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Question about Watts...

Alexander

Alexander

Aug 13, 2001
3,359
3,609
Seattle, WA
#1
OK - this may sound like a really stupid question to some, but I've read a lot of posts regarding this and can't figure it out, so at the risk of getting smacked down, here goes...

I hear a lot of folks saying you need an amp with LOTS of wattage (typically 300-400W is the minimum) and that you should get as much as you can (with many players swearing by 800W to 1200W or more). I hear a lot of talk about headroom, which I'm not sure I fully understand (it is just clean volume, right?).

I played for several years with a relatively loud four piece rock band using a 200W Nemesis amp (and at times we were obnoxiously loud, especially in our practice space). The Nemesis seemed to keep up just fine, though I had to push it pretty hard when playing outdoors. Now I have a 400W amp and it is plenty loud\sounds fantastic. Played a mid sized room driving all of the bass from my amp (no PA support) this weekend and it filled out the room just great. And I never got the volume above 5 and was already starting to drown out the drummer. I couldn't imagine a situation where I would need to push it much beyond that (at risk of damaging my hearing).

Could someone help me understand this? I know there are good reasons we have a ton of high-wattage amps out there, but I'm not sure why (or under what circumstances) you would need it.

Thanks for your help. :)
 
#3
So more watts allows you to essentially drive inefficient or smaller cabs or cabs with lots of bottom to a usable volume? I use small cabs and understand they are pretty inefficient (Berg 112s), but have never had any issues. Not trying to argue, just want to understand. Thanks for the help.
 
#5
400 real watts and a good cab can more than keep up in most situations. I think a lot of folks go big power when they go the pre-amp--power-amp rout cause it's relatively easy and in expensive. For instance, the smallest QSC RMX amp is an RMX 850. That's 850 real watts at 4 ohms bridged. You'd have to go out of your way to find a power-amp much smaller than 800 watts unless you go into studio stuff like a Crown D75 or EV dynacord. On the otherhand, most amp heads are in the 300-500 watt range which is all you really need. Last night I was playing under a small tent in wet weather. (not much fun). I had to crank my PLX up to -10 db peaks which is about 150 to 200 watts to carry out front. It was so loud on stage that it even bothered me. I ended up turning down and adding some through PA. Why do I use a 1200 watt amp? Because it's there.
 
#8
I was always thinking the same thing. They say you need a MINIMUM of 300watts to play anything. Well I'm sticking with my 300-400 watt amps. I think they would do just fine for any situation. I mean im not going to be playing at woodstock anytime soon..
 

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