Would my amp be loud enough for a gig?

[MIMike]

I have a Rumble 40 and gig with it all the time. But, the 40 is designed a little better for gigging with a direct out. I rarely need the DI, but in a larger room I will use it.
Now, the gigs I play with it are a drummerless Jazz trio and not high volume.
The key to using a small amp on a gig is to have PA support via a mic or DI, plus get the speaker up close to your ears for monitoring. Depending on what you doing for a gig, however, the 25 will probably not even get you enough monitoring volume.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

And OP, if your next question is going to be "how much wattage do I need?" I'm going to do you a favor and spare you the inevitable 15 pages of debate that will follow. Check the FAQ and do a search. It's been debated many times here.

SPLs not watts. How many SPLs? How big is the place, how loud is your insert lesser mortal band member here.. And tort, er, tube watts are better.

 

[Fleur-de-Bass]

IMO:
No, not at all. Only light pretty acoustic music.
Depending on genre(s) and band/group make-up, 300-500W minimum.
Rumor has it, that Michael Anthony of Van Halen fame used a 300W amp, even though he had FOH obviously, so he had plenty of stage volume.
IMO, never ever rely on FOH, unless you definitely KNOW what they can/will do for you.
Several decent combos out there that can fill/fit your needs.
25W is more than enough to practice/shed.
Good luck.

Ha this thread has been more entertaining than I thought it would. I'm named after MA, had no clue who he was til I was like 17 also /w all the suggestions, got one more silly *** question. How much power do I need to cause an earthquake?? Anyone curious about that? thanks everybody, sorry I'm sure the OP question has been beaten to death on here

 

[Pbassmanca]

I would have to say that probably 1200 watts through a single boutique 12" cab should be enough for you to be heard over the guitar players' 25 watt amp set at "break up" levels......

 

[Pbassmanca]

If you like the Fender amp, the Rumble 100 is actually pretty decent and I would say it punches above its weight for the price.

 

[MattZilla]

Ha this thread has been more entertaining than I thought it would. I'm named after MA, had no clue who he was til I was like 17 also /w all the suggestions, got one more silly *** question. How much power do I need to cause an earthquake?? Anyone curious about that? thanks everybody, sorry I'm sure the OP question has been beaten to death on here

why did your mother name you after Michael Anthony Sobolewski? Is he an uncle, or an "uncle"?

 

[klejst]

Small coffee shop gig it could be, pretty much any gig larger than that it'll probably (start to) struggle.

 

[Fleur-de-Bass]

why did your mother name you after Michael Anthony Sobolewski? Is he an uncle, or an "uncle"?

My dad is a classic metal head, although he's moved onto many different genres since around '90. He's an amazing guitarist playing since '84. Never asked him why Michael Anthony was the name he chose for me but I did ask who he was awhile back. So it seems I may have been destined to be a bassist

 

[joel406]

Ha this thread has been more entertaining than I thought it would. I'm named after MA, had no clue who he was til I was like 17 also /w all the suggestions, got one more silly *** question. How much power do I need to cause an earthquake?? Anyone curious about that? thanks everybody, sorry I'm sure the OP question has been beaten to death on here

I cause earthquakes every time I play. If I didn’t know how to control my rig.

My main head will do 1120(watts).

Do I (or anyone for that matter) need that much power?

Of course I do!

That way I have clean headroom to play with.

The next trick is speaker cabs.

I own two 410 800 watt GK cabs.

If I’m in a small situation I use one. If I’m in a large situation I use two.

 

[Fleur-de-Bass]

I cause earthquakes every time I play. If I didn’t know how to control my rig.

My main head will do 1120(watts).

Do I (or anyone for that matter) need that much power?

Of course I do!

That way I have clean headroom to play with.

The next trick is speaker cabs.

I own two 410 800 watt GK cabs.

If I’m in a small situation I use one. If I’m in a large situation I use two.

"of course I do!" haha Reminds me of a Top Gear reference "what does basically any car need?" Jeremy Clarkson always said "MORE POWER!" nice rig btw, I bet you've gotta be careful not to shake your house apart with that thing!

