How can 250w cut the mustard in a gig situation?

[obimark]

Originally Posted by Sid Fang

Yeah, but I bet you know how to use EQ...

Yes sir, I am getting a little better with it, turning DOWN the bass tone control can work magic... never learned that for the first 12 years I played... on some amps the bass tone control really should be labelled BOOM/MUD, because a little goes a long way with it...

[Bassmec]

Originally Posted by ChristianOnBass

It has been a long time since I have done any serious gigging, but my experiences back then are still valid for info I hope! Mom bought me an early high school graduation present: A Peavey Combo with a 15in BW, rated at 130. That thing was so loud that by the time I turned up enough to get my "Sound" I was too loud to run through the PA...which saved headroom for vocals and drums, but made it impossible to record us live very well. That is why I am worried hearing about bassists with 300 or 500 watts not having enough power. I am going to buy an amp very soon--like within a week--and I am getting concerned! I played bass for a few churches recently. I had a Peavey 12in, I believe the model was a "Basic". It worked well enough, great actually. Someone at the church gave it to me since I was living at the Mission in Tacoma at the time. I am going to buy the nicest amp I can. There are bands wanting me to play bass for them, but I am without an amp. Wish me luck! I will try to get at least 300 watts so I cam jam!

May the good lord grant you a rig, had it of been in the hands of Joshua at Jericho, you could have done the job all by your self without having to listen to any dodgy trumpet stuff. They always play splits when they try and play loud anyway.

[droskobass]

let's see my bass is Zero watts is that enough?

If I'm plugging into a 45,000 watt PA do I need a 1000 watt amp? or just a great sounding Amp at any power? like my 30 watt 1967 B15? how many watts does it take to drive a typical 2 or 4 ohm, 2x15 at 50Hz to 120db at 1 meter? No where near 1000, probably closer to 25 watts. and at 4khz it probably takes 1 watt. and remember db is the measure of volume (Not watts!!) watts are heat, just heat. Jules /second. it's like saying European amps must be louder because the electricity over there is 240 Volt vs our 120Volt. It doesn't make sense because you can't measure volume in volts...OR watts! you measure it in db.

I'll take tone over power. An amp is supposed to be a musical instrument, not a shop vac. I've played the same festival stages as Aerosmith with a 450 watt Glockenklang into an 8 ohm Glock cab, and it rattled windows 3 miles away, because it was a Glockenklang!!! (and there was 45,000 watt PA)

if an amp does the trick, it does the trick, the drum kit is also zero watts by the way. (but the average drummer is about 1/2 Horsepower which is about 370 watts)

[capncal]

most venues we play have decent enough PA's the sound guys prefer stage volume to be as low as possible. 1500 watts and 2x15 would be just for show at most of the places i play. i'm not at a point i'm willing to lug all that gear around when the sound guy prefers i turn down to "1".

however, if it's a good high profile gig i will borrow my friend's Ampeg 15 to put under my 410, but it really is just for show as i always go DI. but it does look completely bad ass with a full Ampeg rig behind me in pictures!

My Ampeg SVT 200t is 200 solid state watts and i can shake pictures on walls next door to our rehearsal space when volume is on 7. I can't imagine needing a louder rig.

Until of course i've got the roadies to load it in and out for me. then i'm moving up to the 810 and Marshall half stack!

[Bassmec]

Originally Posted by droskobass

let's see my bass is Zero watts is that enough?

If I'm plugging into a 45,000 watt PA do I need a 1000 watt amp? or just a great sounding Amp at any power? like my 30 watt 1967 B15? how many watts does it take to drive a typical 2 or 4 ohm, 2x15 at 50Hz to 120db at 1 meter? No where near 1000, probably closer to 25 watts. and at 4khz it probably takes 1 watt. and remember db is the measure of volume (Not watts!!) watts are heat, just heat. Jules /second. it's like saying European amps must be louder because the electricity over there is 240 Volt vs our 120Volt. It doesn't make sense because you can't measure volume in volts...OR watts! you measure it in db.

I'll take tone over power. An amp is supposed to be a musical instrument, not a shop vac. I've played the same festival stages as Aerosmith with a 450 watt Glockenklang into an 8 ohm Glock cab, and it rattled windows 3 miles away, because it was a Glockenklang!!! (and there was 45,000 watt PA)

if an amp does the trick, it does the trick, the drum kit is also zero watts by the way. (but the average drummer is about 1/2 Horsepower which is about 370 watts)

The band I work for used to have about an entire Swedish elk power in the form of Adrian Earlandson on drums and now Has whatever the most powerful animal in the Czech Republic's zoo's got in horsepower.

[droskobass]

It takes ten times the watts to double the volume. That's if your cab is perfectly efficient. Most cabs don't get twice as loud with ten times the power. Most cabs fry.

