Wattage

The rated output power of an amplifier, which sets how loud it can go before it begins to distort rather than how loud it actually is.

A doubling of wattage produces only about three decibels more, which is a small audible increase, so the difference between fifty and a hundred watts is far less dramatic than the numbers suggest. What wattage really governs is headroom: a high-powered amplifier stays clean at a volume where a low-powered one is already compressing and distorting. That is why a small amplifier is often chosen deliberately for its earlier breakup rather than in spite of it.

Example: a five-watt amplifier is loud enough to annoy a neighbour and already distorting, where a hundred-watt amp at the same volume is still perfectly clean.

Wattage

See also