This is a big question. The facts are: To get twice the volume of a 15W amp you need 150W, to get twice the volume of a 30W amp you need 300W. One of the most popular studio amps is a Fender Deluxe Reverb (22W, 1x12). Many recordings have been made with a Fender Tweed Deluxe (14W, 1x12) and smaller amplifiers like a Fender Champ (6W, 1x8). Stage use demands a louder amplifier to project your sound more fully, but if your amplifier sounds great to you and can be mic’d into the PA, then you can have that great tone and make it louder without being too loud for the stage and audience.
Higher powered amplifiers move the “sweet spot” (just on the edge of breaking up so you can be clean or edgy with your attack and volume control) higher in the volume range, cost more, weigh more, may require specialized tubes or more output tubes, will upset all stage sound techs and worse, will make your drummer play louder. If you have a high powered tube amplifier that only sounds great when it is too loud for most venues, how is that a good thing? Or if you use a power soak device to allow you to crank your amp but maintain lower volumes by dumping power, isn’t that like driving a Ferrari with space saver spare tires? Get a grip and start thinking about your options.
Fat One Replicas include low, medium and high power combos and amplifiers. Fat One original designs all have Master Volume controls so you can work with lower volume levels and still have output tube overdrive and/or pre-amplifier tube overdrive. You choose.
