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All,

Here is a hypothetical scenario. You have an indoor gig playing your tunes where a mid 70's DR103 volume-wise would be set just at the point of it beginning to breakup, but you don't have one. You have access to two mid 70's DR504's, a DR201, cab's for the amps, and distortion and stereo effects pedals. Would you:
A. Play the DR201 clean with all its headroom
B. Take the two DR504's and play in stereo
C. Play a single DR504 cranked and mic it to the PA if you need it a little louder

Whaddya think?

Tough call! For most indoor venues, I'd probably pick "C" (assuming you've got the PA).

Now, if there's room on the stage and stage volume isn't an issue, I'd use an A/B/Y switch into the DR201 (for clean) and a cranked DR504. Best of both worlds !

Dave

C

I also vote for (C). I used a 'half-powered' 100 at an outdoor gig recently (with a loud drummer), and it was plenty loud enough.

--mark

Guys,

I appreciate the vote, although I hadn't expected it would be so polarized towards the cranked 50. I enjoy the sound of my 50; although it's a 2-holer I'm using a 12AT7 in the PI and for my gigs I run it well into breakup. I am considering a 200 watt for the clean headroom, but have never played through one.

Dave - I recall a comment you made on another thread that your DR201 and DR504 seem to be your fav's. I found it interesting you chose to take the 50. Your reply about using an A/B/Y switch reminded of a story I read somewhere that Angus Young plays a 100W Marshall for his rhythm parts and a 50W for his leads. Don't know if its true or not, but I could see that might work to make leads cut through the mix...

Mark - What technique did you use for half powering the DR103 - did you impedance mismatch the cab, or remove two EL34's, or some other way?

steve wrote:Dave - I recall a comment you made on another thread that your DR201 and DR504 seem to be your fav's. I found it interesting you chose to take the 50. Your reply about using an A/B/Y switch reminded of a story I read somewhere that Angus Young plays a 100W Marshall for his rhythm parts and a 50W for his leads.

I do love my DR201, but that's for the ultra clean, ultra headroom, juicy single coil stuff. The DR504 is infinitely more practical as it can cover the gamut from clean to crunch at less-than-seismic SPL's. So, if I were forced to chose just one for a gig...

Truth be told, what I've been using live (on the rare occasion that I play out these days) is a DR103 for clean to medium crunch and a Marshall 50 watt Tremelo head for saturated dirt (via A/B/Y switch).

Here's that setup, at a beer tent in northwestern Wisconsin (Hiwatt feeding Fanes, Marshall feeding Celestions):



Dave

Neat Tube Driver pedal in rack-mount form. Is that much different than the pedal?

steve wrote:Mark - What technique did you use for half powering the DR103?

Two EL34s.

--mark

GigawattCustom121 wrote:Neat Tube Driver pedal in rack-mount form. Is that much different than the pedal?

Not sure. The rack format might allow for an extra knob or two?

Dave

steve wrote:B. Take the two DR504's and play in stereo

Dime the channels and push them with a clean-ish boost pedal... manipulate the guitar volume for clean-to-mean tones. That's my "quiet" stereo rig.

Although I would prefer to crank them!

Thanks for the votes. For me it would be a tough call, but I would take the DR201 for the music I normally play which is a mixture of clean and raunch. A few years ago I would have brought the two 50's for a stereo sound, but nowadays I prefer a single cab and position it right near where I am playing. If I'm watching a band from not too far from the stage, I prefer to hear the sound of each instrument to come from where the artists are playing, and when I'm further away, I really do not feel the stereo effect from the stage or PA all that much when it's used. I find it more comfortable playing with the same setup that I would like to hear if I were out in front of the stage.

So the total votes so far:
One DR201 = 1
Two DR504's = 1
One DR504 cranked = 3

Cheers!

steve wrote: So the total votes so far:

There are NO wrong answers, as long as it's (Hylight) Hiwatt !

Dave