Switch hitter Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 hello, Ive been away for a while because Ive been insanely busy with work and stuff. But anyways. Since I have made my bass a stereo bass, I utilize the two simultaneous channels on a 1968 fender bassman 50 watt amp. I can get that thing pretty loud and stay clean without breaking up. My question, is a 50 watt tube amp good enough for small time gigging if I mic it? or should I look for something with a little more wattage, and if so, can you recommend an amp where I can run two channels with independent volume and tone nobs that I can run at the same time. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theTragicRich Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 I'm not an expert in this field, but for bass, 50W is probably a bit weak. The experts here might need a bit more info. What style/genre of music? What other instruments are in the band? What are the other players setups/volumes? What style of small gigging are you thinking (coffee house/book store, jazz lounge, or small venues)? And it might also depend on the house PA system. Mic'ing it might be okay for the crowd, but if you or someone else in the band needs to hear you, 50W might be to weak to hear over drums or electric guitars (unless they get their own monitors). [Carvin] XB76WF - All Walnut 6-string fretless [schecter] Stiletto Studio 5 Fretless | Stiletto Elite 5 [Ampeg] SVT3-Pro | SVT-410HLF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Switch hitter Posted November 14, 2007 Author Share Posted November 14, 2007 we pretty much play what we want, though we dont try to be loud at all. Its just me and a guitarist, and Im talking about a small venues or jazz lounges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kramer Ferrington III. Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 we pretty much play what we want, though we dont try to be loud at all. Its just me and a guitarist, and Im talking about a small venues or jazz lounges. Well, how loud is "loud"? I reckon you could probably get away with 50W (if it's a tube amp). That's assuming there's no drummer and your guitarist is going to make room for you and not drown you out with a 100W head and a quadbox set to 11. The main problem with low wattage amps on bass is that you'll probably be heard, but if you're really cranking up the amp, you'll get a distorted and not-very-bassy tone. NOW, MY QUESTION IS... Popuar wisdom states that you should have anything from 3 to 10 times the wattage of your guitarist. But what happens if you have 2 guitarists in the band? Does that mean you need from 6 to 20 times the wattage? Or would you be alright with 4.5 to 15 times the power? And what about keyboardists? How they fit into the equation? Do they count as another guitarist? Band MySpace My snazzy t-shirt empire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky McDougall Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 Are you running one pup into one channel and the other pup into a different channel? If so, to get a stereo effect would you not need seperate cabinets with seperate amps? Also a slight delay between the channels may be interesting. Rocky "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb, voting on what to eat for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb, contesting the vote." Benjamin Franklin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Switch hitter Posted November 14, 2007 Author Share Posted November 14, 2007 if you look up the vintage bassmans, it has 4 inputs. 2 bass inputs and 2 normal inputs. I plug my magnetic pickup into the bass side and eq and adjust that accordingly. I plug my peizo pickup into the normal side and do likewise. They both go straight to the same 2x12 cab. Theres no real delay, but I am so in love with the tone Im getting. I also have a tendency to stand right in front of the cab so live I would definately be able to hear and feel. At home practice I had no problem hearing myself over everybody, and I was thinking it should be fine if the soundman just Miced the cab and do with it what he or she wants. In all the gigs Ive done in the past, My 300 watt Trace Elliot got me lots of bad looks because I wouldnt even bring it past 2 and everybody would say its too loud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy c Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 Sounds like you have your answer. It sounds good to you and you are playing with one guitarist and no drums. It will work just fine. The two of you shouldn't even need a soundman except for the vocals unless you are playing in stadiums. I play all my non-drummer gigs using a 60 watt amp with one twelve inch speaker. Free download of my cd!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Capasso Posted November 15, 2007 Share Posted November 15, 2007 What Jeremy said. And - test it! Find yourself a room that is about the size of the clubs you are considering. Rehearsal studios, somebody's garage, whatever. Set up, see how it sounds. It seems that your rig is big enough. Tom www.stoneflyrocks.com Acoustic Color Be practical as well as generous in your ideals. Keep your eyes on the stars and keep your feet on the ground. - Theodore Roosevelt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kramer Ferrington III. Posted November 17, 2007 Share Posted November 17, 2007 Bumping this, seeing as nobody replied. NOW, MY QUESTION IS... Popuar wisdom states that you should have anything from 3 to 10 times the wattage of your guitarist. But what happens if you have 2 guitarists in the band? Does that mean you need from 6 to 20 times the wattage? Or would you be alright with 4.5 to 15 times the power? And what about keyboardists? How they fit into the equation? Do they count as another guitarist? Band MySpace My snazzy t-shirt empire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanYmaL X Posted November 17, 2007 Share Posted November 17, 2007 Does that mean you need from 6 to 20 times the wattage? So if both guitarists have 100W stacks, you would need a pair of 8x10's driven by a 2000W power amp rig... cool. Do it. Just do it. Even if you don't need it, that would look just wicked set up on either side of the drums... D Aerodyne Jazz Deluxe Pod X3 Live Roland Bolt-60 (modified) Genz Benz GBE250-C 2x10 Acoustic 2x12 cab Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy c Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 For band levels, add up the watts of all the other amps on stage, guitars and keys both. Multiply by two. That's the minimum needed. There's no problem with having more than that. It doesn't have to look big: you can get a lot of watts out of some two space power amps. The minimum and maximum necessary for a band really depends on what you are willing to carry around with you. If the guitar players drown you out, that's their problem. This isn't supposed to be a contest. Free download of my cd!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kramer Ferrington III. Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 So if both guitarists have 100W stacks, you would need a pair of 8x10's driven by a 2000W power amp rig... cool. A bit like this guy, from a local band called Capt. Sgnt. Major. He still needs the power-amp though! http://a786.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/19/l_d9b8bcdc964ca8790b6371c9d1990619.jpg Jeremy: Yeah, I'm not fussed. I have a 300W amp, it should be big enough. I'm not hiring a semi-trailer to carry a bigger rig. If it wasn't loud enough, we'd turn down. It's fine as it is though! I was just curious about how far the equation went. Band MySpace My snazzy t-shirt empire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yourlord Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 Maybe now you guys will understand my rig.. I have 3 guitarists, one running 200Wrms, one running 100Wrms, and one running 350Wrms.. 650Wrms x2 would be a 1.3KWrms amp needed. I have the cabs for that, but only 700Wrms right now.. I need more power! Feel free to visit my band's site Delusional Mind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcbn Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 Maybe now you guys will understand my rig.. I have 3 guitarists, one running 200Wrms, one running 100Wrms, and one running 350Wrms.. 650Wrms x2 would be a 1.3KWrms amp needed. I have the cabs for that, but only 700Wrms right now.. I need more power! You don't need a set of huge speaker cabs to keep up with them... just the right rig. ~ 1400 watts to a decent pair of 2x12's for louder gigs would be plenty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yourlord Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 And my 2 12 inch speakers is supposed to compete with the 14 12 inch speakers the guitarists are pushing? You guys have to keep in mind that volume is a function of both power AND cone area. You can get just as much volume out of a ton of cone area at low power as you can from small cone area at high power. Drive 2 12's with 1400Wrms and then drive 2 8x10 cabs with that 1400Wrms and you'll see which is louder. I also target my rig to be able to pound through even without PA support. I had a gig about a month ago where the PA was horrifyingly bad.. I carried the whole gig with just my rig. No one knew any different.. Feel free to visit my band's site Delusional Mind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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