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15 tube watts through a 410...

drewfunk

drewfunk

May 10, 2010
358
7
Olympia, Wa
#1
Recently purchased a Fender Pro Jr guitar amp. All tube, 15 watts. As an experiment i brought it to practice to plug into my Peavey 410 cab to see what it sounded like with a bass. I never thought it would have enough punch to power the 410 loud enough to actually practice with, but i was quite surprised! It was still audible even with a hard hitting drummer! I desoldered the NFB to get a bassier tone, but it still wasnt a great bass tone, although the tubes gave it some nice dirt and grind. I was totally shocked a 15 watt tube amp could power a 410 and be loud enough to jam with a guitarist and drummer.
 
#5
drewfunk said:
Its not a gigging rig, but definitely useable in pinch. I did feel kinda bad cranking the EL84s to 11 for an hour straight, but hey i have a 30 day warranty! :bassist:
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You'll shorten the life overall, not just within the 30 day period. Not a good thing to do.

Lower power amps are underrated. Just ask JimmyM. He gigs with a 1x15, 25watt Ampeg B15-N and a 1x15 extension cab.
 
#9
pfschim said:
yep .. paging JimmyM to repeat for the millionth time that 27w is all a REAL bassplayer truly needs to do any gig :D
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It's actually 25w, and it's all I need for the vast majority of my gigs. There have been a couple times where one 115 cab wasn't enough, but most of the time it is, even though I greatly prefer two.
 
#13
BassmanPaul said:
Why is it that folk with little tube amp knowledge think that they can "improve" one? Disconnecting the NFB loop will not make the amp more "Bassy" just louder and possibly more unstable. :rollno:
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Ha, i never made any claims about having knowledge or improving upon anything. I know plenty of people that have disconnected the NFB in their little tube amps for a preferable tone. I did the same to my amp and IMO the tone was ballsier and bassier.
 
#14
drewfunk said:
Ha, i never made any claims about having knowledge or improving upon anything. I know plenty of people that have disconnected the NFB in their little tube amps for a preferable tone. I did the same to my amp and IMO the tone was ballsier and bassier.
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That can certainly make sense. NFB accomplishes two things in this context. Reducing distortion in the power amp, and lowers the power amp's output impedance, both at the expense of gain. Removing the NFB will increase the distortion (probably the "ballsier" aspect of tone), and will increase the output impedance resulting in a much lower damping factor. Depending on the speaker, this could be perceived as an increase in bass response since the speaker would be somewhat less electrically damped.
 
#16
I have a Gibson reissue GA-5 that has an eight inch speaker and is rated at 5 watts.

I have been using it with Acoustic Guitar, Acoustic Piano, Vocals and Electric Bass. It works fantastic. I installed a NOS RCA 6BQ5 and a 5814A in place of the 12ax7.

Works great.
 
#17
Considering the lust for watts it's always interesting that low watt tube amps can push so much audible sound. I had a SWR Interestellar Overdrive that has a dinky 5W tube speaker tap and it ran my GK 4x12 cab loudly. Not gig loudly, but in my garage I couldn't even turn the volume all the way up as my family came out to see what all the noise was.
 
#18
gastric said:
Not gig loudly, but in my garage I couldn't even turn the volume all the way up as my family came out to see what all the noise was.
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So - you family didn't know you played bass?

A closet-bassist? There are chemical and electrical shock interventions to cure you of this problem.

Pity us all who cannot afford treatment for our 'condition'.

In the meantime: Play your bass and be PROUD!
 

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