is so smooth the amp is barely playing on 1/4, pretty rockin @ 1pm, but there is still a noticeable difference between 3:00 pm and full up. My '89 Express comes on quicker however, and the circuit is the same but different brand of pots. These amps are loud, however still not as loud as a 4 input JMP Marshall 50, and perhaps not as loud as a JTM45....gainier though. I have however played some wreck clones that were higher wattage than typical, the ceriatones for examplei. I played a Ceriatone that was louder with 6v6 tubes in it vs my '89 w/EL34s!

[Littlewyan]

I would have thought an Express would have been louder than a JTM45. Then again I guess it depends on what spec 45 you've got. An original might be louder but I think reissues only give out about 20-25w clean as they run on lower voltages. Although I think its more that they appear to be louder due to the tone of the amp. I remember thinking my Express was louder than my 1987xl I owned few years ago, but I didnt do a wattage measurement or anything.

Plus my Express has about 20V more on the plates than normal, not that it should make a big difference in tone.

[geetarpicker]

My originals run about 415v B+. My comparison with a JTM45 was an original 60s version, and I have a '70 JMP50 that measures out more like 65 watts clean. Still compare a wreck to an old 4 input Superlead 100 and the wreck will sound like a practice amp!

[Littlewyan]

Ah ok, my Express is only about 5VDC above your's. Sounds like you've got a good JMP50 there! Also sounds like you're quite lucky to have tried out an original JTM45! I bet it was awesome.

[katopan]

Great to have another reference. Mine measures 33W clean with a B+ spot on 400V.

[Stevem]

If we are taking about any 100 watt amps loudness being judged into what is normall 4-12 drivers as compared to another amp driving less speakers than that's no comparison to say the least !

[Roe]

mine started breaking up around 25w, if I remember correctly