How much power do we really need?

[JimB52]

Sunn 300T. Musicman Audiophile HD 2x10 and HD 2x12.
Too loud.
Small gigs I use a Marshall DBS 7200 100w 8 ohms and a 2x10 for me and and DI into the PA for them.

 

[tom once dead]

According to my sister who used (now a uni student/singer in her band) to work at two of the big venues (Indie temple & Rics bar) in the valley brisbane QLD australia. Not much, a large combo is what she said is all you need
so maybe like a 300 head with 210 cab.

 

[dave_bass5]

According to my sister who used (now a uni student/singer in her band) to work at two of the big venues (Indie temple & Rics bar) in the valley brisbane QLD australia. Not much, a large combo is what she said is all you need
so maybe like a 300 head with 210 cab.

Dont forget though that most of the time a 300watt head would need to be paired with a 4 ohms cab or 2 8 ohms cabs to put out 300watts.

 

[peterbright]

Big gives you more options. Small is easier to schlep. In life, I've never been sorry for having too much.

 

[0175westwood29]

im thinking of getting either a gk700rb-II head and the 212 neo gk cab, or the Ashdown LG1000 with a gs212 aggie.

id be getting 300ish wats from the gk rig? as id get the 8 ohm cab so i could add later?

but id be getting 500w from the ashdown plus the opition of adding another 212 at a later date? to get 1000w! (i know i won't need it but still!)

i play in a band with 2 guitarists and a loud drummer?

what would you guys go for?

 

[zeidoz]

When you're in a gig , you need a PA that amplifies the sound of the band , so it's up to the Bassist to choose the amp that sounds better to him when jamming with his band , and the rest of the job is for the Audio engineer in that venue ......

For me , I usually split the signal to DI.Box into mixer and to my mic'ed AMP , I add a Low cut EQ on the DI , and a HI Cut on the amp Mic and that's why i use a huge 800 Watt Ampeg and a 810cab , to get a good low , also it gives a nice feeling on stage.

And you have more variation when you have more power , if u have a small amp , you'll struggle if you want more presence , although with more Wattage comes more lows which fits you in easier....

it's never enough !!! Double the wattage , you get 3 dB more , it's a logarithm , if you've never tried a big one , you should buy one , and if you're really good , you can EQ it to get that small amp sound that you already had , more power is not bad at all ..... after all it is called POWER

I hope this made sense ......

 

[xk49w]

<snip> Not much, a large combo is what she said is all you need so maybe like a 300 head with 210 cab.

Or a few large combos. (its a guitar player's rig but you get the idea).

 

[Jim Carr]

Isn't it possible that one needs a more powerful amplifier if the
amount of speaker area is smaller and the cabinet has a tweeter?

I find my 400 watt RMS rated 8 ohm Epifani NYC 210 to be as potent in
terms of loudness as a much bigger cabinet like a 301 Acoustic 1x18
or typical old school 2x15 D140F (take your pick), but it needs power
to get the excursion required to produce those levels and lows.

My 500 watt RMS 8 ohm 4x10 goliath II is a louder (if needed), but though it
has a lovely low-mid punch, it is not as "clear," even with a CA-6.

The point is that it is the mix of cabinet/driver area, power, and
whether the amp is solid state or tube that needs to be right for your
applications.

IMHO, oracular utterances can't change the complexity of
the musical or psycho-acoustic issues. That's why some will be puzzled
by the array of opinions on "power needed" seen here. There are so
many variables. It's cool that there are also many approaches to
solving the basic problem of being heard in "our own" musical contexts.

 

[pedro]

Now, now, no need for feigned memory-loss. I'm sure you know that
young guitarists in 1970, whose idols were Page, Clapton, Hendrix, etc.,
might have tended to play loud. Might.

Some of those kids have probably grown into actual musicians by now.
But expecting teens to play rock softly seems silly, IMHO.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH. Fortuntely I don't play with teens and the guitairists I currently play seem to have mastered that tricky volume control. I am blessed.

 

[Jim Carr]

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH. Fortuntely I don't play
with teens and the guitairists I currently play seem to have mastered
that tricky volume control. I am blessed.

Pedro, Pedro, neither do I perform with teens, except when teaching. I
was refering to how the teens I played with in 1968 or so played, when I
was a teen, too...

I can tell you have strong feelings about volume controls, but do you
mean to tell me you never played loud as a kid?

But back to power--it is not so simply related to volume, IMHO.

 

[chriscrob]

100w tube head

Tube watts are very much different from solid state watts when it comes to volume. I don't know the ratio I just know the average 100w tube head will be infinitely louder than a 100w solid state...

 

[thumpbass1]

We still need a minmum of 600 watts and a 410. Anything less than that is a cheese-weenie.

I think a lot of us had the speaker cab thing down back in the
60's and 70's but all you could buy was cheese-weenie heads
back then. Man I can remember when a 300 watt capable head
was the stuff of the gods!

 

[JimmyM]

Tube watts are very much different from solid state watts when it comes to volume. I don't know the ratio I just know the average 100w tube head will be infinitely louder than a 100w solid state...

Infinitely? Hardly.

Watts are watts. The only reason a tube amp goes louder is because when a SS head is pushed past clean volume its distortion is nasty clipping, whereas a tube head's distortion is more pleasing to the ear and less noticeable until you really give it the juice.

 

[pedro]

I can tell you have strong feelings about volume controls, but do you
mean to tell me you never played loud as a kid?

Paraphrasing

"When I was a child I spoke and thought as a child. But when I became a man I put away childish things and spoke and thought as a man."

No I don't play as loud as I did when I was kid. And the fact remains that even then we managed somehow with less.

Look I'm not saying having more is bad but I'm just not buying into the general hogwash that one needs 750 watts to play at a club with a 50-150 capacity. Granted style of music and accompanying musicians will have a lot to do with it.

 

[Jim Carr]

Paraphrasing

"When I was a child I spoke and thought as a child. But when I became a man I put away childish things and spoke and thought as a man."

No I don't play as loud as I did when I was kid. And the fact remains that even then we managed somehow with less.

Look I'm not saying having more is bad but I'm just not buying into the general hogwash that one needs 750 watts to play at a club with a 50-150 capacity. Granted style of music and accompanying musicians will have a lot to do with it.

+1