I just bought a fifty watt amp with two twelve inch speakers (Crate Palomino). I live in an apartment so I have to play at pretty low volume. I’m wondering if I’m even hearing any tube effects at all…
At low volume, you mostly hear preamp gain. At higher volumes, the power amp adds some too. Some people like that, while others don’t really care. If you enjoy the sound you’re getting, that’s what matters most.
Tube power amp distortion usually sounds nice, but solid state power amp distortion doesn’t sound as good. Preamp gain can still sound great, depending on the amp.
Yes, even at low volume you’re getting tube saturation in the preamp.
And to anyone who shouts ‘old man,’ I also use digital amps and sims for recording. It’s just another option for your sound. Use what works for you and gives you the sound you want.
Tube amp? Well, it’s a tube amp, so all the signal is going through the tubes. As long as the speakers have enough power to move, you’re hearing the tubes. It might be a bit too much for apartment life, but it should sound clean enough at practice volumes.
Tube amps do sound good at low volume, but they really shine when you crank them up. You could buy or build an attenuator that goes between the speakers and the amp. That way, you can turn up the amp without making the room louder.
A digital amp will probably sound better at low volume than your 50W tube amp set to 0.01.
50W in an apartment? Wow. Are you trying to get the worst neighbor award?
I live in a condo too, so I’m kind of in the same situation with my 50W head. I use a Two Notes Torpedo Captor, which works as an attenuator and makes it sound good at lower volumes.
Ming said:
I live in a condo too, so I’m kind of in the same situation with my 50W head. I use a Two Notes Torpedo Captor, which works as an attenuator and makes it sound good at lower volumes.
I highly recommend the Torpedo Captor. It’s a great product. Just make sure to match the right one for the ohms of your amp and speaker.
Not all amps are the same. A tube amp at low volume doesn’t automatically become pointless. You won’t get into overdrive at low volumes, though, if that’s what you’re hoping for.
I live in a condo, so I use an attenuator to lower the overall volume but still crank up the amp’s gain.
I’ve been doing this for two years now and haven’t gotten a single noise complaint at night.
It probably sounds great and super clean. You could always return it and get a smaller 5W amp if you want something quieter.
I ended up selling my tube amp for this very reason. I just couldn’t play it loud enough to really get that good tube sound. Meanwhile, my solid state amp sounds consistent at all volumes.
It’s not pointless, but you won’t get the power amp tubes to work at low volume. You could get an attenuator or just play clean at low volume and get your overdrive or distortion from a pedal board.
You need an attenuator to crank the amp up but keep the final volume lower.
In my experience, if you’re practicing in a place with a lot of people around, your best bet is to use a lower wattage amp. I could get a nice crunch from my Ibanez TSA5 and VOX AC4 with a 12" Greenback Celestion at lower volumes.
I eventually upgraded to the TSA15, but it was too loud for the neighbors. I had to turn it back down to 5W to keep it reasonable.