SV 20 Or SC Head

[skinnyj]

That is because the difference between 5 & 10 watts isn't a lot in terms of perceived volume. Roughly 1/2 of 10 watts would be around 1 watt, from what I have read. It goes something like "To double volume, you multiply the wattage x 10." I'm sure Anitoli or Steve D can clarify or correct me.

The only real difference is that the 5 watt mode would break up a little earlier.

[Doc Holliday]

Yeah sounds plausible to me. More headroom in the 10w mode. Earlier breakup in 5w

[Johnh]

That 20/5 change is a -6db step.

Ive been building attenuators recently, and I've been basing them on a series of -7db steps (ie close to -6db), down to -28db. I find that -7db is a significant change, but not a huge step. Its fine enough if you have some flexibility in exactly what volume you use (eg, if playing on your own), or if there's an MV available for finer adjustment. I could imagine that some modern players on the NMV amps, setting their crunch and volume with the one control and also balancing with other players, might wish for finer steps, untill they learned to work with it.