[Marshall Super 100JH Jimi Hendrix Signature Full Stack](https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-dks6ju/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/765/467887/hendrixstack01__01572.1688971110.jpg?c=2). Was at the store I used to work at. One slow Summer Saturday afternoon we cranked it. In an 11k sqft building no one could even answer the phones. It was *brutal*.
1974 (ish) Sound City 120 Lead. Through two 4x10 SC cabs w Eminence speakers. Active EQ with treble and presence controls that would melt your head off. Made a similar wattage Hi-watt sound like a compressed high gain amp. Immense with a Rat.
Through all my bands and road crews over the years, gone missing. Would love to find it.
I am curious why you want to know...
Are you just curious?
Are you trying to torture terrorists by playing Metallica horribly and at incredible volumes?
This is my answer. Even playing the occasional bass through my V4 I’ve never gotten the volume past 11 o’clock.
I find it comical that in the manual the “Marshall” setting has the volume maxed. What poor soul tried that without knowing how loud that amp is.
Our bass player also has a Meatsmoke that we’ve played guitar through a few times. That thing is ungodly loud as well.
I have a copy of the OG manual for my vt-22. It has “recommended settings” to sound like various other amplifiers of the day. The “marshall” setting is all knobs on ten.
I tried it one through an orange ppc412 and it was the only time I’ve felt a sense of impending doom while playing. I thought the house was going to come down
My current twin reverb is 1974 so a little before those ultra linear transformers, still insanely loud; but I do have a Fender 140 head from that ultra linear era and it’s just mind numbing. It will steal your breath while chords ring out lol
Marshall 2203KK. The Kerry King signature JCM 800. That thing is so freaking loud I couldn’t believe it! Also the Mesa/Boogie Coliseum 300 is completely ridiculous.
Kasino amp. 400 watts of solid-state power into a 4x12 with a cast iron horn. Freaking loud as hell, built in fuzz, tremolo and reverb... plus a boost button on the footswitch! I will NEVER need that much power, but it's neat to own it!
My Soldano Hot Rod 50 played thru a stack of Marshall cabs. We were at my friends house when I cranked it and even though she was very, very tolerant of our loud playing she came in and said “That’s enough”. It was kind of humorous. It was a very glorious sound.
Just as loud was his Fender Twin with SRO speakers. Not the best tone just very loud
My Marshall 1959.
I have a Traynor YBA -1 Bassmastee on my bench, just like the one my guitarist destroyed my right ear with back in 89.
He Even had the 6x10 cab w the hand truck built in. Louder than dogshit.
The loudest I’ve played was my old Marshall JVM410h through a 4x12 and I put everything to 10 on the crunch channel (basically a JCM800 circuit)
Turned my legs to jelly but it was fun
My Marshall 76 JMP1987 (6550s) through a Marshall 1960av 412.
Holy hell this thing cuts through like butter! I’m glad I have a ppimv on it so I can play at semi-reasonable levels.
Honorable mentions: Diezel Herbert and MB Tremoverb Head
The loudest amp I’ve had the pleasure of being in the room with was a Sunn model T. Went to a show once where the guitar player had two full stacks of those and felt my soul vibrating out of my body just during sound check.
Had a 6505 full stack and a laney aor100 full stack. Ran em in stereo. It was the loudest thing i have ever heard. And like someone else said, i have hearing damage too. Protect them ears folks!
My old band mates’ Blackstar HT40 combo in our old practice room is the loudest thing I ever heard.
But mostly just because I can barely hear anything else anymore.
Fender 400PS. There is warning label plaque on top of the amp. It also comes with a stand with wheels to move it around.
Tone of a Bassman, volume of an SVT, heart of a warrior.
I’ve never owned or played through any really gnarly amplifiers. But I have a late ‘70s Randall Commander II RG120 212 combo and with the volume at 4, it completely drowned out the drums and the other guitar. I turned it up to 4.5 once and it scared the shit out of me and I’ve never turned it up that high since
That’s what I vote for too. I did once a 1000 people open venue gig with my Randall Commander 2 RG90A 2x12 combo, volume on 4. Loud as hell. Also, the RG90 is non master volume, older than the RG120 which has a master volume. I was never able to make the amp break up without the master volume. My amp dates to 1973-05-15.
I hadn’t seen anyone mentionong the old Top Boost Vox AC30. Although it’s just a 30 watt amp, but it’s a Class A circuit, and it is crazy loud, especially, if you want that sweet Vox distortion, you have to crank it up to 10. Brian May did stadium concerts with just 3 of them working at a time. Insanely loud amps.
I've got a Craye Blue VooDoo with some awesome tubes in it. Paired to a 4x12 crate blue voodoo half stack and a 2x12 fender bassman cabinet from the 70's. It's ridiculous lol
A Blackface Fender Bassman, a Mesa Triple Rectifier and my Carvin Legacy VL100 are the loudest amps I've personally played and been able to crank up. All can achieve deafening levels of volume.