 

[Munjibunga]

Ha this thread has been more entertaining than I thought it would. I'm named after MA, had no clue who he was til I was like 17 also /w all the suggestions, got one more silly *** question. How much power do I need to cause an earthquake?? Anyone curious about that? thanks everybody, sorry I'm sure the OP question has been beaten to death on here

MA ... Marcus Allen? Marie Antoinette? Maud Adams? Mindy Abair? Muhammad Ali? Massachusetts?

<edit> Oh, Michael Anthony I'll bet.

 

[Ric5]

If you want to gig with a smaller combo amp something like this might work … Hartke 150 watts 1x15 speaker … it is a little small but it can keep up with your band if you don't play too loud

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

And then when you get a bigger amp this can be you practice amp … it is useful for a working bassist to have 2 or 3 amp options

 

[groove pump]

"of course I do!" haha Reminds me of a Top Gear reference "what does basically any car need?" Jeremy Clarkson always said "MORE POWER!" nice rig btw, I bet you've gotta be careful not to shake your house apart with that thing!

I'm vaguely recalling a scene from a Cheech and Chong movie where Tommy Chong decides to do some jammin' at home on his massive bass rig and the entire neighborhood goes running for cover!! Maybe I should find that clip and get it turned into a sticky here somewhere

Keep on with your own research, but one more variable to keep in mind when going for "enough" of a rig is having enough speaker available to push your sound. A big boost in power won't help too much if that amp is only pushing one little speaker.

If you were to get a more powerful combo that can also run an extension cab, that could give you the flexibility of using just the combo for practice at home or smaller settings with other instruments/vocals, but then you could include the extra cab when you need to make more volume. I like having a pair of 2x10 cabs on hand - easy to go smaller or bigger - but there are a bundle of other options that can work great.

 

[bassliner50]

I would look at the Rumble 100 v3. Still light as a feather.

 

[KohanMike]

A little over 4 years ago I started playing bass and used my Crate Limo 50w guitar amp. It worked fine in a multipurpose 30 x 50 foot room with 35 ukulele players and for indoor gigs in smaller places. It could not cut it for bigger rooms or outdoors. I thought I was making an improvement with a Phil Jones Double Four 70w bass amp, but that was also not good outdoors.

Very frustrated, I posted here on TalkBass and was informed that watts are one thing, but size of the speaker is a big part of moving sound. One member suggested a Carvin MB15, a bass amp with 200w and 15" speaker. When I looked it up and found it also had a matching extension speaker that brought the amp to 250w and was on sale for $805 complete and shipped, I went for it. The 15" sure can move a lot of air, is compact and with the neo speakers I requested, under 26 pounds each.

Now I'm prepared for any situation from busking to county fairs.

 

[easyj]

I have the Rumble 25....that is strictly a practice amp. I’m not saying you couldn’t make it work in some kind of special, unique acoustic situation.....but realistically, it’s not powerful enough to gig with. You will need to step up. If you don’t want to get caught without enough power in varying situations, I would say you need about 500 watts into 4 ohms/350 into 8 ohms. You really don’t want deal with being short on power.

 

[obimark]

Not sure if this should be in live sound or here but I was wondering if my rumble 25 would be loud enough to cut through a mix. I don't have any gigs atm (haven't had one yet or even played with a real drummer) but just out of curiosity. Also have to note that I haven't had the volume up past half yet because I don't want to rattle the house and everyone in it

Yes- it is plenty loud, provided the gig is just you on bass at the coffee shop that seats 10.

 

[Andy Daventry]

I used to use a BXR 25, which is a previous incarnation of the same thing about 5 generations ago, for restaurant gigs with an acoustic band (no drums) and it was just fine.

Apropos of that, there was a 25 watt kickback amp between the BXR and the Rumble 25 v1. Can anyone remember what is was called?

 

[Andy Daventry]

OK, I remembered. It was the Bassman 25. But the BXR 25 continued as a cheapo range under another name. What was that?

Sigh - old age.....

 

[bhendrix]

Any recommendation is kinda pointless unless you know what kind of music you'll be playing. Sounds like since dad is metal head, that may be your direction. If so, you'd be better served with at least 500 watts moving as much air as possible. I've played occasionally in a power trio for some 20 years now - heavy drummer and LOUD geetar! You want to comfortably fit in the mix and not have to push your gear to the limits constantly.

You gotta start playing with some peeps! Find a drummer and guitar player and begin the process - that's when things really start coming together and you'll know what you need!