Is 100 watts enough to gig with?

[rubber_ritchie]

Hey guys,

I'm not gigging too much these days. I recently got an Ampeg 400 watt cab and 400 watt head. It takes up such a lot of space in my small apartment. Wondering if I need such a rig for small gigs I'm doing. I miss having a combo that I don't have to hook together. Some people are saying to me they go through the PA. Do any of you gig with such small rigs? What to do?

Thanks.
RR

[stiles72]

I use an Ampeg B-100R when I gig with an oldies/classic rock group. It's 100 watts into a 4 ohm speaker and has more than enough juice for me. Occasionally I'll run it with a '63 B-15, but the B-100R can really stand on it's own. A buddy of mine uses a BA-115 and his is just as loud as my B-100R - just slightly different flavor of tone.

[tdub0199]

A lot of factors will determine if 100 watts is enough to gig with:

How loud is your drummer?
how many and how loud are your guitarist? do they play with combos or full stack with volume at 11?
how big will the venues be that you will play?
do the venues have p.a. support?

[philter25]

Depends on your band. If you have PA support, you really only need your cab for stage volume. And if thats the case, then 100 watts COULD be enough for you to gig with.

I gig regularly with my MB210 combo, which takes up no spacewhatsoever, and I only need to go through the PA on medium venues.

[BulbousMoses]

Depends on what kind of gig. Is it a full band with drums, electric guitars and keys? If so then 100 watts may not cut it. I play in an acoustic trio (bass, acoustic guitars..sometimes a half kit played with brushes) and I'm fine with my Roland Cube 100. If your going to try the small combo route, make sure you have the option of a DI so you can go through the PA if need be.

[wyleeboxer]

I had a thread here posting that my 1x15 combo was putting out only 100watts when I added an 1x15 extension cab and I didnt even know it, so with both cabs and 100 watts the set up would work for most gigs, but sometimes I would run into the type of gig with the big stage without PA support and found the 100 watts just could not get the low end out at higher volumes and felt like my sound was getting buried.. but for smaller/medium venues it was fine because of the 2X15 speakers giving the volume that was needed and not so much the wattage.

[rubber_ritchie]

Thanks guys. A while back I did a gig with a metal band with two loud guitars and was drowned out on stage with a 100 watt combo but now I am playing with an afro pop band.

[rmkesler]

Works for Lemmy.

http://www.marshallamps.com/product.asp?productId=124

[Colonel Monk]

100W in a tube head with alot of speakers (i.e. a big rig) can work, but 100W in a small combo probably not.

As others have mentioned on TB, the deal with tube amps is that you can crank them into distortion and they still sound pretty good. Musical. With SS amp you need to run clean.

If I was doing afro pop I'd want deeeeep bass, and alot of headroom to get those ladies on the dance floor.

No way can you do that with 100W combo and a single speaker.

I'd stick with your 400W Ampeg. You owe it to the ladies. Their smiles will pay the rent.

[christw]

An efficient 410 (Bag End) and a 30 watt tube head goes a long way for me. A 100w amp would be enough for me but I like mids.

[billfitzmaurice]

Watts aren't what matter, decibels are. You can get adequate decibel levels with a small amp provided you have a very efficient speaker, but efficiency is directly proportional to size, so you're still talking about a big rig. Smaller speakers are less efficient, so they need more power to reach the same decibel levels. With the plethora of small high power amps now on the market, and the recent introduction of cabs with long throw woofers like Duke and Alex make that can get loud without being overly large, the option for both small and loud does exist.

[Bassman 100]

Originally Posted by billfitzmaurice

Watts aren't what matter, decibels are. You can get adequate decibel levels with a small amp provided you have a very efficient speaker, but efficiency is directly proportional to size, so you're still talking about a big rig. Smaller speakers are less efficient, so they need more power to reach the same decibel levels. With the plethora of small high power amps now on the market, and the recent introduction of cabs with long throw woofers like Duke and Alex make that can get loud without being overly large, the option for both small and loud does exist.

I use the Phil Jones Super Flightcase. 250 Watts, Four Forward Facing Speakers, Two Upward Facing Speakers, So you have a personal stage monitor as well as feeding the house, DI is excellent. Suck it & see. Also just got the Fender Bassman TV12 - Heck it's loud. The loudest 150 watt I've ever played. The Bassman TV15 is 350 Watts, not much bigger - But a room shaker. "small and loud does exist" I wouldn't agree with you there, giving these two examples.

[Standalone]

I have a Peavey TNT130 (130 watts into 4 ohms) That could have done any gig I've ever been a part of, but then I've never done hard rock/metal/rock cover gigs. I'm reasonably certain that it could handle those, too.

One factor is whether your band grooves or not. Volume becomes less important when you are sitting locked on the drummers right foot. Everyone plays and listens as one and the audience can hear and feel everything that you're doing. Think of that bass drum as another couple of 22" speaker cones.

[Rob Martinez]

Everyone here has great advice I agree with. In my own situation, I can use my B100R even my B50R since our drummer uses brushes and our guitar player an 8 watt combo. So, YES you can gig with 100 watts given the right situation.

[MNAirHead]

I gig all the time with 100 watt kickback maps.. DI suport to the mains and monitors.. life is easier.

You can hear better than my 8-10 svt rig

[SactoBass]

Originally Posted by rubber_ritchie

Hey guys,

I'm not gigging too much these days. I recently got an Ampeg 400 watt cab and 400 watt head. It takes up such a lot of space in my small apartment. Wondering if I need such a rig for small gigs I'm doing. I miss having a combo that I don't have to hook together. Some people are saying to me they go through the PA. Do any of you gig with such small rigs? What to do?

Thanks.
RR

Ritchie, I don't know if this would interest you, but I recently acquired a Markbass Jeff Berlin combo and a NW151 extension cab. This stack pumps out 500 watts into a pair of 15 inch speakers, and it ROCKS! And here is the real beauty: the combo is only 47 pounds, and the extension cab is only 37 pounds. My 54 year old back loves that! Btw, Markbass has the same config in 12 inch speakers if you want it even smaller and lighter, but less volume though, so it depends on what you prefer. Here is a pic of my Markbass stack:

[steveksux]

100 watts ought to be more than sufficient to drive IEM's adequately.

Of course, 200 watts would be nice for headroom...

Randy

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by Bassman 100

I use the Phil Jones Super Flightcase. 250 Watts, Four Forward Facing Speakers, Two Upward Facing Speakers, So you have a personal stage monitor as well as feeding the house, DI is excellent. Suck it & see. Also just got the Fender Bassman TV12 - Heck it's loud. The loudest 150 watt I've ever played. The Bassman TV15 is 350 Watts, not much bigger - But a room shaker. "small and loud does exist" I wouldn't agree with you there, giving these two examples.

it still isn't the same. and your definition of "room shaker" may not be someone else's definition. small and loud is possible, but there's no replacement for displacement, as anyone who runs pro pa will tell you.

[rubber_ritchie]

Thanks guys. I had a gig last night in a smallish venue. I used my 400 watt Ampeg rig at about half capacity and it went down great. It rumbled the whole stage! I think I'm going to keep this rig for now. Perhaps 200 would be more realistic.

[Thumpking]

I have a 78 Bassman 100 and works for smaller venues. If it wasn't tube, it would not be enough.