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Inverter vs. Roland BA-330

How does one figure out how efficient a cab is relative to other cabs?
I don’t own the Briefcase but I have considered picking up the Bass Buddy that is a component within it.

Normally companies list their speaker's efficiency rating in terms of how many dB are produced with 1 watt at a measurement distance of 1 meter. You might see something like "Sensitivity: 97dB 1W/1m." Sometimes the sensitivity is expressed as a voltage instead of a power level though. So you would see something like "Sensitivity: 97dB 2.83V/1m." This is a bit of a trick because at 8 ohms 2.83V is 1W and at 4 ohms 2.83V is 2W. I believe you will want to compare the 1W to 1W ratings. So if you see a 4 ohm sensitivity rating expressed in relation to 2.83V, just take 3dB off and you have the 1W sensitivity rating.

I could not find the sensitivity rating for the Phil Jones C2, but I believe it is very low. I have played the original Bass Briefcase and it was not very loud for 100W. The tone was nice but the volume was similar to 10W through an efficient speaker. I am sure the amp will be way louder if you disconnect the internal speakers and use something like a Subway 115.

The Bass Buddy is not a component within the Briefcase. The Bass Buddy is only 10W. I had the same idea to use the Bass Buddy as a Busking Platform with an efficient speaker. But it doesn't make 10W on battery power. See this link Phil Jones Bass Buddy or Double-Four (Busking)? So it's really just a headphone amp on battery power. I don't have a link but a tracked down a document that confirmed this a few years ago.

Some people rig up the Phil Jones Double Four with an external battery. There are quite a few threads on Talkbass if you are interested.
 
The Bass Buddy is not a component within the Briefcase. The Bass Buddy is only 10W. I had the same idea to use the Bass Buddy as a Busking Platform with an efficient speaker. But it doesn't make 10W on battery power. See this link Phil Jones Bass Buddy or Double-Four (Busking)? So it's really just a headphone amp on battery power. I don't have a link but a tracked down a document that confirmed this a few years ago.
It sure “looks like” the preamp section of the Briefcase is a Bass Buddy or at least the same housing. Maybe it is actually a Bass Buddy and there’s a separate power amp section that boosts the output to 100 watts.

Some people rig up the Phil Jones Double Four with an external battery. There are quite a few threads on Talkbass if you are interested.
Yes, I am already doing this.
 
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My general rule of thumb on cheap, asian inverters is to half the wattage rating. So if you buy a 300-watt inverter, consider it a 150-watt inverter.

Or if you need a 300-watt inverter, look at 600-watt and higher.

It depends on the use case. If you're trying to run a small tailgate blender rated on 200w then a 300w inverter may not provide enough start up power.
The Ryobi is 300w continuous. It has protection circuits that kick in if you overload it, or overheat it.
In this case with amplifiers with SMPS they have soft starts anyhow.

Batteries will wear out over charging cycles, many of the inverters with built in batteries can be harder and expensive to change. Clip in batteries that can be replaced and spares carried are good. 3 year battery warranty, and 5 year on the inverter. It's hard to find those kind of warranties.
 
Well, after all this discussion I found a used Roland BA-330 portable PA that runs on 8 AA batteries. My plan is to give it a try during my sparsely attended outdoor shows coming up (everyone masked and at social distance). The idea is to plug my vocal mic into one input and connect the Line Out of my Phil Jones Double Four BG-75 to another input via a passive DI box. The D4 has its own battery (Poweradd Pilot Pro2) set for 20 volts as I couldn’t determine for sure if it needed 19 or 20.

I just think for my needs this setup is more likely to be successful. I’ll get enough volume for my bass and have added bonus of reverb and feedback suppression. For the moment it beats messing with inverters and power stations and batteries and the like.

I’ll report back with the results and thanks for all the responses!
 
Once I was looking into this as a possible solution. I found this youtube video of a bass player using a pair of Roland BA-330's.
My expectations are modest: a little more oomph for the bass plus another option for our vocalist besides his Roland Cube Street. I’m not looking to replicate the features and power of a plug-in PA.

If there happens to be a wall nearby I can try placing the Double Four there. The Roland BA-330 will be out in front of the microphones.
 
I don't think 8 AA batteries will last long.
Likewise doesn't sound like a very powerful amplifier.

Good news is a 1000 watt converter should power many reasonable powerful amplifiers.

Then again speakers and efficient speakers really help. The more the better.

I've done countless battery powered adventures from recording to live performance. Real trick is 1000 watt or more converter and a big old deep cycle battery. No need for fancy all in one systems. You just strap a battery and converter to a dolly and wheel it in.

Car batteries work too. But if you run them flat dead. The won't survive to long.
My biggest investment was batteries or deep cycle batteries. Best batteries out there are the large large 12 volt trojan deep cycle designed for floor scrubbers.
Looks like 2 batteries stacked in one unit

Some remote locations I could just park the car and tap into the car battery. Being careful not to run it dead and can charge it with the car. Otherwise I usually carried 2 to 3 batteries and jumper cables. But I always had very large 1000 CCA batteries in my trucks

If you do a woopsie Doo you can get a jump from another car. Or jump yourself with back up batteries
 
Just as an aside here, my Ampeg B-15N(C)'s maximum power rating, was 25-30 Watts RMS, but that's running of AC line voltage which is relatively constant. As batteries drain

I would think the power would start to drop. Just my take however. I still think the Roland BA-330 is a nice little box.
 
I don't know why there aren't more small amps that accept DC power. There's nothing about an amplifier that necessitates AC power accept that they are built with AC power supplies. If you were electronically inclined, you could modify/customize an amplifier to bypass the AC power circuit and accept DC directly, after which it would just be a question of using the right batteries.

There's nothing intelligent about supplying only the current needed by the load (the amplifier is the load in this case). The load draws whatever current it needs, and either the power supply can supply it, or it can't (or it melts, if it is not protected from overload).

If you wanted to measure power efficiency of different cabinets, I guess you would have to measure power consumption with an ammeter and sound pressure with an SPL meter. In this case, efficiency = sound pressure / current. You would want to control a lot of factors, using a consistent input signal, consistent measuring distance for the SPL meter, etc.
 
Of course, the simplest solution for bass guitar alone would be to get the Phil Jones Briefcase Ultimate. That's 160 watts and two 5" speakers.
I have a Briefcase Ultimate, but I haven't purchased batteries for it, and I haven't attempted to run it on DC power. I like it well enough, but subjectively speaking, it doesn't seem anywhere near as loud as a 160W amp should. That was fine for the acoustic jams I took it to. And you're right, it's a costly option.