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Power!

#3
Right, I suppose I need to get this out of the way:

What kind of music do you play?
How many guitarists are in your band, how loud are their amps?
How loud is the PA/The singer?
How loud is your drummer?

Even without all that info, you can generally say that a 20watt combo is not powerful for anything but bedroom practice.

I use a 100watt Fender Bassman head for band practices, and that's grossly underpowered.
 
#4
Originally posted by Dan Loader
Right, I suppose I need to get this out of the way:

What kind of music do you play?
How many guitarists are in your band, how loud are their amps?
How loud is the PA/The singer?
How loud is your drummer?

Even without all that info, you can generally say that a 20watt combo is not powerful for anything but bedroom practice.

I use a 100watt Fender Bassman head for band practices, and that's grossly underpowered.
Click to expand...

I did the same with a 4 piece rock band.

Get a bigger amp!

laughing-smiley-011.gif


Treena
 
#7
1st: what is a PA?
then: we actually don't have a guitarist but we're thinking of getting one, but he would never use distortion
my drummer plays very softly, jazz-like
the kind of music we play is strange: usually I say ska/jazz/swing, say like skatalites or goodfellas(I don't think you know this ones)
we have a female singer, piano, trumpet, sax.
usually we play at a volume that lets sax and trumpet play with no microphone
SO I don't think we play loud, actually our sound is very soft, this is the reason why I want to try to use my amp. the last thing, our garage is very small(6 metres X 2.5 metres)
 
#9
1st: what is a PA?
Click to expand...

You are joking right? PA, Public Address, you Mics, mixers, amps, speakers and such. Unless your singer has one hell of a loud voice, (louder than the drummer) and can do so all nite, you need some reinforcement. Sounds like you don't have any kind of PA, you should though, for the vocals and hey you could run your bass through it and not have to buy a new amp, yet.
 
#11
Originally posted by Droog


You are joking right? PA, Public Address, you know, Mics, mixers, amps, speakers and such. Unless your singer has one hell of a loud voice, (louder than the drummer) and can do so all nite, you need some reinforcement.
Click to expand...


Maybe not, some of these Italian singers have got the ability to shake windows with their vocal onslaughts ( Pavaroti, Mario Lanza etc.)
Also, If they are only going to be playing coffee houses and pizza parlours, then they would probably lose their gig if the locals can't hear themselves talking. I imagine the culture in Italy is very different from what we are used to.
 
#13
Originally posted by ilfretless
1st: what is a PA?
then: we actually don't have a guitarist but we're thinking of getting one, but he would never use distortion
my drummer plays very softly, jazz-like
the kind of music we play is strange: usually I say ska/jazz/swing, say like skatalites or goodfellas(I don't think you know this ones)
we have a female singer, piano, trumpet, sax.
usually we play at a volume that lets sax and trumpet play with no microphone
SO I don't think we play loud, actually our sound is very soft, this is the reason why I want to try to use my amp. the last thing, our garage is very small(6 metres X 2.5 metres)
Click to expand...

PA SYSTEM TUTORIAL

maybe Pas are called something else there...
Click to expand...

They call them Tannoys, because these speakers were the first to hit the commercial market in Italy. I toured Italy and believe me, this is a language thing!

Invalid Link Removed

Treena
 
#14
Originally posted by The Bassmaniac
If you hear banging on your door, the amp's loud enough. If the only banging you hear is your drummer, you need a bigger amp :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Hahahahaha... Man, 20 watts aint gonna cut it in a band... Unless your guitarist has like a 5 or 10 watt amp... No, a 20 watt amp couldn't even be heard over a drumset probably, well not good...
Do you not have enough money because you don't want to buy another one, or do you just not have a lot of money... Could your parents pitch anything in??
 
#15
PA was a language problem: in Italy we call it a mixer
Anyway culture in Italy is not that different, i've lived in England and in the States and there it's not so different.
Actually we're going to have a PA in our garage, how do I connect to it?
actually I just don't want to spend so much money now, i will be able to do so maybe in two months
 
#17
i played with a 100W Yorkeville combo for a few years till i decided to upgrade.

I play a Mesa 400+ and a BagEnd Q10BX-D. that 360W of tube power cuts through 2 guitars and a drumemr like there's no tomorrow.

i can tell you right now... go and drop $300 on a new amp. 20W of Bass = about 5 Watts of Guitar.

Don't forget... you have more than just a guitarist to compete with. For a sax to actually put out sound...you gotta move at least SOME air. I'd be suprised if you could hear any bass at all with all the other instruments playing.
 
#20
Originally posted by pbd
since you don't have any money for something else, try placing your 20W amp up high. This way you'll have a more direct line of sound, at least until you can afford a larger amp. If you have a PA for your band use that for your rig.
Click to expand...

This is good advice.

I would also recommend looking for something bigger though. Most 20w amps are not loud enough to play with a drummer.

I have played with my Fender Bassman 25. But in that case, the drummer was playing softer to accomidate me.

Usually around 100 watts into a single 15" speaker is good for practice in a garage. If you buy one used, it may not be very expensive.
 

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