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How many watts do you run?

How many watts in your rig?

  • 100 or fewer

    Votes: 54 5.7%

  • 100-200

    Votes: 93 9.9%

  • 200-500

    Votes: 422 44.8%

  • more than 500

    Votes: 373 39.6%
  • Total voters
    942
#221
Cb4rabid said:
I was thinking of specifically just 8's or 6's in the cab :p
Click to expand...

Then you should look at finding an SWR Henry, which is an 8x8. Or you could look at the Phil Jones cabs... which have 5" drivers.

Of course, since they each have drivers in 1x1 horizontal arrangement, you have a completely different dispersion problem going on.

The real thing that Bill is trying to say is that having a dedicated woofer (that's not seeing the mids or highs) and having a dedicated mid-range speaker that is only seeing the Mids and above gives you really what you're looking to do.
 
#222
I gig with a late sixties Ampeg ST solid state head rated at 100 watts powering a single 15" Traynor cab and a 2X10" TubeWorks cab. It is has that vintage Ampeg sound believe it or not and is really loud with smooth bass. The head only has bass, treble knobs and ultra high and low toggles but it sounds amazingly warm . It does a really good job with the damping factor thing for modern type tone and slap style. Just goes to show you gotta use your ears and not necessarily go by the so-called watt wars. In my opinion, older watt ratings were somehow different than they are now.
 
#223
I think the 361 has about 200 watts. Rated, anyway. It projects just fine. If it needs supplementation I add another head and cabinet, which means 1 18" speaker run by 200 watts and 4 15" speakers run by about 325. It's never been inadequate.
 
#224
BurningSkies said:
Then you should look at finding an SWR Henry, which is an 8x8. Or you could look at the Phil Jones cabs... which have 5" drivers.

Of course, since they each have drivers in 1x1 horizontal arrangement, you have a completely different dispersion problem going on.

The real thing that Bill is trying to say is that having a dedicated woofer (that's not seeing the mids or highs) and having a dedicated mid-range speaker that is only seeing the Mids and above gives you really what you're looking to do.
Click to expand...
I just can't imagine using 8's. I mean, that's the size of my sound system's subwoofer. Im just a big speaker kind of guy. I used a 210 and a 410 and I didn't like the sound I got from them, 15's are my best friends. I figured a 412 would melt my face off because of all the ''mid-boosting'' they have.

Excuse me if im being ignorant, i'm relatively new to the game, so I might not be seeing things the way I should. I think it's just because I didn't like the sound of anything I got below 12 inches, so it's like im hindering myself or something.
 
#226
solodb said:
I gig with a late sixties Ampeg ST solid state head rated at 100 watts powering a single 15" Traynor cab and a 2X10" TubeWorks cab. It is has that vintage Ampeg sound believe it or not and is really loud with smooth bass. The head only has bass, treble knobs and ultra high and low toggles but it sounds amazingly warm . It does a really good job with the damping factor thing for modern type tone and slap style. Just goes to show you gotta use your ears and not necessarily go by the so-called watt wars. In my opinion, older watt ratings were somehow different than they are now.
Click to expand...

From what I understand, today’s cabs produce far-lower frequencies, which takes a lot more wattage.

The older ones didn’t produce those lower frequencies, so the watts translated into more volume.
 
#227
Cb4rabid said:
I think it's just because I didn't like the sound of anything I got below 12 inches, so it's like im hindering myself or something.
Click to expand...
What you're hindering is frequency response, output and dispersion. You can only get a good blend of all three by using different drivers optimized to work well in different frequency bandwidths. The Avatar 153 is a good, and unfortunately rare, example.
 
#228
I did the bigger-rig-to-overcome-too-loud-guitard thing, but I only ended up becoming an additional problem.

So I just went DI, headphone amp and in-ears (bass only) for a while, which lessened the stage volume for me and I could hear my bass fine.

Guitard had to hear me through the drummer’s monitor wedge, which he hated the tone of, but tough titties for him…

The problem was eventually resolved and now I’m back to a stage rig, but it was about to get really ugly, because it wasn’t just about me hearing myself, he was clearing dance floors and even rooms with his rig... f’in deaf selfish guitards…

/rant
 
#229
Marko5657 said:
I did the bigger-rig-to-overcome-too-loud-guitard thing, but I only ended up becoming an additional problem.

So I just went DI, headphone amp and in-ears (bass only) for a while, which lessened the stage volume for me and I could hear my bass fine.

Guitard had to hear me through the drummer’s monitor wedge, which he hated the tone of, but tough titties for him…

The problem was eventually resolved and now I’m back to a stage rig, but it was about to get really ugly, because it wasn’t just about me hearing myself, he was clearing dance floors and even rooms with his rig... f’in deaf selfish guitards…

/rant
Click to expand...

This.

