Building a setup for a two piece - is a Tone Hammer 350 enough?

[Aalter]

I’m playing in a two-piece rock band - lots of Royal Blood, White Stripes, etc - and currently putting together a rig for live shows.

Our rehearsal space has an Aguilar Tone Hammer 500 hooked up to a DB410 cab, and I love the tone. Right now, I’m thinking about getting a Tone Hammer 350 and pairing it with an SL210 cab. Is that a powerful enough to rock without a PA? We’ll most likely just be playing bars and such.

 

[SJan3]

I’m playing in a two-piece rock band - lots of Royal Blood, White Stripes, etc - and currently putting together a rig for live shows.

Our rehearsal space has an Aguilar Tone Hammer 500 hooked up to a DB410 cab, and I love the tone. Right now, I’m thinking about getting a Tone Hammer 350 and pairing it with an SL210 cab. Is that a powerful enough to rock without a PA? We’ll most likely just be playing bars and such.

With a 4 ohm 4x10, yes.
With an 8ohm 2x10, probably not.
Invest in your speakers.

 

[Aalter]

With a 4 ohm 4x10, yes.
With an 8ohm 2x10, probably not.
Invest in your speakers.

Gotcha. Can you break that down for me a little? This is all new to me, since I’ve always just played with smaller combos.

 

[abarson]

Cabinets are built to present different loads to an amplifier, the most common being 4 ohms or 8 ohms.

Concerning the TH350, here is its Power Output: 350 watts into 4 ohms, 175 watts into 8 ohms. This allows the connection of single cabinets or you can connect two 8 ohms cabinets together for a resulting load of 4 ohms. Never go below the amps' minimum rated load, in this case, 4 ohms.

Some people believe in using a single cab with the lowest load, thinking that you're "squeezing every watt out of the amp". My experience is that the flexibility of using an 8 ohms cab with the option of adding another 8 ohms cab is preferable.

For small gigs or if the band isn't too loud, the TH350 might suffice, especially if the cabinets you use are very efficient. I prefer to have a minimum of 500 watts at my disposal, but that's me.

 

[Aalter]

This is super helpful - thanks! Realistically, I can only afford a single cab right now. I could stretch to the 500 and 212 if I sold some gear.

 

[gtirard]

Don't know if this helps?

 

[SJan3]

Gotcha. Can you break that down for me a little? This is all new to me, since I’ve always just played with smaller combos.

Well, I own a Tonehammer 350 and use it often. But it needs a 4ohm load to get all 350 watts and enough speaker to project that power.
I use the TH350 with one 2x10 cab for an acoustic/electric gig I do and it's great for that, but the 2x10 w/o FOH support would be pushed to its limit on a rock gig, maybe beyond. I'm not a super tech head like others here but I believe giving the amp a 4ohm load with 4x10s will give you appx +6db of volume over the 8ohm 2x10 setup assuming the cabs are all the same efficiency.
That's a good increase in sound and likely will keep you satisfied and not over tax the speakers. I hope that helps.
FWIW, I use TWO 2x10" cabs on a rock gig.

 

[SJan3]

This is super helpful - thanks! Realistically, I can only afford a single cab right now. I could stretch to the 500 and 212 if I sold some gear.

The TH500 with an efficient 2x12 cab would give much more than a similar 2x10.
Look at MarkBass cabs. They are efficient, light and sound very good. A lot less $$$ than Aguilar cabs. I owned two Aguilar DB112 cabs and a Tonehammer 500. I didn't love it. Too mid forward for my taste although others like that combo for rock tone. I now use MarkBass cabinets and am happy with them.

 

[Aalter]

Thanks guys - this is super, super helpful! I’ve found that the Aguilar plays really well with my effects setup. I think I’ll look for a used TH500 and a 212 cab, will check out Markbass for sure. Any others I should look into?

 

[SJan3]

Thanks guys - this is super, super helpful! I’ve found that the Aguilar plays really well with my effects setup. I think I’ll look for a used TH500 and a 212 cab, will check out Markbass for sure. Any others I should look into?

 

[Ryan X Decent]

Thanks guys - this is super, super helpful! I’ve found that the Aguilar plays really well with my effects setup. I think I’ll look for a used TH500 and a 212 cab, will check out Markbass for sure. Any others I should look into?

It seems to be a rare find, but if you can find Carvin 212, that would also work great. I had a Carvin 212 that was damn near louder than my Ampeg 410HLF.

 

[Bodeeni]

I have been doing bar gigs with a 350w head and a 2x10 cab for 30 years. Most without PA support. I currently do a house gig with 4-5 pcs band. I use a Genz Benz Shuttle 3.0 and a SWR Goliath Jr. Pretty similar rig. I agree that the 4ohm cab is a big help. Although I now use a 8ohm 1/12 cab for other gigs and it has worked well with the blue trio. I consider the 2x10 my big rig.

 

[jthisdell]

I have used a TH500 and usually a Berg 210 for years, have never needed more power, very rarely have I needed more cabs. The 500 is not much more than the 350, pay more once, use it for many years.

 

[Tim Skaggs]

This is a hard question to answer without sounding a little bewildered.

Two piece? I presume the other piece is an instrument higher range than bass, and also a melodic / chordal instrument commonly used as a tonal foundation to support singing, like a guitar or keyboard?

So, two instruments & vocals? If you and your band mate just make a slight effort you should be able to get a near perfect mix, unless you expect your partner is going to play as loudly as possible & dwell on the low end of a keyboard.

The amp and cab will be more than adequate if you and your band mate would like to get a decent mix.

 

[bmusic]

This is a hard question to answer without sounding a little bewildered.

Two piece? I presume the other piece is an instrument higher range than bass, and also a melodic / chordal instrument commonly used as a tonal foundation to support singing, like a guitar or keyboard?

So, two instruments & vocals? If you and your band mate just make a slight effort you should be able to get a near perfect mix, unless you expect your partner is going to play as loudly as possible & dwell on the low end of a keyboard.

The amp and cab will be more than adequate if you and your band mate would like to get a decent mix.

Based on the bands he referenced, I assume the other instrument is drums—which would be, as the kids like to say, sick.

Also would suggest he splurge for more power.

 

[LiptonJigglers]

Get the TH500 and the DB410.
You know it works and you enjoy its sound.

 

[Acoop]

The TH 350 would work great in a duo setting. ... I use my Agui TH350 with a Agui single 12" and it works fine. ... Why drag around more than you need, if you don't need it.

 

[Thumpin6string]

Look in the TB classifieds. A lot of great amps and cabs at great prices.

 

[MrLenny1]

350 Watts @ 4 ohms into two cabs is plenty
for most gigs. The two cab option is very handy to have.

 

[Tim Skaggs]

Based on the bands he referenced, I assume the other instrument is drums—which would be, as the kids like to say, sick.

Also would suggest he splurge for more power.

If the effort is to get an authentic Royal Blood sound, the bass rig proposed would still be adequate, but a separate guitar amp would be a near necessity. Putting it all through one amp would be possible but I’d recommend a 2x12 cab for that. All the octave-up stuff would be plenty loud & thick with 175 or 350 watts into a 2x12.

As for White Stripe stuff, that’s more often guitar or keyboard + drums / percussion.
I still believe the proposed bass rig would be adequate in a bar, unless the effort is to get thunderous drums on every song & that’s not very White Stripe-ish.

If a two piece band of bass + drums can’t achieve a decent mix in a bar, it’s probably time to fire the drummer