If you play the guitar, you gig or you’re shopping for a new guitar amp, you’ve likely noticed that low-watt tube amps are slowly becoming the norm. They’re rising in popularity. Fast.
The larger 20/30/50/100 watt amps are now becoming less and less prevalent onstage and at home.
And there’s a good reason for it.
We, guitarists and bass players have it a bit rough these days with the increasing decline of live music venues. With fewer places to play (and less pay), we’ve also got to deal with stricter noise requirements when we DO perform.
But there’s a silver lining – lower-wattage amps have become more popular and affordable, making them perfect for practice, smaller gigs and venues where the sound engineer is forced to turn us down due to potential noise complaints.
It’s not their fault – it’s just the way it is.
In addition, the use of low-wattage tube amplifiers has grown significantly in recent years, especially with the rise of home recording, the lack of space at home, the need for smaller rigs or even direct-in (especially bass) or silent guitar rigs with more musicians discovering the unique benefits they offer in terms of sound and functionality.
But are low-wattage amps better? Why have they grown in popularity? Do guitar amps with a higher wattage sound better than low-wattage amps? We’ll answer your questions.
Let me caveat by saying there is nothing wrong with high-wattage amplifiers; they will ALWAYS have their place. I have 2×30-watt amps and multiple low-wattage amps including the Laney LA-Studio amplifier – and they all have their place and best use cases at home, in the studio and onstage. But you can’t always crack out a 30-watt amp at home at full volume…unless you hate your neighbours.
Let’s get stuck in.
No. There’s no “better” amp. Just better ways to use it. If you like tube amp distortion at lower volumes (without having to turn up the master volume) lower wattage amps are better for you as you can achieve harmonic distortion at lower volumes. If you want high-volume clean tones, then high-wattage amps are better. If you’re playing smaller-sized venues, low-wattage amps may be best for you. If you are playing festivals and stadiums, you may want the power of a high-wattage amp so you can hear the sound behind you.
Pic: The Laney LA-Studio being used to record guitars.
Low-wattage amps usually have a Master volume or Power Brake and then a Gain control. This means you can crank the preamp tubes to get your pleasing harmonic distortion without the volume. Higher-wattage amps, especially tube amps need to be turned up loud to send the tubes into saturation and then achieve that pleasing harmonic distortion.
Higher-wattage amps, especially vintage-styled amps usually only have Master Volume and Tone controls. So you have less control over the Gain stage. If you want louder volume without distortion, also known as “headroom”, you generally need higher wattage.
In terms of playing live, some guitarists these days will find low-wattage amps better. They solve a lot of problems for bands when it comes to volume management on stage. When one instrument is too loud (the drummer), other band members have to turn up their amps, leading to excessive stage volume. The sound engineer tries to control this, but if they can’t, the band and audience both have a poor experience onstage – everything is too loud and feeding back. With a manageable stage volume, each member can hear themselves through the monitors, the sound guy can mix you properly and the audience enjoys the show more.
Turning up to a small gig with a 100-watt tube amp will inevitably be followed with “can you turn that down, please” by the sound engineer. Trust me on this one…we’ve also covered how loud your amp should be on stage here.
We also asked Simon Fraser-Clark – tone wizard and brand manager at Laney:
“Present-day health and safety prevents you from turning the volume on amps up loud.
If a sound engineer can have a low sound stage – he can mix you a lot better. If you have a 50-watt amp, you’re never going to get to turn it up and generate the power amp distortion – because you’re never going to turn your power amp up. Classic guitar tones are almost always smaller amps turned up loud in the studio, anyway – no one turns an amp up all the way.
Sometimes small is beautiful.”
This is subjective. But at lower volumes, low-wattage amps achieve the pleasing harmonic distortion faster and at a safer volume. Higher-wattage amps achieve that harmonic distortion but you have to crank them. You may like this, but you’re going to get to the pleasing tones faster with a low-watt amplifier.
