Amp question

[08 Ric 4003]

I have a 40 watt Fender all tube Hot Rod Deluxe guitar amp that is loud as hell. I also have an Acoustic B100 solid state 100 watt bass amp. Now here is my question. I know as an electrician that when you double wattage you only gain 3db in loudness. Most players ask I upgraded from a Marshall 50 watt to a Marshall 100 watt and it is not that much louder. Doubling your wattage does not mean twice as loud. 10 times the wattage mean twice as loud. Why, to me does my 40 watt guitar amp seem like it is 10 times louder than a 100 watt bass amp? I have even plugged my guitars into my bass amp side by side to compare. My 100 watt amp should be a little louder that a 50 watt amp, but to me it seems to not be. 50 watts is 50 watt and 100 watts is 100 watts. It should not matter if it is solid state or tubes.

[Ilikewater]

its a trick on your ear, not your fault. A quick google search led to a bunch of sites saying basically the same thing: "what you are hearing is not louder but more distorted." A tube amp can sound up to 12 db louder than an undistorted ss amp. I've often wondered myself why a 40 watt tube sounded louder than my 100 watt ss. Thanks for finally pushing me to look it up.

[ken_j]

Speaker efficiency plays a roll in this also. Some speakers produce less db per watt than others.

[08 Ric 4003]

I usually play my amps clean and let the effects do the OD and distortion.

[bitzerguy]

Speaker efficiency plays a roll in this also. Some speakers produce less db per watt than others.

This accounts for quite a bit of perceived volume. A difference of efficiency between two speakers of -6db is perceived as half the volume, assuming both amps are identical, even though the power is not halved. Note this is perceived volume level. Also a factor is the sensitivity of the given speaker. The difference between SPL ratings of a Celestion G12-70 at 93db in a 50W amp and an Emminence Tonkerlite at 101db in a 22W amp (in my case) has resulted in a perception of the 22W amp being MUCH louder than the 50W amp. Using a cheap sound meter (Radio Shack) the 22W amp with 101db SPL speaker measured 7db louder than the 50W amp with the 93db speaker, volumes pinned.

There is a quite clear explanation at the GM Arts dot org website.