• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Post Your Wattage

How much power in your primary rig?

  • <100W

    Votes: 13 3.6%

  • 100-199

    Votes: 26 7.3%

  • 200-299

    Votes: 29 8.1%

  • 300-399

    Votes: 64 17.9%

  • 400-599

    Votes: 80 22.3%

  • 600-799

    Votes: 48 13.4%

  • 800-999

    Votes: 24 6.7%

  • 1000-1199

    Votes: 22 6.1%

  • 1200-1399

    Votes: 23 6.4%

  • 1400-1599

    Votes: 8 2.2%

  • 1600-1999

    Votes: 13 3.6%

  • 2000+

    Votes: 23 6.4%
  • Total voters
    358
Liko

Liko

Mar 30, 2007
1,288
1,644
DFW Metro
#1
Simple, straightforward. Tell us how many watts the rig you use most often has. Also tell us if you use that as a gigging rig (and for what genre/club size) or if it's just a bedroom amp. This does not include PA power if you plug in, but if you go direct, mention that too. EDIT: I made the poll multiple choice, so if you have a bedroom and a gigging rig, vote for em both.

Myself, I play through a Peavey Combo 210TX with an additional 210TX extension cab. Power with the extension cab, 300W. I have not yet gigged with the full rig, but the combo without the extension (210W) has been a regular at my church for contemporary services. Great amp; heavy SOB though.
 
#4
Just a quick comment here for context. As the EE's regularly point out, wattage cannot be discussed without taking SPL into account. For example, 500 watts into my very efficient Epifani and Schroeder cabs is enough to do virtually any gig you could think of, short of a metal gig with no PA support. My lower efficiency Bergantino 's' stack likes about double that amount to reach the same volume.

Just FYI:)
 
#6
I run my Crest CA-9 bridged into my 4ohm Epifani UL410. I believe the max rated wattage on that is 2000watts, though I'm sure I never actually get close to that in reality.
 
#9
My gig rig is Gallien-Krueger 400RB-IV through an Avatar 1x12 cabinet (4 ohm.) The head is 280 watts at 4 ohms (180 @ 8) and the cabinet is 250 watts at 4 ohms.

Compact, lightweight, adequately powerful for bar/club/backyard/basement show gigs and with a DI out for PA support, I'm straight for larger venues.

Just this past weekend, I was sitting in with my friend's gutter-punk band at a backyard BBQ and a ska band who played before us needed to borrow my bass amp. Despite the band having a guitarist with a Marshall half-stack, trumpet, trombone, drums, and vocals, the bass powered through loud and clear w/o PA support. When I sat in with the gutter-punk band, the bass powered through heavy-handed drumming, a loud Marshall half-stack, and screaming.
 
#16
Ampeg SVT4PRO head (1,200 watts) into an Ampeg SVT810E (800 watts) playing metal in small to mid size venues while running direct. Need that much power to keep up at practice because I have no pa support at practice. And having a stack just looks awesome.
 
#19
KJung said:
Just a quick comment here for context. As the EE's regularly point out, wattage cannot be discussed without taking SPL into account. For example, 500 watts into my very efficient Epifani and Schroeder cabs is enough to do virtually any gig you could think of, short of a metal gig with no PA support. My lower efficiency Bergantino 's' stack likes about double that amount to reach the same volume.

Just FYI:)
Click to expand...

seamonkey said:
Assuming we all used the same cabinets. Since it's often said that a doubling of wattage is a 3db change and 10db is a perceived doubling of volume, maybe it makes more sense to pick a scale that doubles the wattage between steps
Click to expand...

I understand both of your points. Many times there is a difference in volume between two amps of the same wattage through the same speakers, to say nothing of the difference between "tube watts" and "SS watts" and the efficiency of speakers. Wattage however is the easiest to find, easiest to compare number that has an effect on volume, so it makes a decent benchmark if not the best overall. It's also the basis for comparison to the rest of the band; if you have an 800W rig, I'd be thinking you had to stand up to two guitar half-stacks, a keyboard, and a loud drummer. If you had a 100W rig, I'd be thinking you did mainly acoustic gigs.

Wattage is indeed linear whereas decibels are logarithmic, however the price of a rig is roughly related to its power rating (and yes, I understand the importance of features and brand in price). Since the bottom line is just as important as the output volume (otherwise we'd all have 2000W PA systems for bass rigs) and $200 is twice as much money as $100 as opposed to 33% more money, it made more sense to set up the poll in a roughly linear fashion. Besides, look at the results; if I doubled the wattage of each step, I'd be compressing large portions of the results into very wide groups.

Basically I just wanted to know how much power you guys lug around to gigs, and how well it does for you.
 
#20
Ashdown ABM 500 EVO......so 575 watts inot the two Ashdown Mini Cabs I have (Mini48 and Mini15). This is in the house practise and gig rig.....I also have an Ashdown EB130 witha single 15" speaker at the rehearsal space.


Bee thjinking about perfroming the 'Flux Capacitor' mod on the ABM EVO head......should give me about 1.21 Gigawatts.....might need more cabs though....:bassist:
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back