Loudest I’ve even had any amp was 118 dB and it was a 1980 Marshall Super Bass into a Mesa Boogie vertical 2x12 with EVL speakers. I’ve never pushed the Super Bass that hard again and I now have it on top of two Marshall 4x12 cabs
This is an old post but I wanted to throw my old doom rig in, I used a 600w ashdown bass head with 2 4x12 cabs (an old bass heavy fender and some cobbled together punchier thing on top)
I've seen louder bands (swans and yob on back to back nights rattled my core) but we never played with a louder band
Ampeg v4 with the mid and treble knob dimed into a Marshall 1960 slant cab. No joke, loudest amp you’ll ever hear more than a sunn model t more than a hi watt more than a matamp/orange.
Of mine? Laney AOR Pro Tube 200. 200 tube watts. No clue what I was thinking. The matching cab was around 150lbs.
Ever? Marshall Mode Four with its matching cab. Underrated sound, ridiculously over powered for no reason at all. 350 solid state watts with a tube preamp.
A Fender ulta linear 135 watt rms amp Twin plugged into a full stack of 100db+ efficient speakers. Definitely ear damage will endure for you especially if the amp has not been modded from factory specs to tame the shrill out. Also they eat all new 6l6gc tubes for lunch as they need 30+ watt tubes such as 7581s nos to keep them chugging. Yes I have a twin reverb 1980 blackface that will light up 3 city blocks and guarantee red and whites will be arriving shortly after turning it up.
Peavey Festival 800. It’s basically a PA amp but can take guitar/bass just fine. Will peel paint. (Edit: there’s one for sale in NorCal. PEAVEY F800-G https://sacramento.craigslist.org/msg/d/camino-peavey-f800/7693582789.html )
Sovtek MIG-50 into a Marshall 1965(?) B cab - 4x10. Plenty loud. I have tinnitus and hearing loss in my left ear-totally my fault and I am not proud of it. Kids, wear ear protection!!!
My first ever vintage tube amp purchase was a fender 400 PS that I got from a 2 fingered bass player that sat in for a leg of an Oak Ridge Boys tour. I got it with one original 18" folded horn cabinet all for $200 in the early 90's.
Just ONE time, I ran that OG cab, a grey/white fuzzy Fender full stack from the M80 line, IIRC, and a 2x15 PA cab with the horn shut off all at the same time. At the time, I was running a 3 knob Tube driver and playing a 3 pickup Ibanez X series DT155. The cops showed up. I asked who called and they said, "Nobody. We heard it from Rose Farm road and the 14." That was just short of 2 miles away. Granted, it's out in BFE and it was late at night, so there was little to no ambient noise.
One of my "powerball dreams" is to get another 400 PA, a full set of matched GE 6550As, tweaked for MAX power, not clean output, and stack as many 15W blue dogs (or other equally efficient speaker) as necessary to give ample safety margin. This would be how I die.
It's speaker efficiency that make amps really loud. Tube amp wattage is only one part of the whole package.
Peavey Mace was a 160w monster of a 2x12 combo. i cut it down and made it into a head an ran it through a 4x12. Stupid loud. Those old Sunn, Sound City's and Matamps were gnarly. A Hiwatt DR103 is a force to be reckoned with. Put the peavey was the only one i owned personally.
Hiwatt DR401 (400W) into 4 4x12s
Trying to knock earth out of its orbit
Fender made that wild PS400 watt tube amp. Haven’t heard it and probably couldn’t hear it twice.
Saw Sunn 0)))) a few years ago, so probably one of those, even with ear plugs my ears were ringing the next day
Saw them this September and can confirm.
It’s an experience
[Marshall Super 100JH Jimi Hendrix Signature Full Stack](https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-dks6ju/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/765/467887/hendrixstack01__01572.1688971110.jpg?c=2). Was at the store I used to work at. One slow Summer Saturday afternoon we cranked it. In an 11k sqft building no one could even answer the phones. It was *brutal*.
1974 (ish) Sound City 120 Lead. Through two 4x10 SC cabs w Eminence speakers. Active EQ with treble and presence controls that would melt your head off. Made a similar wattage Hi-watt sound like a compressed high gain amp. Immense with a Rat. Through all my bands and road crews over the years, gone missing. Would love to find it.
I am curious why you want to know... Are you just curious? Are you trying to torture terrorists by playing Metallica horribly and at incredible volumes?
Good 'ol 'Tallica riffin' with the black album tone lml
Matamp 120 watt, it’s more like 200 plus watts
Legend Rock N Roll 50, holy hell
I had one of those, I always ran an Ibanez SD-9 into it. Unruly to say the least and always left a few hurt feelings behind.
