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Minimum Wattage to Play a Gig?

I usually play through 5 to 20 kilowatts, and 4 or more 18's - decent PA's - I go direct.

The one gig I do bring an amp, I just have to keep up with an acoustic piano. 100 watts through a 110 (a rather inefficient one at that) is more than enough, but it's the smallest head I have. I someone made a good sounding 10 watt amp, I'm sure it'd do.

There's no one answer -it all depends.
 
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A LOT depends on the gig, the venue, the style of music and the people you are playing with.

Generlizations that should always be considered would include, don't count on FOH, there may not be one,
buying used will get you better gear on a budget and buy more power and/or speaker area than you think you need.
I keep pointing out that in these days of light weight class D marvels there are a lot of great older amps being replaced
to save weight. They still work and sound as good as ever, but are now being sold to cover part of the cost of
the new stuff. If you can move a bigger, heavier amp, you can find a deal out there.

On example of used gear in the ~ 300 buck range that I have pointed out before is a G-K 400RB for 1-200 dollars
and PV 215 cabinet in the 50-150 range.
Not new.
Not state of the art.
Not flashy.
But not bad at all for the bux.

There are lots of other choices out there.
With careful shopping and imagination you can find a rig that works for you.
Take your time.
Consider different amp and speaker pairings.
Feel free to ask us if they can work together or do wht you need.
 
I use an Ampeg PF-50T with 2 x 210AV cabs all the time and I don't even have it cranked. But those are "magic tube watts":D and out of your budget. Get a used GK or Peavey 200 watts min.
is that enough to keep up with a drummer? full band? are you getting clean sounds?....what kind of places are you playing with that rig?

Considering the PF-50T with a 4x10 or 2 2x12/10s....I've read mixed comments on wether or not its enough to jam with a band.
 
Find used Peavey combo/BAM or such. 250-300W 1X 15". Spot on minimum requirement. aforementioned TNT ( 100w) will work but you;ll be pushing it with a loud drummer.

I'm no pro but viciously gigged for years, You need a decent stage monitor, and maybe your drummer needs its metronomic quality as well....! ( I ran an ext cab right behind one of our drummers that needed to hear my timings, it made him much tighter. In fact, even the singer used the basslines are her cues ( as they were always precisely correct! ;) ) So, at least in amamteru-ville over here, having a strong bass pulse on stage glued the band up. Dont know how you pros go "direct" only unless the stage has monitors doing the 20-1000Hz thing for the band.

Always bear in mind it takes WAY more wattage to send those long low frequency waves out. Physics. That aint a guitar son! ;)
 
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Watt ratings are suspect, try an amp and see for yourself what the available volume is. There are all kinds of amps that list 400 to 900 watts that an old 100 watt tube head can beat.
Well that's an unqualified statement at best.

The myth that tube Watts are louder than other Watts has nothing to do with power.
All power, when measured under like circumstances will will be the same regardless of the type of amplifier.

Sure, a 100 watt amp, tube or otherwise, played into an 8x10 cab, will pound he crap out of a 500 watt amp with a single 12 inch speaker any day of the week and twice during the Friday night gig. But that has very little at all to do with the actual, measurable power.

Yes power ratings ("Watt ratings" is an incorrect use of the terminology) are suspect because there is no standard in use for how manufacturers measure power. Nor are there any penalties placed on manufacturers who "fudge" the numbers. There is peak power, RMS, music power, average, continuous... yadda yadda ways to indicate power.
People who don't understand any of this also don't understand why it is possible that two amps with the same power may be very different in loudness.

Please, rather than blindly parrot a clever phrase that uses unqualified parameters which do no more than add to the confusion, make an effort to try to understand a little more about that of which you speak.
I will thank you. The other person will thank you. And most important of all, you will thank yourself for becoming more enlightened about why amps sound and work like they do.
 
Find used Peavey combo/BAM or such. 250-300W 1X 15". Spot on minimum requirement. aforementioned TNT ( 100w) will work but you;ll be pushing it with a loud drummer.

I'm no pro but viciously gigged for years, You need a decent stage monitor, and maybe your drummer needs its metronomic quality as well....! ( I ran an ext cab right behind one of our drummers that needed to hear my timings, it made him much tighter. In fact, even the singer used the basslines are her cues ( as they were always precisely correct! ;) ) So, at least in amamteru-ville over here, having a strong bass pulse on stage glued the band up. Dont know how you pros go "direct" only unless the stage has monitors doing the 20-1000Hz thing for the band.

Always bear in mind it takes WAY more wattage to send those long low frequency waves out. Physics. That aint a guitar son! ;)
NOT PHYSICS. Physiology.

The physiology of the way we hear means our ears are less sensitive to those frequencies.
Our ears are not "tuned" for lack of a better word, to hear bass frequencies as well as we do higher ones.
Therefore we have to apply more power to the low end to be able to hear it equally as well as higher frequencies.

IMO, A Musical instrument amplifier should be perfectly capable of reproducing 40 Hz at the same output power just as easily as it does 400 or 4000 Hz.
 
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It's all about the speakers, not the wattage. The more speakers, the louder it will seem.

I'd much rather push 200 watts into 412's than 500 watts into a single one.

My rule of comfort is 200 watts minimum into a 212 cabinet.

Even better would be 500 watts into a 410 cab for the added headroom.
You should never gig with anything less than 20w.
Unless, of course you are using a Class T amp. Which we all know, the T stands for transistor, just like the D in Class D stands for digital.... NOT. :thumbsup:

You dry down there JimmyM?
 
I usually play through 5 to 20 kilowatts, and 4 or more 18's - decent PA's - I go direct.

The one gig I do bring an amp, I just have to keep up with an acoustic piano. 100 watts through a 110 (a rather inefficient one at that) is more than enough, but it's the smallest head I have. I someone made a good sounding 10 watt amp, I'm sure it'd do.

There's no one answer -it all depends.
20 KW drool
 
I forgot to mention that I will most likely be running through the PA system. Would 100 be enough through a PA?
If you are running through a PA then you just need stage volume. However, it still depends on your drummer. I would look for a used Ampeg PF800 and a 4X10 or 2X15 cabinet. You are going through the PA for this gig, but what about the next gig and every gig after that?
 

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