I was watching the vid below about Ampeg SVTs and it was mentioned that the Beatles used 300W of bass amplification at a stadium gig. Shocking eh? I can only assume that (1) the gig was really quiet or (2) that 300W amp is way louder than the 300W amp I was listening to a pub gig the other day.
Watt for watt, are valve amps louder than solid state amps? For example, if I were to acquire an old 100W Marshall valve amp, would it be equivalent to a Fender Rumble 100?
Answer: no.
A watt is a watt!
Tubes have inherently more distortion, and artifacts in the tone, making it sometimes APPEAR louder.
Amps don’t make sound, the speakers do.
A bigger or more efficient cabinet (or 4) will make even a small wattage rig sound louder/bigger.
I can run a 150 Watt Trace Elliott (SS) into a 2x15 (70’s LabSeries L4, loaded with Emminence Kappalite 3015 drivers )
And it slams.
The SVT is great through it too.
You sir have some of the finest equipment - It’s like the Avengers but with bass gear 
So theoretically I could wire my Darkglass 200 to a decent set of speakers and get the same output volume as a 200W tube amp?
Yes: (and thanks)
A watt is a watt.
But: at the higher end where the amp begins to clip?
The valve amps are more musical. SS distortion sounds harsh.
A Tube amp begins to compress in the higher output levels, whereas a SS just starts to squarewave.
Some SS designers address that with design (circuits designed to emulate Tube like behavior)Darkglass being one.
Aha - so really, the main reason for getting a tube amp is for the distorted tone? If I want a clean tone at volume, I’d be better off spending the money on a bigger solid state amp with more headroom?
Or go for that SS with something like the Revolt tube preamp if you want a more authentic tube amp sound, or just rely on an SVT style preamp if authentic doesnt matter too much.
Yeah. Most of the amp and overdrive tone comes from the preamp, not the power amp. A tube preamp in front of a solid state power amp stage is a viable option.
I agree with @M3phist0 about the quality of the overdriven sound. In addition to the natural warm tube compression, the dual triode in typical preamp tube circuits generates even harmonics (i.e. octaves) when overdriving and sounds nice.
The transistors in solid state preamp circuits usually instead generate odd harmonics (i.e. perfect fifths, in effect a harmonic power chord) which still sounds good but definitely sounds harsher and less rounded/musical.
Also as @M3phist0 said, some manufacturers use preamp circuits to try and emulate tubes.
Had to wipe the drool off the keyboard to type this.
The blue and silver SVT is just so beautiful.
50th Anniversary Heritage SVT
2 preamp circuits 1969 “Blue Line” and mid-1970s Magnavox-era (jumpable)
Speakon, DI, 2 ohm capable.
Only master, no preamp gain.
Made in USA.
Killer amp
You’d be better served by more, efficient cabinets to squeeze the most volume.
Unless compact is necessary.
Then consider the point of diminishing returns,
As one cabinet can ONLY MOVE SO MUCH AIR.
Amps are not louder in the room cabinets are.
Hi All,
Is anyone using Metaphors by Electro-Harmonix? How was it? I’ve got Rumble 500 and this pedal. I’m not entirely sure what the correct blender is. Any output from your end?
I live, I learn! 
All this means is of course you need both
Akshully, the amps were mic’d and they just ran the sound though the ballpark’s PA system they had in place for announcing during ball games. Yeah, the sound was terrible. And the screaming meant the band couldn’t hear themselves. No wonder they stopped touring.
Sports stadums are nightmares for live gigs. I saw Priest at a small stadium a couple of weeks ago and the sound was awful - no bass or drums and the guitars were just noise. I think Halford was just phoning it in as well…
Jimmy Buffett live at Wrigley Field (2005) was excellent. It was a superb show. Because he wasn’t playing one of the big outdoor venues in the Chicago area, we couldn’t do our normal pre-show tailgating. Right before a Buffett show, we’d drive around in my friend’s pickup and look for an old couch left out on the curb. We’d throw it in the back, along with a couple of coolers, then go early and sit out in the parking lot drinking beer and burning through a couple of lids of herb. After the show, we’d push the couch out of the truck in the parking lot and leave it there. The Wrigley show was so good, we didn’t miss our normal routine. Well, not too much. A DVD/Blu-ray of that show is worth tracking down.
Whoa - that’s not your 36x12 cabnit is it?
Oo gnarly @TheMaartian - although admittedly apart from the fleas that does sound pretty cool
It’s not the fleas that worries M3!
“Why is there Elmer’s glue dried up all over this thing?”
Ahem
