Pull ALL the watts

[MuzikMan]

<rant>

My mind is blown by the number of people who believe it is critically important to get all of the watts from their gear. Many will consider what I consider to be drastic measures to ensure that they have their amp in a stanglehold and on the brink of destruction so they can get the most from their amp . How many times have people asked if they should change the (perfectly good) drivers in their cab to lower the impedance?

This is an epidemic of mythic proportions !!! However, like all myths, there must be a grain of truth in there somewhere. What do you supppose is that grain of truth?

</rant>

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by MuzikMan

This is an epidemic of mythic proportions !!! However, like all myths, there must be a grain of truth in there somewhere. What do you supppose is that grain of truth?

In this case said grain doesn't exist. Of all the considerations watts are the least important, to the extent of being insignificant. The watt fixation is purely the result of the marketeers convincing consumers that watts do matter.

[staindbass]

i only turn mine up enough so i can hear it as i like. if you run a 300w solid state amp at 300w, it wont last forever. if you want to run 300w, best to have at least a 600w amp and it wont get overworked. oh well, someone needs to keep the repair guys in business

[dincz]

It's a value for money thing. Why spend money on protection circuitry and fuses if they're never going to blow?

[93Jazz+]

But just imagine being able to say you have a thousand watt rig! Overkill? Sure ... Necessary... No Way ... Do I still want it... HELL YESS!!

PS: a rig like JohnnyA's would do just fine

[Plstrns]

When I was 18, getting the maximum wattage was a big deal. We didn't know any better, and power prices started at a dollar a watt. This was a significant amount of money.

Now it's tough to find an amp without 600w or a poweramp with less than 1500w and prices start at .20 cents a watt.

Oh, and I have a 4000W rig

[bassplayerbob]

Originally Posted by 93Jazz+

But just imagine being able to say you have a thousand watt rig! Overkill? Sure ... Necessary... No Way ... Do I still want it... HELL YESS!!

My Hartke lh1000 makes me smile every weekend for under 500 bucks!

[bassgod0dmw]

I just bought a power amp that will do 1000w bridged into 4 ohms, and that's the small power amp. The one i really want does 2000w.

Do i need it? Probably not, but having that much clean headroom sure is nice. My band is pretty loud, so having the available volume & headroom does come in handy when needed.

[steveksux]

Originally Posted by MuzikMan

This is an epidemic of mythic proportions !!!

Or is it a myth of epidemic proportions?

Randy

[cchorney]

Originally Posted by Plstrns

Now it's tough to find an amp without 600w...

Found one in my house. The Markbass Little Mark II and III run at 500/300 watts (4/8 ohms) My older stuff is, well, older so I won't count them.

But I will throw out there that my Kustom 250 head is REALLY loud, far more than you would expect a 250 watt head to be. Maybe output measurements are like vehicle MPG estimates - some are more optimistic than others.

[jaywa]

The only place I care about how many watts I've got are in the P.A.

150-watt combo amp DI'd to a 20,000 watt P.A. with plenty of subs is probably gonna sound pretty good. I know cause I do it almost every weekend.

1,200-watt bass rig through a crappy old P.A. with < 5000 watts and bad (or no) subs is probably gonna sound like garbage most of the time.

[BurningSkies]

I use an amp that can serve up up to 1500w per 8 ohm cab. I don't ever use 4 ohm cabs. I don't always need to be loud, but like clean headroom and not pushing my amp very hard.

What most people don't get is that using a 4ohm cab to get "all my watts" means nothing in overall volume. An extra cab on the other hand, can mean a lot.

[JP Morin]

My concerns are more to make my head to match my cabs in term of wattage... Also I think every head should do 2 ohms impendance so you can plug 2 x 4 ohms cab if you want...

I prefer 4 ohms cab over a 8 ohm cab. I don't know why but I've found the 4 ohms cabs more punchier generally, especially in a 4x10" cabs...

[funkinbottom]

I think it's not so much an amps wattage as it is voltage gain.

[edbass]

I think watt ratings are an easy to market, good hard number that most neophyte players can sort of get their head around; kinda like horsepower ratings in cars.

Like horsepower, watt are indeed relevant to the specific application, but only in context with all of the other relevant specifications involved.

The relevance of either in accomplishing the actual task at hand often takes a backseat to the "bragging rights" of telling people how many you have, and that coupled with the generally believed psychology of “more is better” (or… having more makes me better) pretty much explains the phenomena IMO.

Here’s another question; what’s your point? Why do you care if people have a fixation on maximum watts?
Do you suffer from “little amp syndrome”?

[BrianVengeance]

I'd say that the wattage argument is the inbred cousin of wanting headroom and feeling the need to justify a purchase. Unless you actually have the cabinetry facilitated by said wattages, and in that case an elegant argument can be made for awesome epic overkill.

[Russell L]

But wait, ya'll, at some point watts matter, right? I mean, my Bassman 150 combo (one 12", 150w RMS) can't play the gigs my Markbass 121H combo can with its 300w RMS and one 12."

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by edbass

Here’s another question; what’s your point? Why do you care if people have a fixation on maximum watts?
Do you suffer from “little amp syndrome”?

I've always been concerned about it because I don't like to see people blow their tiny little cabs trying to eke every last little bit of performance out of them that the manufacturers claim (mostly erroneously) they take.

[s_mcsleazy]

Originally Posted by edbass

I think watt ratings are an easy to market, good hard number that most neophyte players can sort of get their head around; kinda like horsepower ratings in cars.

Like horsepower, watt are indeed relevant to the specific application, but only in context with all of the other relevant specifications involved.

The relevance of either in accomplishing the actual task at hand often takes a backseat to the "bragging rights" of telling people how many you have, and that coupled with the generally believed psychology of “more is better” (or… having more makes me better) pretty much explains the phenomena IMO.

Here’s another question; what’s your point? Why do you care if people have a fixation on maximum watts?
Do you suffer from “little amp syndrome”?

exactly. would you rather have a big american muscle car that shouts "you'll never take me alive" while going round a corner OR a nice wee arial atom that doesnt have much power but can go round a track WAY faster

however id rather have a amp/car that makes me feel happy

[nysbob]

Personally, I don't consider wattage to be of any great importance.

I played a gig last night through a 60W Standel combo with a JBL 15" in it. People danced, there was plenty of low end and everyone said we sounded great.

It should be about whatever it takes to bring the music to life, not the numbers.