What makes a "stoner/doom" amp?

[hayseed]

I was gonna say any amp that has a couple of roach burns on the top, possibly surrounded by an Olympic symbol of old beer bottle rings, that weighs entirely too much, is entirely too loud and is delivered by a sticker covered 1990 Dodge Caravan and carried in by a Tommy Chong looking guy in a barely stitched together Sabbath shirt .....THAT is a doom/stoner rock amp.

[mutantcolors]

It's the tuning, you start tuning your guitar down and now matter what you are playing through it will become more and more doomy the lower you go.

There are plenty of doomy tunes out there in good ol' E standard matey.

[mutantcolors]

Thanks to all who clarified. I just didn't understand the whole 20 watt Hovercraft thing. Maybe if I slam a single-ended KT88 with an Orange preamp, I'll have the Doom Bathroom amp.

I'm not sayin' I have extraordinarily DOOM tone, but I use a 5 watt amp on all this. Power to decibel ratios are logarithmic, it doesn't get louder very fast when you add wattage.

http://psychedelicsexorgan.bandcamp.com/track/fallopian-rainbow

[clockwork green]

Little amps can totally do doom but I just wouldn't gig with one but I would record with one and I have.  When I'm working on an idea at home, sometimes I just don't want to deal with a million dB's but a good 5-watt tube head can still hit you in the chest. 

[RacerX]

It's totally old school to use a smaller amp as a tone shaper & slave it out.

Stoners & Doomers have been doing it from way back.

[everdrone]

Thanks to all who clarified. I just didn't understand the whole 20 watt Hovercraft thing. Maybe if I slam a single-ended KT88 with an Orange preamp, I'll have the Doom Bathroom amp.

I'm not sayin' I have extraordinarily DOOM tone, but I use a 5 watt amp on all this. Power to decibel ratios are logarithmic, it doesn't get louder very fast when you add wattage.

http://psychedelicsexorgan.bandcamp.com/track/fallopian-rainbow

that is pretty awesome!!  heh my recording GAS dream of a 1/4 watt amp into a Rivera Silent Sister ISO cab lives on!

[Chalupacabra]

^^^^stoner doom amp

Who's is that?

[VOLVO)))]

My buddy's, I'm tryin' to get it sold for him. Videos of it in the new gear acq. thread.

[Mr. Foxen]

I use a 70w amp for bass. The watts thing is BS.

[dunwichamps]

Depends on if ur playing with 2 other guitarists who also use 100W full stacks, 70W on bass would get drowned without a very dedicated cab setup.

[Mr. Foxen]

70w is plenty loud enough. I just have a nice cab. SPL doesn't come from watts. 100w full stacks already tells you said guitarists won't have any idea how to EQ and are more into big dick competing with each other. I they wanna get stupid I get my kilowatt Matamp out. But for the most part 70w is enough.

[fallen]

The guy I was talking to was asking for the following:

- budget of around $400-$500 CAD.
- sounds like vintage Model T, V4, Matamp, etc.
- "I like my eardrums"
- "I've been eyeing the Jet City JCA22H as it's the closest thing to a Soldano for $400"

I recommended the Hovercraft because it's cheap enough and loud enough for recording, possibly loud enough to jam with a friend on drums or whatever with the right cab. Also recommended looking for a used 100W Laney AOR if wattage is going to be an issue. $500 Canadian is not much to work with.

I called it a "doom" amp because they are voiced for lots of low mids and low end. I didn't recommend a digital modelling amp or a metal amp that has max distortion and scooped mids or a blues combo with reverb and a chiming high end because I don't feel inspired to play low, slow, chugging music on those amps.

[Lumpy]

If he's Canadian there should be old Traynors around. You gotta go with the local surplus, if you're looking for a deal. You can find 100 watt Traynors in the US for about 500 bucks. They are supposedly pretty rugged amps.

IMO, 100 watts for a doom amp is good. Most people use pedals for dirt, it's good to have plenty of volume on tap, and it really helps (IMO) if you are able to achieve scary volume levels. If it's loud enough to physically feel it, you are rockin'. Yes, you can possibly get the same tones with a low wattage amp, but you can't necessarily take peoples' breath away (depending on the size of the room) and I think that is an advantage. Volume is part of the formula, IMO.

[Mr. Foxen]

The need for loads of bottom is heavily determined by if you have a bassist or not. Let them cover that if you do.

[Instant Dan]

lots of wattage followed by EL34's or 6550's, single channel, and cheap.

I feel like I can get away with 50 watts but maybe i'll reconsider when I am competing with a bassist pushing 300 and another guitarist pushing out 100 .

I thought that Marshall's original wattage rating system, or something, was inaccurate? So 50 watts is actually putting out closer to 70 something watts and that 100 watt Marshalls were actually putting out over 120 watts?

[VOLVO)))]

In the South, we have whatcha call the "Missippi Marshall." Peavey. Peavey anything will get you decent doom on a budget.

America's Hat, AKA Canadia has those Traynors, Garnets and whatnot... Those are yer locals. Northwest? Sunn. New Mexico? Socal? Boogies.

Marshall is everywhere, most of them are getting pretty damn cheap, too...

[Mr. Foxen]

lots of wattage followed by EL34's or 6550's, single channel, and cheap.

I feel like I can get away with 50 watts but maybe i'll reconsider when I am competing with a bassist pushing 300 and another guitarist pushing out 100 .

I thought that Marshall's original wattage rating system, or something, was inaccurate? So 50 watts is actually putting out closer to 70 something watts and that 100 watt Marshalls were actually putting out over 120 watts?

Wattage ratings are supposed to be at a given total harmonic distortion (thd), might have noticed Marshalls get dirty easily even on the clean so it knocks down the power output rating at a low THD, the peak is at a high THD. One of the many reasons watt ratings aren't very useful.

[Baxandall]

I can pump out doom tone with my 17 watt Diabolical all day long.  It isn't as loud as my higher wattage amps though but has a mid presence that cuts nicely.  I have paired it with my friends Dual Rec on stage and had no problem hearing myself, being heard and killing it tone wise.  Of course, we weren't playing doom on that stage but hey...

[somedude]

You can use anything, just play it loud.

[Pissy]

Foxen, what cab are you running your 70 w through?  I missed it if you mentioned it.

[Mr. Foxen]

Foxen, what cab are you running your 70 w through?  I missed it if you mentioned it.

http://barefacedbass.com/product-range/super-fifteen.htm

When I get the opportunity to use my full rig, the 70w one goes through a 4x12 guitar cab and I use its bigger brother thats 140w to run the bass into the Super 15. The two channels on the 70w having separate parallel inputs means I can do my whole stereo ouput thing into one amp though (the 140w one has two clean channels).

Edit: with 70w that's around 124 db, and peaks a little more, it has pretty beefy power filtering.

[Baltar]

I would say that the vast majority of doom albums have been recorded with EL34 loaded guitar amps or were you referring to bass amps Baltsr?

Not really, I was thinking of Wino and his Model T.  Sorry just noticed this.  I always thought 6550/KT88 had more low end.  Cheers.

[dunwichamps]

Yea 88s bigger low end 34s sweeter midranger

[clockwork green]

88's definitely have the bigger low end...I was just saying that the vast majority of guitar amps used in stoner/doom bands will have EL34's (probably followed by 6L6's) while only a few are really using KT88's.  This would just be a numbers thing since there are so few guitar amps really running on KT88's or 6550's....there really aren't that many Model T's out there compared to Plexi's, JCM800's, Orange's, Laney's, Hiwatt's, Matamp's, Mesa's etc...

[Baltar]

Right on.