And your cab only sees the power you feed it. If your amp is on 7 and you're playing a note at 1kHz your speakers are only being given about 5 watts. Yup 5 Five, cinq. not 200. 200 is just the number painted on the chassis.

[droskobass]

Originally Posted by Bassmec

The band I work for used to have about an entire Swedish elk power in the form of Adrian Earlandson on drums and now Has whatever the most powerful animal in the Czech Republic's zoo's got in horsepower.

take me to your dealer

[Bassmec]

Originally Posted by droskobass

take me to your dealer

I ain't kidding this is Marthus demonstrating some serious dyno pull.
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=0Iic4...c4mPndLI&gl=GB
How many GG's was that then?.

[will33]

Originally Posted by LiquidMidnight

Indeed, and the "4x the power" axiom also ignores speakers (and of course, speaker efficiency). Yeah, a guitarist may have a 100-watt Marshall, but are they playing that through an open-back 2x12 cabinet or a full 8x12 stack? If it's the former, you probably aren't going to need that mega-watt rig that requires a nuclear reactor to power.

P.S. Also forgot to mention that the guitarist in my current project uses a Peavey power amp. I think it's somewhere in the nieghborhood of 1600watts. I've played gigs with my Mesa 400+ (tubes) and Micro-VR (solid-state). I just did a gig last week with my SVT-II, no PA support, and the volume was on "1". Those 200 - 300 watt amps have had no problem producing enough volume to play with my guitarist. In fact, there were times where they may have been too loud. I don't need 6,400 watts to play in my band because some ill-concieved heuristic says that I do.

[/slaughtering TB sacred cows]

Yep.

Weekend before last we played a little place. I chose to take a single 112 instead of both, set it up to play to us (the band) and mic'd it. In that case, I had 140 watts and 1 speaker to my guitarists 100 watts and 4 speakers. Sounded really good, nice balanced mix....whodda thunk it?

BTW, he is also mic'd at even the smallest of places....that's the difference between a guitarist and a guitard.

[Downunderwonder]

Originally Posted by Waldo19

I feel like there is a watts arms race at the moment. Seems every few weeks the number of watts needed to play a small gig is increasing. Maybe its just me.

But at one point it seemed like the general consensus was 100-250w for a small Rock and Roll gig with 2 guitars. Now it seems you need 300+ just to be heard over an un-miked drummer.

Bring back real watts. I had two cabs and "300w" supplied backline a few months ago, could only just keep up with jazz band. A Peavey 150w combo from 1985 would have done fine.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Back in my day we had to play electric bass acoustically, and with a mute, otherwise we were deemed too loud!

300 watts has never been an issue with my SVT

[Lowbrow]

Me, 30 gig-filled years on the NYC club circuit with nothing more powerful than a 400rb and sound techs always telling me to turn down. Truth.

[Matt Dean]

I routinely play bar gigs with a 200 watt Mesa Boogie tube amp (Buster) and two 1x15 speaker cabs... and I play in a loud band.

[modulusman]

Originally Posted by MontanaBassDude

Modulusman - you already know Art. It's his PA, and arguably it's the best non-rental PA in the city. And I've got one of the three best bass rigs in the state.

Our PA handles everything our band puts out, except for the bass.

Maybe that is why Bozeman has a way better music scene than Billings. I can think of at least 5-6 local bands with better or equal PAs here. I wonder where my big bass rig would rank in the state. Genz Benz Shuttlemax 12.0 and a410 and 212 Uber stack.

[mpdd]

same as matt dean, but i use the d180

[Zonked]

The TC BG250 combo has certainly cut the mustard in my last few venues when playing with a moderately loud drummer and only vocals PA. I am fortunate to have a choice of differently powerd heads and cabs. If the a 250 watt combo can cut the mustard for the venue, I will use it. I am not interested in hauling around extra gear for looks, or to satisfy anyone elses notions about what I should use. Once a certain sound leve is reached, playing louder will not make my band better. Use what works for you.

[eff-clef]

Originally Posted by zachoff

I saw Tom Hamilton play an arena w/ a fliptop, so yeah... It can be done if the PA support is right or the room is small.

Tom Hamilton AIN'T playing with just a flip top. He's in the side fills and probably in ear monitor.

[Philonius]

Originally Posted by eff-clef

Tom Hamilton AIN'T playing with just a flip top. He's in the side fills and probably in ear monitor.

Zysgactly.

[modulusman]

My band played gigs with as few as 20 people and to about 1000 last year. I was DIed into the PA for all of them. We also used subs at every gig. What was different was the size of the bass rig I used. One weekly summer gig had a crowd that averaged about 50 people. For this I used my Shuttle3.0/10t turned up just loud enough to hear. I used my big stack only twice.

[FatherBass]

To all the "ya gotta have a testicle droppin mega watt amp and MONDO sized cabs". This songs 4 U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO43p2Wqc08