You have too much volume for too long and you will damage your hearing. Don't go there. Once the damage is done it's permanent.
 
#231
I don't play in loud rock bands, so perhaps my view is skewed... I never have to use more than 500 watts and I am PLENTY loud for most of my situations. My normal, everyday setup is an Eden Nemesis NA320 (320 watts @ 4ohms) into 2 SWR Workingman's 2x10 cabs. An older setup, yes... But it sounds great and never fails to give me solid tone in 99% of the situations I find myself in. Sometimes I even get away with that head and just one of the 2x10 cabs (200 watts at 8 ohms). I also have an Eden WTX 500 that fits the bill nicely with my older SWR Goliath cab too.
 
#232
JazznFunk said:
I don't play in loud rock bands, so perhaps my view is skewed... I never have to use more than 500 watts and I am PLENTY loud for most of my situations. My normal, everyday setup is an Eden Nemesis NA320 (320 watts @ 4ohms) into 2 SWR Workingman's 2x10 cabs. An older setup, yes... But it sounds great and never fails to give me solid tone in 99% of the situations I find myself in. Sometimes I even get away with that head and just one of the 2x10 cabs (200 watts at 8 ohms). I also have an Eden WTX 500 that fits the bill nicely with my older SWR Goliath cab too.
Click to expand...
Your view is not skewed, Bryan. Quite honestly, for most of us working stiffs, loud volume is not required nor wanted, and is a quick ticket to Palookaville. Nowadays I almost never play a gig where I turn up louder than a B-15 can go clean.
 
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#233
JimmyM said:
Nowadays I almost never play a gig where I turn up louder than a B-15 can go clean.
Click to expand...

Word... Unless I'm totally on my own with my amp providing the low end 100% for the room, I'd rather let the PA handle it, hitting my VT Bass beforehand to ensure some measure of tonal control. Loud amps equal PO'ed sound guys, which equals bad vibes all around. :rollno:
 
#235
I have many basses and amps but my favorite amp size, volume and tone wise is a GK MB2. 500w micro head ( I think these are out of production ) it's all solid state and weighs 3 lbs 12 oz. The head and all the cables fit in a backpack and I use a Ampeg Portabass. 210PB cab 2x10 . Unbelievable tone . I am using a Road Worn Fender P Bass with 1954 Labella Bass Strings. Yes they are flat wound. I've been playing 40 years and have had everything period, and this little rig gets lookers just like my old Harley did.

GK makes a version of the amp I have it's got a 12AX7 preamp tube but other than that, the same amp I'm using. These amps are awesome !!! I paid $450 for my amp new. What a deal.

Matt Kohl
Tulsa, Ok

Fender RW P Bass
Fender RW J Bass
Fender US RI Stack Knob J Bass
Fender HWY 1 J Bass
Squier Vintage Vibe 1st Gen look alike P Bass ( Jam Night Bass lol )

GK MB2 micro head
Ampeg 800W Portabass head
Ampeg B15R
Ashdown ABM mini cabs. 4x8 , 1x15
Schroeder 1515L cab
 
#238
I had the same problem for year. Finally discovered it wasn't a power issue, but a speaker problem. When I finally went with 18" loaded folded horns, I never had a problem again. They also make a 21 folded cabinet, but I'm not sure it's worth the money. 300 watts or more into a horn is tremendous sound.
 
#239
I run a 600W Mesa Basis M-2000 that I mounted in a 4ohm Mesa 212 airhead cabinet. The 12s are Mesa's Neo 12s, so it isn't too heavy. It has a great low mid hump from the 12s that just cuts through nicely. They break up nice too if I crank the gain on the tube side for some grind.

I use it with a heavy hitting drummer and a Mesa triple rectifier running a pair of 412s, he puts them as far apart as he can angled slightly center. It actually works out pretty good, everyone can hear him and he is a really good guitarist so it's not so bad. I can use a 600W 212 combo because he EQ's what he wants up and what he doesn't down instead of everything on 11. He has a nice high mid focused crunch for a full distortion tone and he kicks off the distortion but boosts the gain for a cleaner grind for solo work. This leaves the low mids for me and the drummers kick gets just about everything below 100Hz.

Moral of the story, check everyone's EQ. Maybe your just not cutting through the mix due to the guitar hogging the entire freq range. Both you and the guitar should have some sort of eq in the signal path, not just rotary tone controls. It might 'sterlize' some of the tone, but it goes a lot further in making the ENTIRE band sound better as a whole. If you guys are fighting to be heard, the audience just gets a garbled mess.
 
#240
450 Watts into an 8x10. No more volume wars, more like a dictatorship jk. Drummer is usually asked to play softer first though, then me turning down, then guitarists. We actually have a pretty good setup. I got the 8x10 and got everybody complimentary earplugs for the practice room.
 

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