Again, either amp may sound “better” to your ear than the other. You may enjoy the higher headroom of a turned-up higher-wattage amp, or prefer the sound of a heavily distorted smaller-watt amp. It’s entirely subjective.
I personally love the feel and utter satisfaction of cranking a Laney Lionheart way up high for gigs, but absolutely love that the likes of the Laney LA-Studio amplifier can get those classic tube amp tones at a lower volume at home, in my headphones and through my DAW when I need to record.
I can’t always record a dimed tube amp at home, but the straight DAW capabilities of the LA-Studio captures that incredible tube saturation perfectly and sounds awesome! You can read more about why it’s one of the best tube amps for home use and studio recording here.
In short, low-wattage amps are lighter to carry, cheaper, drive harder, achieve better harmonic distortion at all volumes and can adapt to all playing scenarios. PA systems are so good these days so higher volume onstage isn’t a necessity. People are running silent stages, and in-ear monitoring, so smaller amps are slowly becoming the preferred choice for musicians as your sound engineer just needs to take a nice signal from your amp via a good microphone and push it out through the PA.
You’re not the only one wondering why all the high-wattage amps disappeared.
In recent years, the trend has been towards lower-wattage amplifiers because low-wattage amps get the same tone as a high-wattage amp at lower volumes, they’re easier to carry (tube amps are HEAVY) and they typically cost less than their higher-wattage counterparts. Additionally, many gigging players find that they can still achieve adequate volume in most live situations with a decent guitar or bass cabinet, or going direct into the PA system with an ampless guitar rig, streamlining their gear.
The use of lower-wattage amps also allows for more flexibility in terms of tone and sound. Players can experiment with different settings and effects to create the driven tube sounds and see how they react with pedals – something that may not be achievable with a higher wattage amp.
Furthermore, lower-wattage amps are often more portable, making them ideal for gigging musicians who need to transport their equipment.
We’ve also covered how many watts you need for a concert in another article.
Another reason small, low-wattage amps have risen in popularity is down to the fact that some have amp modelling, impulse response and cab-sim capabilities. We, guitarists, want a world of different sounds but can’t physically carry 3-4 amps to a gig! This is why we created the Laney-LA-Studio Amplifier and collaborated with Two-Notes – we want to provide players with a host of incredible amp tones and presets that they could actually use onstage, at home and in the studio with just one amp!
You can read more about the 6 awesome presets on the LA-Studio HERE.
If you want to start building a digital guitar rig, or need to know the difference between digital vs analog guitar rigs, you’ll want to understand the benefits of FRFR cabinets, so we recommend checking out our article on why the Laney LFR cabinets are so good (and one of the best FRFR cabinets out there!)
We asked tone wizard and the brains behind some of the most iconic Laney amplifiers and effects, Simon Fraser Clark, about this and it turns out it’s all about a cultural reference.
“We all have a cultural reference of what we feel is a good guitar sound. All those references of sounds are sounds of amps turned up really loud. In the mid-70s Van Halen had his amps modified to give more preamp gain by putting an extra tube in his amp – from that moment, guitarists became obsessed with preamp gain.”
Tony Iommi cranked his Laney L100BL on the first 3 Black Sabbath albums, and Hendrix blew us all away when ‘Axis Bold As Love’ came out – all sounds that have shaped the way we hear and the way we WANT to hear amplifiers.
This explains why we strive to get that pre-amp gain and WANT that tube amp distortion. Whether it’s Hendrix, Van Halen, or Tony Iommi we became obsessed with vintage preamp distortion thanks to these artists cranking the preamps and power amps on their amplifiers!
However, the amps back in the 60s and 70s were made to be loud onstage as PA systems just couldn’t cope!
Not so, today.
“The amp sound on ‘Axis Bold As Love’ was the product of a preamp, power amp and speaker – the “Tone Triangle”. Once you have all those in balance you’ve got the perfect sound.
