I am browsing craigslist for a decent amp that i can use for practice and to gig with. The gigs are small to medium at best and i only practice with a drummer and guitarist. will a 60 watt bass amp work or should i try 100 watts?
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Will a 60 watt amp work for gigs or practice?
- Thread starter Adamthebassist
- Start date
Depends on how loud your are. In the vast majority of band situations, neither 60 or 100 watts will be enough. I'd recommend 200 as a good amount of power for a trio.
i just want to be loud enough so my band mates can hear me. i dont want to drown out my other band mates
I would agree. You're gonna want at least 200 watts and a 2x12 or 4x10 if you want to be heard in a 3 pc rock band. Unless the guitarist is using 15 watts through a single 12, and the drummer uses brushes.
Definitely get the most power you can afford, it will serve you better in the long run.
That being said, I did gig for years with a Peavey TKO 65 turned all the way up- sounded OK and never let me down......
That being said, I did gig for years with a Peavey TKO 65 turned all the way up- sounded OK and never let me down......
I played professionally for many years with max 100w, never got past 80% of full output and was never told to turn up!!. I now have a 300watt Ashdown Combo though!!
billfitzmaurice
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- Sep 15, 2004
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Watts matter little, the quality of the amp and speakers matters a lot. Buy a used Ampeg or the equivalent and you won't go wrong.
it all depends on if you are going to be miced or not. if not then you are going to need a high wattage. i had a 100 watt amp for practice and i blow it up trying to be heard over the drums and guitar, but on a stage were the pa is great a 60 watt amp is fine.
You won't. That's what volume knobs and musical ears are for.
A small bass amp which is barely audible in a small room (aided by room acoustics) will be lost in a large room, and will virtually disappear outdoors.
When it comes to bass amps, it is F-A-R better to have more wattage + speaker surface area + cab volume than one needs, than to need more wattage + speaker surface area + cab volume than one has.
Big bass TONE (not necessarily volume) is all about moving BIG air.
Some here will disagree, but IMO, when it comes to amplifying a long-scale bass (especially a five-string) with a combo amp which has a single speaker, then that speaker should be a *15" in a good-sized, well designed enclosure.
*(Preferable light-weight neodymium.)
I played throughout high school and college from the late 60s through the mid 70s in bands with two guitars, keyboards, drums, horns, and vocals, with a 60 watt Sunn 200S amp and one or two matching cabinets, each containing 2-15" JBL D-140F speakers, and never felt underpowered. While I enjoyed using a borrowed SVT head on occasion and eventually purchased one, the Sunn always held its own up against Super and Twin Reverbs, Leslies, Vox Super Beatles, Standels, Kustoms, etc. I've come to take wattage claims with a grain of salt. I've recently been playing with a guy who has a /13 CJ11, which purports to have 11 watts, and that amp holds its own--even clean--against an 85 watt Mesa Boogie Mark IV and my 1986 Walter Woods MI-100-8. It certainly sounds a heck of a lot louder and cleaner than the low wattage Silvertones (Danelectros) of my youth. I have no idea why this is but, from my experience, I think Bill is right.
i was playing through a 15 watt fender rumble a few weeks ago with a drummer and 3 other guitarists and i could be heard.
but we all like our hearing so we don't play very loud, just loud enough so that guitar is over drums and we can all hear oursleves.
though i do want to get a 100 watt soon.
but we all like our hearing so we don't play very loud, just loud enough so that guitar is over drums and we can all hear oursleves.
though i do want to get a 100 watt soon.
I regularly rehearse and practice with just my Peavey Basic 112 with only 75 watts, and with the right settings I have no problem cutting through, basically you really have to cut your lows as the low frequencies seem to gobble up a lot of usable volume, and boost the low and high mids, and add a bit of treble to, and whatever you do don't cut highs using the tone knob it robs a lot of volume IME just use it with the volume and tone wide open, but for gigs you definitely need more to be heard by every one, the few gigs ive gotten I use my Acoustic B200 combo and have always been fine, so for gigs I would defiantly recommend you the 200 watts .
Depending on the volume of the music, yes, IMO, 60W is enough for a small gig and practice....unless you are practising at A "BIG" place. I usually practise with a 60W Crate, but play live with a SVT-CL and either a 4X10 or 8X10 Ampeg cab, depending on the venue. I'd like to clarify, that we practise mostly new tunes, or ones we haven't played in awhile, but when we REHEARSE" we play as close to the set lists as possibel. I have done "free/promotional" gigs, like opening a restaurant for a friend, with the Crate, and if I ran into volume problems, I'd just mic it into the PA.
