I CONCUR WITH THIS GENTLEMAN ON LIVE STAGE. 9 TIME OUT OF TEN YOU'LL PROBALY RUN THRU A DI AND COME THRU THE MONITOR MIX.WHAT I LIKE TO DO I A SITUTION LIKE THAT, IS GET A NICE CRISP MONITOR SOUND AND LISTEN TO THE RIG BEHIND YOU AND THE MONITOR SOUND IN FRONT.THEN STAND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TWO AND IT'S LIKE HAVEING STERE0 TONE.( MAKE SURE THAT THE PHASE OF THE TO SET UPS ARE BALANCED.
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1600 watts is great. ampeg amps you can't go wrong. you'll have to find out whats the best seris for your small and large venues.remember, everybody is different such as the sounds and ri g you want.EXPERIMENT.
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Under estimating your needs will not sound good, so get enough. . . then a bit more.
Whatever you choose make sure you have enough in your budget for some good custom moulded earplugs. You might not think you need them, but now is exactly the right time to start using them.
Whatever you choose make sure you have enough in your budget for some good custom moulded earplugs. You might not think you need them, but now is exactly the right time to start using them.
Funny, was looking at the HA 5500 earlier, thought it looked nice and is well reviewed!Your situation sounds similar to mine (I have a 350w head and 2,4X10 cabs and not once needed more, even with a loud drummer.)v
I'd go with a 350 - 500w head and a 4x10 to start with. If you need more send a feed to the PA or add another 4x10 or both
maybe look at a
Hartke HA3500 or HA5500 head
Aguilar Tone Hammer 350 head
Ampeg Portaflex 500
Hartke make good value 410xl cabs
or Gallien Krueger CX 410/4
Maybe try the fender rumble line. not for me (to wooly/muddy) but some rave about them.
Nope...............
The +3db from doubling speaker area WITHOUT increasing power is due to the speakers coupling.
Your example (2 powered PA speakers) would yield +6db (doubling speaker area AND doubling output).
ETA - see it was already explained, nevermind..........
My rig consists of a Carvin DCML 3000 amp [3000w bridged, 2000w stereo], a Tech 21 VTRM, 2 Carvin 1523 PA speakers [215's]. It keeps up. I'm tired of dragging the 1523's around so I am building 2 BFM Omni 15's [but using 4 Eminance 3012's]. A bit smaller package but still loud. Many will tell you that a 3000w amp is overkill... I say "anything worth doing is worth overdoing". With a big rig you can always turn down, with a small rig, once you max out, you are done. The VTRM goes from mellow B15 type tones to in your face heavily overdriven tones, if I were looking at more modern tones I'd have probably gone with an RPM preamp. If you buy used, a power amp and a preamp can be had for about $500, used fEarfuls, AudioKenesis, or Bergantino's <$1500 for a pair. It would give you a rig you'll never have to upgrade that will keep up regardless of venue played. Just my humble opinion, worth what you paid for it. As always YMMV.
Rondo
Rondo
I am by no means a pro or as experienced as most here but my experience is its all how they have you connected to the main board,,, if I see only a mic in front of a speaker on my cab I know right away my stage volume has to be low to mid so the sound guy gets the cleanest signal,, if you go over and turn up too loud he will drop you right down in the signal (don't piss off the sound guy) . if they break out a di box or you go pre-direct then I know I can have my volume where I want on stage but not too loud where the drummer can't hear the vocals if drummers can't hear vocals they get pissed. then when you start opening for bigger bands (be super cool with the bigger bands) moving up to the 500-1000 size stages forget about always hearing your bass because a lot of times the sound is out in front of you, so be prepared to only feel the bass which mentally you might try to play harder, pick harder, dig in deeper to hear that bass but you might cramp your hand out or break a string so practice playing with no sound and play be feel and be ready for that..
I use the mesa boogie 400+ on a PH1000 cab for the jam room and for recording and if we get a big show especially an outdoor show,,,, unless you got a couple roadies helping trust me lugging a 100lb head and 130lb cab (road readys) really is a pain in the butt....take a good look at the super light amps they are just as loud as the big tube amps but weight maybe 5lbs and playing a loud show forget the whole this sounds better than that because in the real world you can only hear bass and its usually mixed in with a wall of friggen noise so forget about clarity or what sounds better,,, recording is where that comes in to play,,,,, live just be in tune and hope you have a decent crowd...
so minimum stage volume I want at least 200watts because I played maybe 300 shows with a GK 400RB and a 1x15 8ohm cab and it was plenty loud,, keeping in mind most clubs did have some sort of a house system butno matter what I had if I heard it in the jam room I would hear it on a live stage or cellar floor..
I use the mesa boogie 400+ on a PH1000 cab for the jam room and for recording and if we get a big show especially an outdoor show,,,, unless you got a couple roadies helping trust me lugging a 100lb head and 130lb cab (road readys) really is a pain in the butt....take a good look at the super light amps they are just as loud as the big tube amps but weight maybe 5lbs and playing a loud show forget the whole this sounds better than that because in the real world you can only hear bass and its usually mixed in with a wall of friggen noise so forget about clarity or what sounds better,,, recording is where that comes in to play,,,,, live just be in tune and hope you have a decent crowd...
so minimum stage volume I want at least 200watts because I played maybe 300 shows with a GK 400RB and a 1x15 8ohm cab and it was plenty loud,, keeping in mind most clubs did have some sort of a house system butno matter what I had if I heard it in the jam room I would hear it on a live stage or cellar floor..
Not such a huge deal with a bass as the 1/4 wavelength distance on your Low E is 6-feet, 10-5/16 inches. 1/4 wavelength on your G string is 2-feet, 10-9/16 inches. So stacking your cabs will give you the coupling, no problem. Putting one cab on one side of the stage and one on the other won't take advantage of the coupling but will still double the sound you're putting out.
Bad news is we're talking about 3db as "doubling the sound" because that's how it is scientifically measured, but the human ear doesn't hear twice as loud until you get 10db difference. Most people can hear 1db difference in sound though, so an additional 3 to 6 db is significant and adding cabs to get louder is usually less expensive than adding watts.
Putting two cabs on opposite sides of the stage will result in a 3db gain, but this is an average measurement taken throughout the room. Resulting comb filtering means the frequency response will vary significantly from point to point.
I use The HA3500, and have been for the last 10 years. recently I have had to spend around $50 to get a small issue with it fixed. Its a great head with plenty of power and a versatile pallet of sounds available. its not the lightest bit of gear to lug around though. As I mentioned above I run it into a 4x10 for most gigs in clubs and halls up to about a 300 person venue.
If I find I need a little more on site and I only have 1 cab, I just throw a line from the head to the PA and trickle a bit of bass to the main speakers. If I know the venue is big; I will take the second 4x10.
The HA5500 would be plenty anywhere. Well worth a try out IMO.
Nope..........,
it's due to relative low efficience of drivers which can be improved by doubling cone surface. It's in first place a reduction of thermal losses in the VC of drivers.
Increasing of electrical respectively acoustical efficience of a cab system has by no means anything to do with acoustical "coupling" of drivers.
It would be nothing but mixing of different "myths" IMHO.
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Hey everybody, after a very long time, and other gear needs/interests that got in the way, I have finally assembled a rig. I bought a Traynor TC1510 cab used for 200 and a Mesa Big Block 750 head for 700. All the advice here was considered the whole way through. Thanks!
