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

#41
Between 500 and 800, depending on if I bring one cabinet or two.

If your 115 is 8 ohm, and you like it, and it can take 300 to 400 or more watts, then I say get another exactly like it, and then add the class D 800 watt amp of your choice. Mesa, Trickfish, Quilter, GK, Genzler, Aguilar, Darkglas, and probably others, are all in play. See if you can play through them, they each have a little bit of a sound, although all can be run quite clean.
 
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#43
KenD said:
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?
Click to expand...

If most if not all your gigs are with proper FOH and good IEM's, of course, an amp is in a way optional if that's all you're dealing with on a regular basis.

But, the first time you don't have all that, and for a lot of guys still doing weekend VFW's or Do Drop Inns or the seafood restuarant and grill down at the shore, that stuff isn't an option on a small gig with essentially vocal and acoustic guitar FOH.

I'd never be without an amp, as you never know what the next phone call or text may bring.
 
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#44
squeally dan said:
Currently using a TC Electronics BG250 combo. Playing mostly weddings and similar gigs. 99% of the time I’m running through a pa. I’ve used this amp on larger gigs and outdoor and it worked ok with help from monitors. It was cranked a few times.

so now looking to get something with a bit more than the 250 watts I’m currently using. Leaning towards a class D head with a 2x10 or 4x10 cab. Do I need 800 watts or will 500 be enough of a step up?
Click to expand...

I use the same combo in church. I used it once for an out door concert and it was cranked and sounded horrible. I purchased a Barefaced BB3 and an Aguilar TH500 for personal use (still putting 250W into 8 ohm). Same out door concert a year later with that rig and I had master volume about 11:30 and it was plenty loud and sounded great. There are reasons that TC combo retailed for $299 or $399. You don’t have to spend $2K, but you will need either an extra cab or 2, or a much better cab / amp. There are a lot of threads discussing low cost options with high amp watts - and a large portion of the discussion is from folks saying to get a good cab and a good amp. Unfortunately, as with so many things - there are generally reasons why things cost more (other than sheer popularity) and better engineering, materials, construction, etc all contribute to a better product.
 
#45
squeally dan said:
Currently using a TC Electronics BG250 combo. Playing mostly weddings and similar gigs. 99% of the time I’m running through a pa. I’ve used this amp on larger gigs and outdoor and it worked ok with help from monitors. It was cranked a few times.

so now looking to get something with a bit more than the 250 watts I’m currently using. Leaning towards a class D head with a 2x10 or 4x10 cab. Do I need 800 watts or will 500 be enough of a step up?
Click to expand...
50 - 300
 
#46
My rigs varied from 200 to 650ish, depending on the room size or if we were outdoors ( but never cranked full blast) .

If you are picking one rig, get what you need to handle all probable gigs, you can always turn it down. And maybe something modular, like a second cab you can leave at home for smaller gigs.
 
#47
Old Garage-Bander said:
And to think... I used to gig one of these. :woot:

The VOX Showroom - The Vox Essex Bass Amplifier - V-4, V104, V1041, V1042 and V1043
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I used to have one with a single 18" cant remember the model ?? found it

THE WESTMINSTER BASS AMP (1966 -1968)
The VOX Showroom - The Vox Westminster Bass Amp

I use a Markbass CMD102 2x10 300 watts and a MB 112 300 watts , the 2x10 is used for bigger outdoor gigs the 112 for smaller ones, IF I need more I DI out to the PA , I dont play huge gigs but large areas at times in wineries. FYI
 
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#51
KenD said:
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?
Click to expand...

Despite what I posted above, for sunday's gig the sound guy took me right out of the C.A.B. M+. I feed that with a Broughton P-15 pre. The amp + speaker gave some fill and I could hear myself, but I was not mic'd.
 
#52
I first used a Kustom 100 which was good until I joined a pretty loud band and it was not enough, so I went to an Acoustic 370/408. That was good for anything and I mean anything but too heavy so I went to an Eden WT400/410xlt. That was good for everything I needed it for.

So 400 watts at 4ohms going into an 8 ohm 410 cabinet was pushing a little over 200 watts and served me well for many years. The magic, I believe, was in the 410 cabinet. So I would say that a few hundred watts into a 410 should be good.

But lately I have been running 400 watts thru a 210/115 stack and things have been going well. I also have an 800 watt amp thru the 210/115 stack that works well too...of course...right?

I would say that a 410 would be good enough for you.
 
#53
This question has a number of differing answers. The truth is- what works for one bassist, might be wrong for another. I knew a great bass player in N.Y. City, that gigged with whatever head he could borrow, and a beat up BROKEN Fender cabinet that was shortened to hold only one 15. It was literally held together with duct tape. I sold him an SRO 15 I had and wasn't using. That- was the best piece of gear he had. His need for heroin, was a priority, over having good gear.
I used, for years, a Sunn Coliseum head, and a 2-15 Sunn 200S cab with K-140's. Big rooms, small rooms.. it always sounded good. After a while, I HAD to downsize.. as I was playing weddings, and it became stupid to carry a big bass amp to those. I had a GK 400 RB, and a TL 606 cab with an EVM 15 B. It never sounded right to me. Got stolen out of my Mustang hatchback in Manhattan. Got a Marshall 400 wat SS head, and a Hartke 4-10. Still did not like that rig much. Watts, are important for headroom, but it's really the combination of head- cabinet, and application. I use small cabs and a Genz Benz Shuttle 9.0 and it sounds great. You have to really watch the impedances- that head will blow a 4 ohm cab not capable of handling the power. I have a client, and friend that uses an ancient GK 200 RB, and one 15 no horn. He digs it. I'd hate it. I also have and sometimes use a Rumble 200 combo. I hate the non defeatable limiter. Good little combo otherwise.
Point- just try a bunch of gear, and find what works for you.
 
