Any Chance Of Playing A 100watt Halfstack In A Bedroom |
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Sep 30 2008, 12:24 AM
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You should buy a power attenuator which allows you to drive the tubes but with low volume levels. A good example of such product would be the THD Hot Plate
This post has been edited by Toni Suominen: Sep 30 2008, 12:24 AM -------------------- Gear:
-PRS Custom 22 -Edwards Les Paul -PodXT -Ibanez Acoustic Check out my lessons and my instructor profile! My Youtube channel My Last.FM |
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Sep 30 2008, 12:55 AM
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http://www.thomann.de/de/thd_hot_plate_8.htm
Like that one? Hmm turns extreme volume into hot air and let's the pure tone through...That might work! --------------------  Gear: - Jackson USA Select KV2 King V with EMG 81/85 - Gibson Les Paul Custom Arctic White with EMG 81/85 - Ibanez Rg 8527 J Custom 7-String with DiMarzio Evolution and Air Norton - Peavey 6505+ head with Marshall 1960AV 4x12 cab - Peavey Vypyr 30 Practice Amp - Dunlop Crybaby From Hell, Maxon OD808, Boss TU-2, MXR CarbonCopy, ISP Decimator, MXR Custom Audio Electronics Booster |
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Gear: Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster, Gibson '67 RI Flying V, Mesa Boogie F-30 112 combo, crazy pedals.
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Sep 30 2008, 08:43 AM
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QUOTE (ZakkWylde @ Sep 30 2008, 01:09 AM)  Fix me up with your ideas (removing tubes to lower wattage is not the best option Well maybe it is  I got my 100W head and a 4x12 with it and it used to sit at home before I brought it to the band rehearsal room. Got to say it's a fantastic amp, I can play at almost no volume and have the same coloration of the sound as when I turn the volume up, it's amazing. (compared to my old JCM which sucked at every volume except full) So from that aspect I'm surprised a 100W head can work so well with bedroom playing. In the rehearsal room I had problems with 100W since it was so sensitive on the volume knob, going from 2-3 was like going from too scilent into drowning the band so it was troublesome finding the correct volume. I pulled two tubes and the volume became a lot more easy to handle. It's still crazy loud but moving from 2-3 on the volume knob is more controllable. Still I've got the same amazing sound. I think one could expect this from new amps, great sound already at low volumes. That wasn't the case 10-15 years ago. So further I tried to connect an attenuator (Weber lite 50) between the head and the cab to make it possible to make the head work even harder. Pulling two tubes was a good way to force tubes to run hotter and I expected the attenuator to make me able to double what the amp spits out and get my volume down. Which worked but the sound it gave didn't really change. I mean, if you try to get poweramp distortion from a Fender amp you'd have to go loud, an attenuator would help you there to manage the volume. But in my case I had the sound I wanted already at low volume and it's the same full sound also at higher volumes, only louder. Again, amazing amp and I guess the JVM will give you the same result.So pulling two tubes was the best thing I did so I could control the volume a bit better. Attenuator didn't add anything (nor did it remove anything) to the sound from this amp. I can see it's useful with other amps, like if I ever get a vintage Orange, Matchless or anything I'd want to push to the limit. Son't get me wrong, an attenuator is there to put your amp into saturation but as I experienced it my amp is already good at bedroom volumes and the attenuator would add too little at a too high cost - shorter lifespan of tubes and cost for the attenuator itself. Oh, and the JVM comes in a 50W model too, right? In my book 50W is a lot more useful than 100W. Try it to see how it sounds at low volumes, in a quiet room preferably so you can hear it right. -------------------- My bands homepage
All time favourites: B. Streisand - Woman in Love, M. Hopkin - Those were the days, L. Richie - Hello |
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Sep 30 2008, 10:32 AM
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This power attenuator might help you, but you have to face the fact that a 100W halfstack is NO bedroom amp! This amp will give you a good sound at a certain volume, and just by switching from a 4x12 to a 1x12 won't change a thing, it will only change your sound (only a 4x12 sounds like a 4x12) forget about other cabinets. I have never used such a power attenuator, but they are supposed to be ok as far as I know, but did you ever think about using something different at home? Today there is no real need to put up a half stack in your bedroom, there are things like Guitar Rig, pandora, Pods and so on, you can get a really nice tone out of those things and they are much easier to handle at home. I abolutely love my Rectifiers, they deliver exactly the sound that I want, but I would never even think about setting one up here at home, I am perfectly fine with Guitar Rig here.
