Inside- 90% of the time a head and 4X12 will do.
Outside, I like to push air around. I'll use 2 heads and 2 or three cabs.

zom-zom wrote:I have to say though, Metallica was pretty awesome that night, in the middle slot.

I saw Metallica on the And Justice for All tour, and they had zero amps onstage, that you could see.

It sounded like God. I guess they sideamp a lot. They had a massive, incredible PA.

Cult opened with wall of stacks jazz. Sounded terrible, but I think Metallica was only letting them use about 1/8 of the PA.

Redline wrote:Inside- 90% of the time a head and 4X12 will do.
Outside, I like to push air around. I'll use 2 heads and 2 or three cabs.

Outside? My wig blows off.

why big rig?

because LOUDER is BETTER*.







*some exceptions may apply.

I got told that a perfect 200w amp, such as a Hiwatt (with a matched cab), will always be louder than a row of 100 watt head amps. True?

space junk wrote:I got told that a perfect 200w amp, such as a Hiwatt (with a matched cab), will always be louder than a row of 100 watt head amps. True?

There is no way this could possibly be true. Think of it in the extreme... would a thousand 100W amps be quieter than a single 200W amp? On what planet?

Actually, just two 100W amps, each into its own 4x12, would be louder than a single 200W amp into a single identical 4x12. Because you'd have the same power (200W total) but twice as many speakers moving air.

Whoever told you that maybe doesn't know much about math, physics, amps, acoustics, whatnot.

scott wrote:

space junk wrote:I got told that a perfect 200w amp, such as a Hiwatt (with a matched cab), will always be louder than a row of 100 watt head amps. True?

There is no way this could possibly be true. Think of it in the extreme... would a thousand 100W amps be quieter than a single 200W amp? On what planet?

Actually, just two 100W amps, each into its own 4x12, would be louder than a single 200W amp into a single identical 4x12. Because you'd have the same power (200W total) but twice as many speakers moving air.

Whoever told you that maybe doesn't know much about math, physics, amps, acoustics, whatnot.

Isn't there a point where you can't generate any more volume, or it diminishes or something? Can you have an equal signal going to, say, ten 100W amps? I'm sure you're right, I'm just interested.

zom-zom wrote:

owens wrote:I use a lot of amps because I like the way it sounds and I can.

What band are you in? I like a good larf.

Lords. What's a larf?

More importantly, what makes so many of you think that the "big rig" is primarily about volume. Tone and spatial issues aside, the greater the speaker surface, the more air pushed...and at any volume that makes things sound different. Better or worse is just like, your opinion man...but that it will sound different is a factual objective observation. If you were really bored and/or still cant understand this simple premise...then you could take one amp and put it next to 4 amps running together, match the outputs with a decibel meter...then observe the difference between the two.

space junk wrote:Isn't there a point where you can't generate any more volume, or it diminishes or something? Can you have an equal signal going to, say, ten 100W amps? I'm sure you're right, I'm just interested.

To split your signal ten ways, I would suggest an active setup. Passively splitting it that many ways, I dunno.

But about the point where you can't move any more air... a single jet engine can be louder than fuck. A shitload of amps and speakers could get louder, I'd bet. Your voicecoils and magnets might get insanely large and heavy... Horn speakers can have ridiculously high output. Acoustics goes non-linear at a point, where the energy wave is such that it actually rips apart the air. But you're talking about really, really loud shit. Like a fighter jet flying over you, 3 miles above you, and you can hear it passing.

With regard to amps... if you're going nearly that loud, you should turn down so you're exploding people's eyeballs and whatnot.

scott wrote:

space junk wrote:Isn't there a point where you can't generate any more volume, or it diminishes or something? Can you have an equal signal going to, say, ten 100W amps? I'm sure you're right, I'm just interested.

To split your signal ten ways, I would suggest an active setup. Passively splitting it that many ways, I dunno.

But about the point where you can't move any more air... a single jet engine can be louder than fuck. A shitload of amps and speakers could get louder, I'd bet. Your voicecoils and magnets might get insanely large and heavy... Horn speakers can have ridiculously high output. Acoustics goes non-linear at a point, where the energy wave is such that it actually rips apart the air. But you're talking about really, really loud shit. Like a fighter jet flying over you, 3 miles above you, and you can hear it passing.

With regard to amps... if you're going nearly that loud, you should turn down so you're exploding people's eyeballs and whatnot.

i'd see a band called, "exploding whatnot."