#54
For small jazz gigs I'll use my Markbass CMD 112H combo. That's 300W into 8 Ohms. Plenty loud for jazz.

For louder gigs I'll often use it with a 112 extension cab that gives me 500W into 4 ohms. It'll fill any room, but struggles a bit on a big outdoor stage.

These day my 'big' rig is a 1200W class 'D' Bergantino HP Forte into two 1x12 REF cabinets, each rated at 350 watts. All that clean headroom gives an immense sound. To give you an idea, I played a gig on a big outdoor stage two weeks ago and I had to turn the 'punch' off and keep the volume at around 10 o'clock, otherwise I couldn't hear any of the other guys in the band. Just too loud.

Years ago when I was playing pub rock, I used a 400w SS head going into six tens. That thing would flap my trousers at several paces. I recall doing an outdoor blues gig with it once and the fuzz came and made us pull the plug. The American sailors in the audience were not impressed LOL
 
#55
squeally dan said:
Currently using a TC Electronics BG250 combo. Playing mostly weddings and similar gigs. 99% of the time I’m running through a pa. I’ve used this amp on larger gigs and outdoor and it worked ok with help from monitors. It was cranked a few times.

so now looking to get something with a bit more than the 250 watts I’m currently using. Leaning towards a class D head with a 2x10 or 4x10 cab. Do I need 800 watts or will 500 be enough of a step up?
Click to expand...
I would suggest you go with the 800-watt amp because it will always be enough. Honestly the 500-watt should work fine most of the time, but the 800 watt amp will give you more headroom and will run cooler than the 500-watt amp would, while it's at it.

I have a couple of 800-watt amps. One is my big Eden amp that will do 400-watts into 4Ω per side and it has two power channels. It will also bridge those two power channels together and put out 800-watts rms into 8Ω. I've used that amp bridged at 800-watts since 2015 when I bought a DNS-410 cab by DNA That handles 1400-watts rms with a max SPL of 137db. My 800-watt amp can push that to a little over 134db.

Also used that with my DNS-210 which handles 700-watts rms and has a max SPL of 134db. I bought that one in 2019 when I was accepted to the DNA Endorser Program. Both are really loud cabinets that are super clear, clean, and articulate with a really solid and focused bottom end. I've ended up using that DNS-210 for all my indoor venues now, small to large, because it's so loud.

In 2021 I bought my DNA-800 class D amp that has a built in compressor with adjustable threshold and ratio controls. It only weighs 4.8-lbs, whereas my big Eden amp weighs about 36-lbs in its rack. It puts out 400-watts into 8Ω, 800-watts into 4Ω, and as the manual says, "almost full power" into 2Ω). So it only puts out 400-watts into either one of those cabs but will put out 800 if I ever need to stack them up and use both at the same time. Good news is that the 400-watts into my DNS-210 still puts out more than enough sound for all my indoor gigs because the cabs are so sensitive.

So, I'm an 800-watt guy. Was considering buying a 500-watt Eden TN-501, which has a really nice sound and versatile EQ, but it was $649 and for $150 more ($799) I could get the 800-watt amp. Plus the 800-watt amp (DNA-800) was even lighter than the Eden 500-watt one (TN-501), and quieter too because it doesn't even have a fan. The Eden TN-501 has a quiet fan that constantly runs.

I would highly suggest you get an 800-watt amp and two 210 8Ω cabs. The 400-watts or so will easily run one of the 210 cabs for small and medium indoor venues and if you play a large room than need more, you can add a second 210 cab so you'd have a de facto 800-watt, 410 set-up when you needed it for large venues, outdoor venues, or music festivals.
 
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#59
For outdoors or large-venue gigs, I run my 1200-watt Bergantino into a combination of speakers at 4 ohms, usually two Bergantino 1x12”s.

For medium-sized venues, I usually go with a 500-watt setup, either a Markbass CMD 112P extended with a Markbass 1x15” speaker, or Markbass F1 or an Acoustic Image Clarus into a combination of speakers at 4 ohms.

For much smaller venues, I go with an Ampeg PF-350 into a single 8-ohm speaker, either an Aguilar SL112 or a Trace Elliot Elf 10”. I think that is pushing around 175 watts into either speaker.

For your purposes any 500-watt amp with enough cone area should be quite fine. As Wasnex mentioned in his post, the difference in wattage with a more powerful amp might not be worth the price differential unless it is creating more than a 3db increase in SPL. Yet, you should check and hear it yourself to see if it is worth.
 
#60
I've been using this MarkBass head and I honestly don't remember what its power rating is. It's the one with interchangeable modules. I think it's 500 watts @4 ohms, but I run an 8 ohm Ampeg 2x10 generally so it's less than that. Volume is never ever an issue. It's plenty loud.
 

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