-------------------- Guitars: various Gibson Les Pauls / Gibson J 45
Amps: Mesa Boogie Tripple Rectifier / Triaxis / 2:90 Poweramp / Rectocabs Effects: Rocktron Intellifex / Rocktron Xpression Homepage: www.marcussiepen.com www.blind-guardian.com Check out my video lessons! |
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Sep 30 2008, 12:59 PM
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QUOTE (ZakkWylde @ Sep 30 2008, 01:55 AM) http://www.thomann.de/de/thd_hot_plate_8.htm Like that one? Hmm turns extreme volume into hot air and let's the pure tone through...That might work! This is indeed a great way to do it. By far the best way. Also, you can put from attuenator to PC, and use it with headphones and backings at the same time, jam all night! However you'd need a highpass to emulate the speakers. QUOTE (Noangels @ Sep 30 2008, 10:21 AM) You shouldnt realy have a problem,but your tone will suffer slightly at lower volumes The trouble with the Blade amp as mentioned above is the master volume on that is like a light switch-on or off! I drown out the band on 3 too!And have run it on about 9 to see just how loud it was-and it didnt sound a hell of a lot louder than the normal stage volume. I too pulled out two tubes from the poweramp section when I noticed one tube had just died on me,and used it like that for a few days untill I retubed all of them.Still sounded realy good,I might pull them out again and keep two tubes as backups My mesa dual rec has a lot better master volume,I expect the marshal has too-you should be able to find a happy medium for tone and wattage when using at home Clue is to have preamp turned high, so you atleast get a decent gain. Will definitely lack punch from the powervavles though, without an attuenator. Edit: @MickeM - Won't pulling tubes cause overcurrency in the remaining tubes? This post has been edited by kjutte: Sep 30 2008, 01:01 PM |
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Sep 30 2008, 05:29 PM
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It would be like driving a Porsche 911 turbo in a parking lot, sure you can do it, but the machine is made for the track.
Also, playing halfstack at half of volume in confined space can make you deaf in a long run, not to mention neighbours complaints and police that will bang on your door for disturbing the area with high volumes. That is no joke..  You can get a power attenuator, but the idea behind it is to get a good tone from TUBES not SPEAKERS. Since your aim is to have a halfstack, speakers also produce big part of the sound, so you wont get any characteristic 4x12 "thump", transients, dynamics, speaker distortion when playing on low volumes. So unfortunately you won't get the sound like in rehearsals at home from a halfstack unless you crank it. No way. Now as you probably know I bought a Marshall 60W combo with one 12 speaker. That thing is too loud for my bedroom as well, and it has roughly 40 percent of the sound compared to studio, so one speaker will help to tame the volume a bit, but one speaker is loud as hell as well, so playing even half the volume on it is out of the question for home use, unless you wanna problems with police, or live in remote area. On top of that, you already wrote that JVM combo has worse sound that a proper cab, so your suggestion to use 1x12 at home is contradictory to that. Removing tubes is NOT recommended, it can damage you tranny in a long run, because it is made to put power for exact number of tubes, not less. Marcus gave a pretty practical and true advice here - at home guitar pro or similar modelling software can give you all the sound you need. I know, you would think now:" but that is digital modelling, how can that create a good sound, that can't compare to a real thing". And you're right ti cannot compare to a real thing, but if you know how to use teh software well, you can make some great sounds. I recently did some experimenting with Guitar Rig 3, and I found out that it CAN create great presets and emulate a halfstack very very good if you know how to tweak the presets. GR3 emulates that 4x12 dynamics best of any software I had the chance to use. The trouble with it is that you need a good soundcard and some decent speakers, and you will get a good sound at low volumes, also you can make it great for recordings as well. So consider your options, halfstack is a real thing, but IMO for studio work, and gigs 2x12 is often a great solution. It is lighter and much better than 1x12. It is not as good as 4x12, but very solid option. Another good option is to buy 2 1x12 cabs, and you will even be able to carry them around yourself, instead of needed a helping hand with 2x12 and 4x12. This post has been edited by Ivan Milenkovic: Sep 30 2008, 05:32 PM -------------------- - Ivan's Video Chat Lesson Notes HERE
- Check out my GMC Profile and Lessons - (Please subscribe to my) YouTube Official Channel - Let's be connected through ! Facebook! :) |
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Sep 30 2008, 08:05 PM
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My answer is headphones
 Allthough.. I haven't played any of my guitars on mega high volume on a real amp yet, so I don't know what I'm missing. Hence; No disappointments
-------------------- GMC is not just a website... It's a lifestyle!
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Sep 30 2008, 08:07 PM
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QUOTE (kjutte @ Sep 30 2008, 01:59 PM) @MickeM - Won't pulling tubes cause overcurrency in the remaining tubes? No but you have to be careful to set the amp impedance to half of that the cab is at. So for a 8 Ohm cab one has to set the amp to 4 Ohms. -------------------- My bands homepage
All time favourites: B. Streisand - Woman in Love, M. Hopkin - Those were the days, L. Richie - Hello |
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Oct 1 2008, 11:22 AM
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Well since you love the sound of that amp and you will be using it at rehearsals (gigs) too , I would suggest buying it and later on worrying about the volume.
In this situation a power attenuator seems like a best bet...
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