AMPEG TROUBLE! PLEASE HELP!

[Martinrh11]

Hi there! I'm new to the forum, so I hope I'm not posting off topic here.

I've recently bought a used Ampeg BA115HP combo. It seemed to be working fine when I bought it. This is my first equipment with any real punch (I've never owned any amp over 50w and this one delivers 220w). Anyway...the thing is that after I brought it back home, and played it in the same room as my other amp which is a 45w Peavey Minx, I get the feeling that it really doesn't have much more volume than the latter. The sound quality is great, and it does have much more body that the Peavey, but the volume is really not that much more, not to say, it's about the same. What could be wrong? Please help!!!

 

[uaudio]

I've found that amp to be very quiet, 220w seems like a stretch.

That being said, it should be noticeably louder than your Peavey, which is actually only 35W I believe.

 

[megadan]

Well, for one thing, you need 10x as much power to double the volume.

So to get twice as loud as the Peavey, you'd need 450W.

Are you feeling like the Ampeg is maybe 50% louder? That would be inline with common thinking.

The bottom line is, all though it has the Ampeg name on it, it's just not that loud an amp. It certainly isn't a BAD amp for certain applications, but it's not what I would call "punch." The cheapest punch, IMHO, would be a GK800RB through an Avatar cab.

I realize that may not be an option for you. Ultimately all you can do is play every amp you can, and you'll find one that speaks to you.

Generally that amp would be a the bottom of what we would consider giggable. You're gonna want at least a solid 300W and 2 - 4 drivers (speakers) to cover loud rock band gigging.

Hope this helps a bit, welcome to the forum, it's a very useful place.

 

[seamonkey]

There's two inputs - try plugging into the 0 db input.
How are you measuring volume? Position of the volume knob only suggests a level - they aren't calibrated. Crank both amps all the way up and see if you hear a difference.

 

[Martinrh11]

Hey guys! Thanks for the input!

uaudio, yes you are right, my Peavey is only 35w actually.

seamonkey, that's the way I originally measured one against the other, and how I came to this conclusion.

megadan, I do realize that by gig standards this is not a very powerful amp, but I figured that even considering this it should actually still be a lot louder. At the place where we've been rehearsing lately with my band, they have an Ampeg BA115, which is 100w, and it seems WAY louder. It might just be the room is more accoustical, but on the other hand it does fine against the drums on volume standards. I guess I'll have to try and take the amp over there and see if it's just my imagination or if there's something actually wrong.

Thanks again guys!