I tried out some Marshalls this weekend (TSL and 50watt Jcm 2000) and I was wondering what are the pros/cons of getting a 50 watt head and a 100 watt head?

pro's

50w tube, its easier to push the tubes into saturnation for that sweet overdriven tube sound

50w is loud enough for most practise stuff

cons.

50w might not be enough if you play really loud, I've gigged with a 60w top twice and it was allright, but I didn't have much of a reserve, that's where a 100w head comes in handy, especially if you have two guitarist.

Depends on what you're gonna use it for.

Well I'm really on a tight schedule and want to finish my death metal album before I graduate in May. I mainly want to record it and I'll play some shows if I can get them but I wouldn't think you'd need a 100 watt head unless the venues was extremely large. Death metal bands don't really get big gigs and it would seem that the 100 watt would be too loud to get the same tone as the 50. what about Laney 50 watt GH50L?

that laney gets great reviews. I only tried the other one, that tommy iommi thing, I think its the 100w version, it wasn't bad at all and not overpriced too. Has a way different sound then the marshalls though, but its whatever you prefer

If you don't play relatively big shows (lets say, 400+ people) then you'll be fine with a 50watter as long as theres a pa and you're mic'd up. If its floorshows without pa's and only a vocal system, you might want to consider the 100w, depends on your band too, if you're the only guitarist you won't have any problem at all.

So a 50 watt won't push hard enough for small venues? We have two guitar players and we play lots of harmonies. I'm considering the Gh50L because the price and the fact that I can record now and if I start getting bigger shows I can upgrade to something bigger. I don't want to get a real powerful amp if I'm going to grad school and playing guitar by myself.

a 50w tube amp will be enough for most people, depends on how loud your band plays really. I played medium sized venues (up to 400 persons) with a 60w tube amp, it was mic'de up but I still had a good stage sound.

If you start doing really big shows it might be worth upgrading, but I think you'll be fine with 50 watts, just check out the amp and see how loud it is, its different for each amp but my engl savage is might loud. I upgraded to a powerball though, for live use, but I've still got the savage at home, it sounds good at lower volumes too.

i find myself cranking 100w tube setups to ten.. but my band is insanely loud and the guitars need to sear.... a 50w tube halfstack should do okay for small shows. for medium to large shows you'll probably want assistance from the PA. i prefer most of my sound to come from my amp, mic'ing through a PA can suck tone really bad, you just lose quality... but it's still important in certain situations because PA assistance will help you out in volume and an evenly projected sound.

if you might not want powetube saturation, some people suprisingly dislike it, either for really super cleans or a colder lead tone.

but 50w is still fucking loud.... 100w is a bit louder and much cleaner....

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what tube amp are you cranking to 10 xdx?

damn, my ears would bleed.

i sure as hell hope u wear-ear plugs xdx

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a jcm 900 4100...
and my peavey classic 50/50.

my guitarist's 5150 is usually on about 6-10 depending on how he feels.

with my cs800 i only turn one side(400w s.s.) to about 3-4 and it's equally loud.

of course i wear protection

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