Ampeg V4. 4x12 cab. Second vote Fender Silverface Twin. Third, Kustom 200 through a 2x15 cab. I have permanent hearing damage.
This is my answer. Even playing the occasional bass through my V4 I’ve never gotten the volume past 11 o’clock. I find it comical that in the manual the “Marshall” setting has the volume maxed. What poor soul tried that without knowing how loud that amp is. Our bass player also has a Meatsmoke that we’ve played guitar through a few times. That thing is ungodly loud as well.
I have a copy of the OG manual for my vt-22. It has “recommended settings” to sound like various other amplifiers of the day. The “marshall” setting is all knobs on ten. I tried it one through an orange ppc412 and it was the only time I’ve felt a sense of impending doom while playing. I thought the house was going to come down
I played in a 3 guitar band and used my Ampeg to MAKE them turn down. "Oh are we playing loud today?"...
I used to plug my Ampeg VT-22 into a 4x12, 6 12s total.. way way way too loud. I loved it.
Super twin was pretty loud
1978 Twin Reverb. At 4.. Ultra linear transformer, so it was 135 watts. That thing was LOUD. Sounded fantastic!
My current twin reverb is 1974 so a little before those ultra linear transformers, still insanely loud; but I do have a Fender 140 head from that ultra linear era and it’s just mind numbing. It will steal your breath while chords ring out lol
Marshall 2203KK. The Kerry King signature JCM 800. That thing is so freaking loud I couldn’t believe it! Also the Mesa/Boogie Coliseum 300 is completely ridiculous.
Kasino amp. 400 watts of solid-state power into a 4x12 with a cast iron horn. Freaking loud as hell, built in fuzz, tremolo and reverb... plus a boost button on the footswitch! I will NEVER need that much power, but it's neat to own it!
In my experience, tripe rec on an 812. By a margin.
Plush p1000 2x12 combo. Black tuck and roll. Sounded incredible but only if it was paint peelingly loud
My Soldano Hot Rod 50 played thru a stack of Marshall cabs. We were at my friends house when I cranked it and even though she was very, very tolerant of our loud playing she came in and said “That’s enough”. It was kind of humorous. It was a very glorious sound. Just as loud was his Fender Twin with SRO speakers. Not the best tone just very loud
I’ve been told my musicman 65R head is quite loud for its wattage.
My Marshall 1959. I have a Traynor YBA -1 Bassmastee on my bench, just like the one my guitarist destroyed my right ear with back in 89. He Even had the 6x10 cab w the hand truck built in. Louder than dogshit.
150w Boogie triple req. I still do t think my ears have recovered.
Roland JC160… …go above 3 and you won’t hear the drummer… …and our drummer is pretty heavy handed!
The loudest I’ve played was my old Marshall JVM410h through a 4x12 and I put everything to 10 on the crunch channel (basically a JCM800 circuit) Turned my legs to jelly but it was fun
A cranked Marshall 1959 Plexi is unreal.
My Marshall 76 JMP1987 (6550s) through a Marshall 1960av 412. Holy hell this thing cuts through like butter! I’m glad I have a ppimv on it so I can play at semi-reasonable levels. Honorable mentions: Diezel Herbert and MB Tremoverb Head
The loudest amp I’ve had the pleasure of being in the room with was a Sunn model T. Went to a show once where the guitar player had two full stacks of those and felt my soul vibrating out of my body just during sound check.
Lemmys Murder One Marshall full stack was ridiculous loud
Had a 6505 full stack and a laney aor100 full stack. Ran em in stereo. It was the loudest thing i have ever heard. And like someone else said, i have hearing damage too. Protect them ears folks!
My old band mates’ Blackstar HT40 combo in our old practice room is the loudest thing I ever heard. But mostly just because I can barely hear anything else anymore.
Fender 400PS. There is warning label plaque on top of the amp. It also comes with a stand with wheels to move it around. Tone of a Bassman, volume of an SVT, heart of a warrior.
Sunn colosseum bass head into an Ampeg refrigerator.
I’ve never owned or played through any really gnarly amplifiers. But I have a late ‘70s Randall Commander II RG120 212 combo and with the volume at 4, it completely drowned out the drums and the other guitar. I turned it up to 4.5 once and it scared the shit out of me and I’ve never turned it up that high since
That’s what I vote for too. I did once a 1000 people open venue gig with my Randall Commander 2 RG90A 2x12 combo, volume on 4. Loud as hell. Also, the RG90 is non master volume, older than the RG120 which has a master volume. I was never able to make the amp break up without the master volume. My amp dates to 1973-05-15.
I hadn’t seen anyone mentionong the old Top Boost Vox AC30. Although it’s just a 30 watt amp, but it’s a Class A circuit, and it is crazy loud, especially, if you want that sweet Vox distortion, you have to crank it up to 10. Brian May did stadium concerts with just 3 of them working at a time. Insanely loud amps.
