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wattage

HELLonWHEELS

HELLonWHEELS

Jun 13, 2005
1,737
1,373
Houston
#1
I see people with there 4000+ watt amp and i think how much do you really need. If your playing something big then you will be hooked up right? So how many watt are really nessacery? I know people like to brag "look at me i can make your ears blead my amp is so loud!", honestly how much do you need?

EXTRA: How much does your setup put out?
 
#2
200-300w is about right into a better than average cab (Eden, SWR etc). Remember that 400w is only 3db louder than 200w, 800w is only 6db more than 200w.

I started using an ART SLA2 (one channel, 280 into 4 ohms) with an old yamaha PB1 pre-amp and it's a good combination. Something to look at...
 
#3
'tis true, that'll do most stuff.
But i would seriously look at getting more than 300w - say around the 600 mark. 300w is great for a quiet band, or for playing with one guitarist - but if you play downtuned stuff with more than one guitar and a loud drummer like i do - you'll need a bit more power to *PUNCH* your way through. JMHO of course.:)
good luck
 
#4
Having too much wattage and never using it is infinitely better than not having enough with nobody able to hear you. Lower frequencies take up a lot of power, and if you have some to spare, you're much better off.

I run a conservatively rated 400 watt head through a very efficient 2x12, and it's plenty of volume to keep up with a drummer and full guitar stack. 300 watts is a good minimum starting place, but like I said, the more the merrier.
 
#5
It's about headroom. No one is going to use a full 4000 watts, but they can get all the volume they'd need without pushing their equipment very hard at all.

Like others have said, 300 is a good place to start for a small band setting, but more watts gives you more options and less strain on your amp.
 
#9
HELLonWheels187 said:
I see people with there 4000+ watt amp and i think how much do you really need. If your playing something big then you will be hooked up right? So how many watt are really nessacery? I know people like to brag "look at me i can make your ears blead my amp is so loud!", honestly how much do you need?

EXTRA: How much does your setup put out?
Click to expand...

Depends on how efficient your speakers are.
If you buy 800w Acoustic Image amp, and use AI speakers, you'll still be quiet. These speakers are small and light. Hook up big honkers and you'll blast the doors off the joint.

Also a 4000W RMS amp would need at a minimum 30+ Amps - so you better have a dedicated circuit. Unless 4000w is a fake rating.
 
#10
smo said:
'tis true, that'll do most stuff.
But i would seriously look at getting more than 300w - say around the 600 mark. 300w is great for a quiet band, or for playing with one guitarist - but if you play downtuned stuff with more than one guitar and a loud drummer like i do - you'll need a bit more power to *PUNCH* your way through. JMHO of course.:)
good luck
Click to expand...

My GB does 250 watts through the 8ohm internal 12" speaker, and I have no problem competing with two LOUD guitarists at a full volume practice. I haven't gotten close to my amps limitations.
 
#12
The impedance (ohms) determins how much power is being put out if its a solid state head, ie 700 at 2 ohms, 475 at 4ohms, 275 at 8 ohms (using numbers from my firebass)

So the lower the impedance of the cab, aslong as its over the amps minimum load, will give you the maximum output of that amp, if its solid state

With tube amps they put out the same power at all impedance the amp is usable at (there are impedance switchs or different speaker outputs at the back)

Tube amps can usually be louder than solid state amps of comparible power because when you clip a tube amp it sounds good but it sounds horrible on a solid state amp, basically you can run a tube amp closer and sometimes over its specified volume without it sounding horrible!
 
#14
cgworkman said:
If you run 1400 watts into a 700 watt cab--what happens?

(Assuming an amp doesn't run at peak power 100% of the time)
Click to expand...

It depends on how you use the rig: how loud you play, how honestly the cab is rated and at what frequencies, whether you're trying to get a lot of volume at frequencies below the tuning frequency of the cab, stuff like that. You might be fine, and you might not be.
 
#15
I would say 450 is usually enough for practice and some venues depending on how large it is... Even then if you have a nice enough amp it can be hooked into the house P.A. and you wont even use half of that 450.... but some of these other guys are rite, it depends on your band, the type of music you play, and the size of your cab.... :bassist:
 
#16
ok,
every 3 db increment is twice as loud as the last speaker level,
so a jet engine runs at 180 db on the runway, while a regular human whisper is around 28 decibels. so a jet engine is 152 db louder so 152 divided by 3 is how much times louder the jet engine is, approximately 50 times louder.
i know my stuff.
yeahh!!!
:bassist: :bassist: :bassist:
 
#17
no watts at all can be enough (seriously) i saw toto the other day and mike porcaro doesn't use any amp. he plugs straight into the p.a. and gets a really nice sound like that. i think how many watts you want is really subjective. i played a gig today, there was another band after us, the bass player had an ampeg svt 2 and an ampeg 8*10 speaker. he still plugged into the p.a. just as i did with my 200 watt combo. he had a better sound because his amp and cab are just plain and simply much better then mine, but volume played no role in all of this (outdoor gig). i spoke to the bass player for a while and he said his stuff is unusable in most situations, either too heavey, too big, too loud...... there is no right and wrong when it comes to 'how much watts do i need', but if you want my opinion, get a really nice small valve amp and plug it into the p.a. when you need volume.
 
#18
4000w is a little excessive IMO for a bass amp. I think that 1000w is a pretty good limit for the power for a bass amp. To me in a band setting (no PA) 300-500w would me minimum. Keep in mind the idea that if you have 300w but you're only running at half way, your equipment will last much longer then running 150w at 100%.

As far as me, I run about 460w because I still only have one cabinet but as soon as I get my second cabinet it'll run at 700w. I'll prolly never need all that power but I know I've got it if I need it.
 
#19
Name Changed said:
ok,
every 3 db increment is twice as loud as the last speaker level,
so a jet engine runs at 180 db on the runway, while a regular human whisper is around 28 decibels. so a jet engine is 152 db louder so 152 divided by 3 is how much times louder the jet engine is, approximately 50 times louder.
i know my stuff.
yeahh!!!
:bassist: :bassist: :bassist:
Click to expand...

Oh really? well your wrong sonny, a 3 dB increase is a noticable increase and requires twice the power but it does NOT double the volume

IIRC volume "doubles" every 10dB? i think thats right anyways, but i can seriously tell you that 3dB is not doubling the volume
 
#20
i_got_a_mohawk said:
Oh really? well your wrong sonny, a 3 dB increase is a noticable increase and requires twice the power but it does NOT double the volume

IIRC volume "doubles" every 10dB? i think thats right anyways, but i can seriously tell you that 3dB is not doubling the volume
Click to expand...

You are correct sir. [This invalid link has been removed]

Some better info: Invalid Link Removed

There are numerous other charts out there with the same results.

HELLonWheels187: My amp produces 800 watts into 4 Ohm, currently producing 600 Watts into a single 8 Ohm Avatar CB112.
 

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