Amps Getting Smaller? Options

[Bogdan Radovic]

I was recently thinking about the guitar amps and trying to guess the trends future calls for.
As with everything nowadays - amps are getting smaller as well.

I have especially noticed this with bass amps - there are some monster heads out there that can fit in your gig bag pocket.
Also there are lots of small guitar amp heads like Suhr Corso, Vox Lil Night Train, Orange Dark Terror etc...

This has led me to think, do we really need big rigs nowadays?

Sound is most important of course, but do we need bulky amps with tons of power?

This was my gigs philosophy when it comes to gigs space vs amp power :

1. Small clubs

In this space the amp usually is not mic-ed. Sound is comming of the stage. Amp needs to be reasonably loud to compete with the drums. Usually 50w solid state amp works extremely well in this situation.

2. Medium to large clubs

Here the band is getting mic-ed and everything goes to PA system. Stage volume is rather low and amps are used as monitoring.

3. Large venues/festivals etc

Here the full band is getting mic-ed + there are on stage monitors guaranteed. Again, stage volume is rather low and monitoring is mainly from on stage monitors assigned to each band member. What I have noticed on big stages is that you usually don't hear much of the amp sound on stage, especially if its an outdoor gig.

I suppose old amps always strived for power as they were used as primary sound source on gigs and sometimes only vocals would go on PA, even on larger gigs etc.

This has led me to think, when do we need to utilize huge rigs and high volume from the amp itself in these modern days?
What do you think guys?

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