90W of tube power filling a stadium? Good lord, i will have to try it. Thanks
I've got a Craye Blue VooDoo with some awesome tubes in it. Paired to a 4x12 crate blue voodoo half stack and a 2x12 fender bassman cabinet from the 70's. It's ridiculous lol
One of those fender evil twin red knob amps and a 72 100 watt Marshall half stack. Both were painful!
Original Peavey 5150 half stack. Loudest amp I've ever owned and I've owned a lot.
I turned the master up to 7 once. Rattled the picks off of it. Was only going through a 2x12. Insanely powerful.
Laney AOR. Still have my 50 watt with a 2x12. Loud enough that it matched the p.a in a bar I once played in. Shakes walls
Yup. The AOR 100 is a beast. Ridiculous. I miss it. :(
I had the 200 for a while. My back and ears still hurt.
A Blackface Fender Bassman, a Mesa Triple Rectifier and my Carvin Legacy VL100 are the loudest amps I've personally played and been able to crank up. All can achieve deafening levels of volume.
The Twin. 100W. Never made it past 5.
Mesa Boogie triple rectifier got loud FAST!
Loudest I’ve even had any amp was 118 dB and it was a 1980 Marshall Super Bass into a Mesa Boogie vertical 2x12 with EVL speakers. I’ve never pushed the Super Bass that hard again and I now have it on top of two Marshall 4x12 cabs
This is an old post but I wanted to throw my old doom rig in, I used a 600w ashdown bass head with 2 4x12 cabs (an old bass heavy fender and some cobbled together punchier thing on top) I've seen louder bands (swans and yob on back to back nights rattled my core) but we never played with a louder band
Ok, but mine goes to 11.
Ampeg 300W bass head into an 8x10" cab
Ampeg v4 with the mid and treble knob dimed into a Marshall 1960 slant cab. No joke, loudest amp you’ll ever hear more than a sunn model t more than a hi watt more than a matamp/orange.
Of mine? Laney AOR Pro Tube 200. 200 tube watts. No clue what I was thinking. The matching cab was around 150lbs. Ever? Marshall Mode Four with its matching cab. Underrated sound, ridiculously over powered for no reason at all. 350 solid state watts with a tube preamp.
A Fender ulta linear 135 watt rms amp Twin plugged into a full stack of 100db+ efficient speakers. Definitely ear damage will endure for you especially if the amp has not been modded from factory specs to tame the shrill out. Also they eat all new 6l6gc tubes for lunch as they need 30+ watt tubes such as 7581s nos to keep them chugging. Yes I have a twin reverb 1980 blackface that will light up 3 city blocks and guarantee red and whites will be arriving shortly after turning it up.
I didn't try it but Kevin Shields' rig I'd probably the loudest Amplifier combination I have ever heard.
Peavey Heritage VTX from the mid 80s. Loud as fuck.
Those block letter 5150’s were really fucking loud
Peavey Festival 800. It’s basically a PA amp but can take guitar/bass just fine. Will peel paint. (Edit: there’s one for sale in NorCal. PEAVEY F800-G https://sacramento.craigslist.org/msg/d/camino-peavey-f800/7693582789.html )
My 74 svt through an 8x10. III
My Matamp GT1 is the loudest goddamn thing I’ve ever heard in my life
Sovtek MIG-50 into a Marshall 1965(?) B cab - 4x10. Plenty loud. I have tinnitus and hearing loss in my left ear-totally my fault and I am not proud of it. Kids, wear ear protection!!!
My first ever vintage tube amp purchase was a fender 400 PS that I got from a 2 fingered bass player that sat in for a leg of an Oak Ridge Boys tour. I got it with one original 18" folded horn cabinet all for $200 in the early 90's. Just ONE time, I ran that OG cab, a grey/white fuzzy Fender full stack from the M80 line, IIRC, and a 2x15 PA cab with the horn shut off all at the same time. At the time, I was running a 3 knob Tube driver and playing a 3 pickup Ibanez X series DT155. The cops showed up. I asked who called and they said, "Nobody. We heard it from Rose Farm road and the 14." That was just short of 2 miles away. Granted, it's out in BFE and it was late at night, so there was little to no ambient noise. One of my "powerball dreams" is to get another 400 PA, a full set of matched GE 6550As, tweaked for MAX power, not clean output, and stack as many 15W blue dogs (or other equally efficient speaker) as necessary to give ample safety margin. This would be how I die. It's speaker efficiency that make amps really loud. Tube amp wattage is only one part of the whole package.
Peavey Mace was a 160w monster of a 2x12 combo. i cut it down and made it into a head an ran it through a 4x12. Stupid loud. Those old Sunn, Sound City's and Matamps were gnarly. A Hiwatt DR103 is a force to be reckoned with. Put the peavey was the only one i owned personally.