50 marshall tube watts - Loud enough?

[Sletnern]

Hi I'm looking to buy a Marshall JMP 1986 MKII. Is 50 tube watts loud enough for practice/club gigs with a hard rock/blues band? I know that it will break up a bit if I turn it up to max, but that doesn't matter, I like that kind of sound.

And one more puzzle. It is a Marshall JMP 1986 MKII, but according to the serial it is made in 1983(serial is xxx25R) I didn't know that marshall made JMP's that late, didn't they switch to JCM 800 in '80 or '81?

[craig.p]

In my opinion, not a chance. Not by a mile. And I'm assuming you're not running through the house PAs at the clubs, otherwise you wouldn't have asked, nor have had to, because in a room where you will run through the PA, 50 watts would be fine as a personal monitor. And rehearsals often require more power than stage work where you go through house PAs, unless you use carrier-class monitors at rehearsals, in which case it would be best (at rehearsals) to forgo the amp altogether.

[N.F.A.]

I used a Marshall SLP 100 off and on for years as my gigging amp. It always worked fine if you can deal with the break up. I love the Marshall sound on guitar and bass. Having said that, I have a Mesa 400+ if I need it for really loud gigs, if one were to ever come up. It seems like the days of playing loudly are gone forever.
You may want to consider having another amp though. 50 watts may not get it for you.

[MrDOS]

It's hard to tell without knowing the cab, but in my experience 50 watts was not enough for a bass amp in that type of a band. I used a Sunn Model T for years at rehearsal and small blues/rock gigs, but that was a good bit more than 50 watts.

[chokeslam512]

With an 810 and PA support, yes.

[anderbass]

1986 is just a Marshall model number, not a date.

I owned a 50 watt (model 1986) JMP head for quite awhile. I gigged mine a few times but only with lower volume-level bands. Even if you like an overdriven bass tone, I think you'll discover your lower notes loose all definition at louder volume levels, even with a big cab.

[BassmanPaul]

Back in the Sixties -early Seventies 50W would have been enough. In those days I used that power without a problem. In todays world the minimum I go out with is 600W.

BTW there is no such thing as "tube" watts.

[JGR]

Nope. I have a healthy 50 watt 800 running 6550s and there just isn't enough juice for bass.

[N.F.A.]

Yeah, I have to reluctantly admit that my Marshall Plexi 100 isn't really enough. It just sounds so good to me.

[Clammy]

It will really depend on the cab(s) you use. I'd suggest very high efficiency, and lots of speakers! I used my 1977 1986 head in my old band for about 3 years before buying my first Super Bass, and never had any problems keeping up with a heavy hitting drummer and guitarist running a 100W full Marshall stack. However, my sound was very unconventional for bass (think Lemmy, but with MORE distortion!). I was running 2 Marshall 4x12 cabs, and used a Shredmaster pedal for distortion (this also compressed the signal).

These days, in Exciter, I require a more "traditional" bass tone, so I'm playing a VBA 400 through Marshall 4x12 and 2x15 bass cabs.

Cheers!

[N.F.A.]

One of my dream rigs... VBA and the mini wall of cabs you describe. Tone Heaven!

[Sletnern]

So the VBA is good? I had one for some years ago, but I didn't think it sounded good, therefor I traded it with somebody. Did the worst trade in my life if we count the money. But since I was young and incredibly stupid, I only ran the VBA head through a Ashdown 1x15. I really regret this now, but I have since then had a bad feeling about VBA. But after reading your response, I guess I've been wrong.

How 'bout a Carlsbro TC-100? Would that be loud and good enough?

[shooter_mi]

I used a 50 watt tube head a few times with a 15 but found it really didn't have enough power. Switched to a 100 watt, and that's been loud enough, but sometimes clean headroom is dicey.

[Clammy]

Originally Posted by Sletnern

So the VBA is good? I had one for some years ago, but I didn't think it sounded good, therefor I traded it with somebody. Did the worst trade in my life if we count the money. But since I was young and incredibly stupid, I only ran the VBA head through a Ashdown 1x15. I really regret this now, but I have since then had a bad feeling about VBA. But after reading your response, I guess I've been wrong.

How 'bout a Carlsbro TC-100? Would that be loud and good enough?

I love the VBA 400. It's a real monster! I wouldn't want to run it through a single 15, though!

Cheers!

[N.F.A.]

VBA=massive tube sound