A well built 100w combo is going to be pretty loud, but one that isn't as good is going to struggle. From what you've said, you should rule out a 60w combo because they usually don't have enough cab to make up for the lower wattage, so you're better off getting at least a 100w combo with a 115 or 210 cab. You can find good 100w combos cheap...Ampeg is my personal favorite at the lower prices.
But if you're going to be playing pretty loud, you might consider getting something closer to the 300w mark with more speakers...a 300w amp and a 410, 215 or 212 is pretty common, puts out a real big amount of sound if you need it, and you can find them pretty cheap. I've seen people on here put together serious rigs you could use anywhere for $300 by buying used and waiting for deals to pop up. You can always turn down if you need to, but you can't turn up if you have no more wattage and your cab is making "help me" sounds.
But yeah, I think you could get by with a decent 100w combo with a 115 or 210 for now.
But if you're going to be playing pretty loud, you might consider getting something closer to the 300w mark with more speakers...a 300w amp and a 410, 215 or 212 is pretty common, puts out a real big amount of sound if you need it, and you can find them pretty cheap. I've seen people on here put together serious rigs you could use anywhere for $300 by buying used and waiting for deals to pop up. You can always turn down if you need to, but you can't turn up if you have no more wattage and your cab is making "help me" sounds.
But yeah, I think you could get by with a decent 100w combo with a 115 or 210 for now.
I sort of go buy twice what the guitar is using as the Low Bass notes need more watts or kick or what ever you want to call it.
And all watt ratings are not the same some rate at 2 ohms some at 4 and some at 8.I know I played through a 200 watt Kustom this week end at a out side gig with two 15`s and came home and order one.With the right speakers that thing rocks.I have a few amps around up to a Carvin Red Line 1000 watt.I think the Kustom will work any gig we do short of a PA system.We were on a deck I am guessing close to 150 feet long with a roof over it and was told to turn down.We do Country, Blues,Rock N Roll,Some Rock A Billy.Depends on where we are playing.
And all watt ratings are not the same some rate at 2 ohms some at 4 and some at 8.I know I played through a 200 watt Kustom this week end at a out side gig with two 15`s and came home and order one.With the right speakers that thing rocks.I have a few amps around up to a Carvin Red Line 1000 watt.I think the Kustom will work any gig we do short of a PA system.We were on a deck I am guessing close to 150 feet long with a roof over it and was told to turn down.We do Country, Blues,Rock N Roll,Some Rock A Billy.Depends on where we are playing.
As a general rule of thumb, I would suggest about 3 or 4 times the wattage of the competing guitarists. Should give you plenty of headroom.
As a side note, I do think efficient cabinet design is oft overlooked. For instance, my current rig of LMII and MB 1x12 running at 300w seems so much more powerful with bags of headroom compared to my previous amp, a Warwick CCL 250w 1x15 combo. I used to have to run that flat out in some venues where the new rig barely touches a 1/3 on the master volume. Only 50w less, but shouldn't be that amount of difference.
My amp before that was a Trace BLX80, an 80w 1x10, with a really funky and efficient cab design. Speaker (kevlar impregnated) was set halfway back in the cab, and had two slatted ports on the front. I don't know what it did, but it packed a serious punch.
As a side note, I do think efficient cabinet design is oft overlooked. For instance, my current rig of LMII and MB 1x12 running at 300w seems so much more powerful with bags of headroom compared to my previous amp, a Warwick CCL 250w 1x15 combo. I used to have to run that flat out in some venues where the new rig barely touches a 1/3 on the master volume. Only 50w less, but shouldn't be that amount of difference.
My amp before that was a Trace BLX80, an 80w 1x10, with a really funky and efficient cab design. Speaker (kevlar impregnated) was set halfway back in the cab, and had two slatted ports on the front. I don't know what it did, but it packed a serious punch.
You might want to try this Craigslist helper for your search:http://www.searchtempest.com/
It can search several cities at one time covering whatever area you want.
Something to look at might be a 100w-150w 2x10 combo with a 1x15 extension. The more air you move, the more sound you produce.
Something just like this: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Let us know what you get and how it works out.
Good luck.
It can search several cities at one time covering whatever area you want.
Something to look at might be a 100w-150w 2x10 combo with a 1x15 extension. The more air you move, the more sound you produce.
Something just like this: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Let us know what you get and how it works out.
Good luck.