But shortly after EVH gets his amps modded, Tony Iommi explodes onto the scene inventing heavy metal and guitarists developed an obsession with preamp distortion, PA speakers started getting better – so guitarists were being told to turn down.”
The same happens today. Unless we’re playing stages or festivals, we can’t always have a massive 50-100 watt amp blaring!
So what happens to a guitar population obsessed with preamp distortion when the sound engineer is telling you to turn amps down?“The Tone Triangle was getting skewed. Guitarists were trying to achieve the same driven tones at lower volumes but couldn’t do it. It started to become all preamp, no power amp, and very little through the amp speaker.
The good tones started to vanish onstage”
Pic: The Laney LA-Studio fuses tube amp construction with the Two Notes Torpedo technology.
The Laney LA-Studio and other Laney amplifiers were invented to combat this loss of incredible tone. Amps like the high-wattage Laney Lionhearts that can be cranked at lower volumes, the vintage-inspired powerhouse and highly collectable Laney LA100SM Super modified Supergroup amplifier with Master volume as used by Billy Corgan and the Laney Cub-Super12 with 1-watt power brake all allow us to get that preamp + power amp distortion and tone triangle sweetness at lower volumes.
As Simon puts it, the Tone Triangle is a “Dark Art”.
“That little bit of mystical power amp distortion is starting to vanish from music – for this reason we started making smaller amps like the Laney LA-Studio which allows you to get your power amp section back – the speaker and preamp are working hard but the volume isn’t. You’re still getting power, and the amp is pushing hard, but at lower volumes bringing back those Dark Arts.
With low-wattage amps, you’re getting that back. Getting back the magic you lost.”
I think we can all agree that getting that magic back onstage is a good thing. This constant evolution is just another reason why Laney is the best choice for guitar amps.
When it comes to choosing an amplifier, we tend to think the big and brash 4×12 cabinets are going to sound best. And yes, they often do in a festival or stadium! But if you’re a gigging musician playing smaller gigs and you want the same cranked sound you can get at a venue, at home and in the studio, smaller, low-wattage amps are a great choice.
You can replicate the sound of a completely tube-saturated amplifier at less than 1 watt, enjoying the subtle breakups and nuances your tubes have to offer without disturbing the neighbours and record an amp that sounds like it’s singing loud inside a professional studio, at home.
Sounds pretty magical to me.
Yes and no, but in a good way – they achieve break up at lower volumes. So that sound you want of a cranked amp? You get that at lower levels that the sound guy and studio engineer can handle!
Yes, you can definitely gig with a low-watt tube amp. While a 3-watt amp or less won’t provide the same level of power as a higher-wattage amp, for small to mid-sized venues you’ll be fine as most of your sound will be coming through the fold-back speakers or in-ears. Additionally, low-wattage tube amps typically provide great tonal clarity so you won’t have to worry about a muddy sound onstage or through the PA speakers.
No. It’s a myth that when playing with a low-wattage tube amp, you need to adjust your playing style to take into account the lower volumes. With the likes of the Laney LA-Studio and the Laney CUB-SUPER series, they’re designed to respond to the subtle nuances of your playing and the tubes react just as they would if the amp was loud.
Pic: Pictured: Laney Cub-Super12
Low-wattage tube amplifiers are ideal for small to mid-sized venues, as they provide a great tone without being too loud. They are also ideal for home recording or practice sessions, as they don’t require too much power and won’t make too much noise. If you’re looking for a great tone without having to worry about volume levels at home or when recording, a low-wattage tube amp is ideal.
The likes of the LA-Studio low-wattage tube amp is perfect for recording in the studio, as it provides 6 different warm, vintage and modern sound presets that digital amps are struggling to get right – we think we’ve nailed it when it comes to creating the ultimate digital guitar rig. We suggest reading our blog on how many watts does my guitar amp need to be if you’re wondering how loud an amp needs to be for stage, studio and recording.