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Need amp help. How many watts do you guys gig with?

#23
As others have pointed out it's not just power that determines how loud you are.
I played for years with a G-K 400RB into a PV 215 cab with a pair of EVM15Ls.
If I turned the gain past about 10:00 I'd get complaints that waitresses could not hear orders on the other end of the place. :laugh:
It was the early 400 rated at 200 watts into 4 ohms.
Not that many watts but with the speaker area and sensitivity of the two EVs it was a lot of sound.
 
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#24
If you get a way to tilt that 1x15 back you might find it's better than you thought. It's the main reason I don't like combo amps, I'm usually on small stages and so close to the amp that I can't hear the fender rumble or mark bass combo I have used on occasion. I have had pretty good luck with the mesa Subway gear, but dang it is expensive. I'd recommend borrowing gear from some local buddies or maybe rent some gear to try some stuff out. Maybe check out barefaced cabs if you have the coin, I've been saving up for a couple of their cabs myself
 
#27
I far prefer a high power amp:. See, there's these GAIN knobs which you only have to turn up to '3' most of the time, and it's happy as a clam, the speakers stay tight and fast, the tone controls operate as advertised and you have lots of control. And thanks to modern technologies, this doesn't include moving large, heavy components as it once did.

Or you can push the hell out of a barely-big-enough amp, and NONE of the above happens.

Pick one. Little bass amps are OK for something, I just can't think of what it might be.
 
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#30
On the flip side and to illustrate a point. AI have highl powered amps but low sensitivity cabinets because their tiny cabinets produce the low end but are tiny. So their combos are rated at 650 watts but with their cabinets, will not be heard in a loud rock band situation In my case I can use their heads which are detachable from their combos even with an 810. But one thing to also note is the voicing of their preamp. Made for acoustic instruments so I have to use a preamp also to do a rock gig
 
#32
I used my Vox Essex (35 crushing watts!!!) for a few years, back when I was in high school. It did the job.

Having said that, I would LOVE to gut one, put in a nice class D head and two nice speakers and leave the cover and speaker grill alone. But, I am weird.
 
#34
If you move from a 15 to 210’s your not getting much extra speaker. I would look at getting a 410 or something similar. Probably 4 ohm. That being said I also always go with the higher powered head because you can always turn down but not always turn up. I’ve heard heads of the same wattage and have perceived big volume differences. Watts really are just a rough idea of how loud an amp is. There isn't a big jump between 500 and 800 watts.
 
#36
I, uh ... erm ... well I uh ... :woot:

I mean, I sometimes gig with a 500w Eden WT500 and it's plenty, but it's fun to let the big horses run.

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#37
I started out in this life using a Sears Silvertone bass and a Nelson 20 watt little amp. after that, an Acoustic 360/361 rig. Plenty of power. Gradually, over the years, the last "super rig" was the SVT4Pro (1200 watts) and a Heritage 8X10 cab. Never pushed it very hard and damned sure never used all 1200 watts.

These days? I use 2 rigs primarily. A Acoustic 370 on top of a 402 cab (with new eminence 15s) and more importantly, a V4B on top of a Ampeg 2X12 cab. Additionally, I can call on my Markbass CMD121P and the NY121 Extension from time to time, but honestly, I rarely use it any more. 100 tube watts suits me just fine......
 
#38
I gigged for many years with a '62 - '64 B-15 doing jazz (including big band) and some rock stuff. It was fine. It was not appropriate for the rock bands I was in later without mic'ing so I got some louder stuff.

These days with the Jule 500W power amp into a 350W 4 ohm speaker, I never turn it above 50%. It's usually more at 25 - 40ish%, so doing simple math, I generally don't use more than 140/50W, at most about 175W.
 
#39
From reading a lot of posts here it seems that increasingly people are gigging with no watts. Just pedals and a DI into the FOH with stage sound from in ear or monitors.
Someone even mentioned an inactive dummy backline to make it look to the audience that they were using amps.
If you have a PA that's up to the task do you even need to upgrade your amp?
 

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