• 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.

How many watss to gig with?

#42
magic8161 said:
I have a 1x10 300 watts and a 2x8 200 watts. how many watt head should I get and what kind is good. I want light weight. sometimes ill just use the 2x8 other times both.
Click to expand...

If you're plugging into the PA then technically you don't need any, so a small head would do fine.

Good is such a subjective term. What are you looking for? What bassists do you want to sound like?
 
#46
InhumanResource said:
How loud is the king and does he bring a PA? Will the king run bass through the PA?
Click to expand...
We only play casinos and theaters. so most of the time I just bring my Sans amp and run through the house so no need to even bring a amp. but when I rarely fill in with blues brothers or roy orbison or other tribute artists that donthave good sound I like to at least be able to hold my own with the band.
 
  • Like
Reactions: InhumanResource
#47
magic8161 said:
We only play casinos and theaters. so most of the time I just bring my Sans amp and run through the house so no need to even bring a amp. but when I rarely fill in with blues brothers or roy orbison or other tribute artists that donthave good sound I like to at least be able to hold my own with the band.
Click to expand...

Got it. I think you are probably ok with the cabinets you listed as long as stage volume is not out of control and there is a monitor feed for those who are not standing on stage close to you.

The bottleneck (If any) is going to be your cabs as it won’t take much juice to max them out. Pushing more juice is just going to break things.
 
  • Like
Reactions: magic8161
#49
Full band (bass, drums, keys, guitar, more than one singer), pop/rock/variety, and if the drummer is a relatively hard hitter during high-energy songs, I won't take less than 350 solid state watts (@ 8 ohms) into at least a 1X15 or 4X10 to the stage. I've tried going with less, no good, can't keep up with the drummer and combined volume from the whole group.

This question is almost entirely dependent upon your band and volume needs. For example, in bands that use in-ears, this is almost a moot point. But for purposes of this thread, I believe OP is asking about stage volume not using in-ear monitors.

These days some guys are getting away with 300-350 into a 1X12. In the scenario described above, go with anything less and you'll need the cab right up by your ears, and your band mates won't get a sufficient amount of bass support (unless you're on a stage with side-fill monitors or something--most people prefer not to have bass in their floor monitor).

In the bands I play in, without in-ears, using floor monitors and everyone's rig serving as their personal monitors, on small to medium club stages with some kind of FOH support, the drummer sets the stage volume ceiling, and anyone drowning out the drummer (or any other player) on stage is too damn loud. If you can keep up with your drummer and your band mates can hear you, you probably brought enough fire power. Err on the side of too much, because the volume knob can always go down as low as you need, but after a point it will no longer go up.
 
  • Like
Reactions: magic8161
#50
magic8161 said:
I have a 1x10 300 watts and a 2x8 200 watts. how many watt head should I get and what kind is good. I want light weight. sometimes ill just use the 2x8 other times both.
Click to expand...

before you look at watts you need to make sure the ohms will work … if one or both of your cabs is 4 ohms then you can't run them both of off one head
 
  • Like
Reactions: magic8161
#53
ctmullins said:
(Note that driver diameter isn’t on the list.)
Click to expand...

Ahem....(cough, cough*) Sd is on the list, and unless you live in a different universe where geometry operates differently, the surface area of a speaker (what Sd quantifies) is proportional to the diameter of the thing squared. So. driver diameter is on the list to the point where it's impact is squared. Which means it's really important.
 
#54
micguy said:
Ahem....(cough, cough*) Sd is on the list, and unless you live in a different universe where geometry operates differently, the surface area of a speaker (what Sd quantifies) is proportional to the diameter of the thing squared. So. driver diameter is on the list to the point where it's impact is squared. Which means it's really important.
Click to expand...
So a 15 inch speaker would be the same as 2x8 inch speakers? Well close?
 
#55
magic8161 said:
So a 15 inch speaker would be the same as 2x8 inch speakers? Well close?
Click to expand...


The raw math says a 16 inch speaker has as much surface area as four 8 inch drivers. If you look into details, larger speakers are usually more efficient surface area wise - they have a smaller percentage of non moving stuff.

Given that, a 15 (even though it's not 16 inches overall) has about as much moving surface area as four 8 inch drivers. I just took a look at the Eminence web site - one of their series of speakers includes the Alpha 8 and Alpha 15 - the 15 does indeed have a bit more than four times the surface area (Sd) of the 8.

If you look at typical throws (xmax) of 15 inch drivers, they also move further, which multiplied by the cone area (that gives you total displacement), means they're more than equal to four 8 inch drivers.

Does speaker diameter matter? Yes. Of course, you could design drivers where the bigger on is limited to where the little one works better, but most speaker designers don't spend a lot of time trying to design bad performing larger drivers, so in practice, bigger drivers (assuming they're in an appropriately designed system) will give you more oomph.
 
#56
magic8161 said:
So a 15 inch speaker would be the same as 2x8 inch speakers? Well close?
Click to expand...

As @micguy noted, when it comes to area - no, not close at all. And unless I'm mistaken, if you start to factor in displacement, I believe that the larger diameter cones generally tend to pull even farther ahead.

Still, the more important numbers are arguably sensitivity (efficiency, or roughly how well the cab performs with minimal wattage) and max SPL (max volume, or roughly how well the cab performs at max wattage), if the cabs that you're looking at have those listed.
 
Last edited:
#57
micguy said:
Ahem....(cough, cough*) Sd is on the list, and unless you live in a different universe where geometry operates differently, the surface area of a speaker (what Sd quantifies) is proportional to the diameter of the thing squared. So. driver diameter is on the list to the point where it's impact is squared. Which means it's really important.
Click to expand...

Yes, but - a 12" diameter driver with an Xmax of 0.2mm is worthless, while a 12" driver with an Xmax of 9mm is going to be much, much better. Total displacement is what matters.
 
#58
ctmullins said:
Yes, but - a 12" diameter driver with an Xmax of 0.2mm is worthless, while a 12" driver with an Xmax of 9mm is going to be much, much better. Total displacement is what matters.
Click to expand...

Yes, total displacement is what matters, but.... a 12 inch diameter driver with an xmax of .2 mm would be a criminally mis-designed product - that kind of design would get you fired where I work (we design pro audio gear). Yes, some guitar speakers have fairly small xmax's (they're intentionally designed to distort, not to put out a lot of low end).

If you limit your discussions to products reasonably designed to the task, driver diameter is an important parameter.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back