metal and rock-blues bands often used "stacks" of 4x12" Marshall speaker cabinets on the stage. In 1969, Jimi Hendrix used four stacks to create a powerful lead sound, and in the early 1970s by the band Blue Öyster Cult used an entire wall of Marshall Amplifiers to create a roaring wall of sound that projected massive volume and sonic power. In the 1980s, metal bands such as Slayer and Yngwie Malmsteen also used "walls" of over 20 Marshall cabinets. However, by the 1980s and 1990s, most of the sound at live concerts was produced by the sound reinforcement system rather than the onstage guitar amplifiers, so most of these cabinets were not connected to an amplifier. Instead, walls of speaker cabinets were used for aesthetic reasons. Amplifiers for harder, heavier genres often use valve amplifiers (known as "tube amplifiers" in North America) also. Valve amplifiers are perceived by musicians and fans to have a "warmer" tone than those of transistor amps, particularly when overdriven (turned up to the level that the amplifier starts to clip or shear off the wave forms). Instead of abruptly clipping off the signal at cut-off and saturation levels, the signal is rounded off more smoothly. Vacuum tubes also exhibit different harmonic effects than transistors. In contrast to the "tweed"-style amplifiers, which use speakers in an open-backed cabinet, companies such as Marshall tend to use 12" speakers in a closed-back cabinet. These amplifiers usually allow users to switch between "clean" and distorted tones (or a rhythm guitar-style "crunch" tone and a sustained "lead" tone) with a foot-operated switch. Bass Bass amplifiers are designed for bass guitars or more rarely, for upright bass. They differ from amplifiers for the electric guitar in several respects, with extended low-frequency response, and tone controls optimised for the needs of bass players. Higher-cost bass amplifiers may include built-in bass effects units, such as audio compressor or limiter features, to avoid unwanted distorting at high volume levels and potential damage to speakers; equalizers; and bass overdrive. Bass amps may provide an XLR DI output for plugging the bass amp signal directly into a mixing board or PA system. Larger, more powerful bass amplifiers (300 or more watts) are often provided with internal or external metal heat sinks and/or fans to help keep the components cool. Speaker cabinets designed for bass usually use larger loudspeakers (or more loudspeakers, such as four ten-inch speakers)