[7 Strings of Hate]

yea, i'm starting to see that as a reoccuring theam, i figured 50 watts would naturally be quieter than 100 watts, but time and time again people are saying otherwise

[nitelightboy]

It's only a 3db difference from 50 watts to 100 watts. It's enough to be slightly noticed, but not enough to make a big difference in volume.

[budda]

play a 50W JCM800 halfstack on 8 and see if it's too quiet

[kmanick]

Originally Posted by budda

play a 50W JCM800 halfstack on 8 and see if it's too quiet

ya really, those are loud muthas.
my buddy has a 2X12 Jcm 800 (early one) that is a
little monster of an amp.

[HighGain510]

Originally Posted by dpm

Also, a big, big, BIG part of dB output is speaker efficiency. 100w will theoretically give you a 3dB increase in volume over 50w - not a lot, but noticeable. You could easily lose that advantage by using inefficient speakers (say, as speaker efficiency of 98dB instead of 101dB). Losing 6 - 10dB is generally perceived as a 50% reduction in volume.

+1 to what Dan said, great advice. A 50 watt head through a 1x12 loaded with, for example, an EVM-12L speaker is going to be quite loud as the EVM speaker has incredibly high efficiency. In addition to this since that speaker has high efficiency it's also not going to add any "speaker distortion" to your tone, so the EVM12-L is essentially only putting out a louder version of what your amp is giving it without adding cone distortion. Jazz guys love stuff like that so a lot of them choose speakers with high efficiency. It's important to factor speakers into the volume equation as well. Lower efficiency speakers will be a little less loud but with stuff like say a Greenback (lower efficiency) you have to be careful how much you crank the amp as you can blow the speaker.

[zimbloth]

Everyone's making valid points, but all that said I'd still recommend a 100w amp to anyone considering joining a band, as the extra headroom really really helps. You can certainly do great with less, I was just fine with my 60w ENGL Fireball, but the increased headroom of my VHT really does wonders, even at lower volumes. Also the Dual Rec blows away the Single Rec IMO. Just much warmer, heavier and more 3D.