Total amps needed....

[Cool John]

For live shows first.....
for one guitarist, one bass player, and an acoustic drum set, and vox...what amout of watts would be needed for both the bass and guitar amps?

what about for recording? how many watts would be needed for guitar and bass in the studio environment?

THANKS A TON

[Garry Sharp]

Our line up is the same as yours. We work on the basis of sufficient wattage to give us good levels in rehearsals and on stage - i.e. what we can hear. We let the sound man worry about FOH when we gig.

So our point of reference is the acoustic drum kit - we need to be loud enough to balance with that. In our case, it's 400W for bass, 100W for guitar and a 400W PA for vocals (which we could potentially use as foldback on stage if we ever needed to). We could get by with less than those wattages (about half) but it's nice to have the headroom. The guitar amp is rarely turned up past about 2 or 3 - 100W is a bit excessive really. Sound men complain if my bass amp goes over about half volume, as there is too much spillage into his PA mix.

Hope that helps.

(Edited to say that recording is totally different - volume is irrelevant and its only the sound that matters - many guitar amps for recording sound great at low volume.)

[Cool John]

so conceivably....id only need one guitar amp (about 100W) and one bass amp (about 400) for recording and concert, because i can alter levels, etc. while recording?

[spankenstein]

I'm using a 40W combo and it's doing just fine in an indie rock band

[Cool John]

spankenstein
I'm also from KC. What band are you in?

[Cool John]

Also-

why have i read from users in this forum that 100W for a guitar would be way too much for home recording? What should wattage be like for guitar and bass for home recording? *sorry i should have specifed that*

For live-- 100 W for guitar would do
300-400 for bass would do....

so how about home recording?

[Toad Rush]

I use a 100w tube amp for home recording and it works fine, the only problem is you don't get alot of headroom as you can't turn the amp past 2 or 3 without going deaf. For bass it's the same wattage as guitar, 300-400 would be near insane...for both live and home rec use a 50-75w amp would probably be best. 100w is overdoing it alittle.

[Garry Sharp]

Toad Rush - bass needs more watts than guitar to achieve the same volume as it has to movr more air - rule of thumb is three to four times. Completely agree 3-400W is insane at home, but with a good drummer playing a good set live - you need it.

[Cool John]

Originally posted by Garry Sharp
Toad Rush - bass needs more watts than guitar to achieve the same volume as it has to movr more air - rule of thumb is three to four times. Completely agree 3-400W is insane at home, but with a good drummer playing a good set live - you need it.

so what would be a reasonable level for home recording for bass? i figure 25-50 W for guitar would work.

[GONZO-X]

a killer setup would be a Mesa Boogie mark 4, 100 watt with a 60 watt switch... cuts the power in half, more or less....

a single 12" would work, then having a 4x12 to add as you need the volume.......

bass, 200 watts at least, for live.....
if you bi-amp, you can split the watts up accordingly, and use the lower wattage power amp for the studio.....

for just studio, get a good direct box, ala sansamp.

[spankenstein]

For live sound I have always heard to triple guitars wattage for needed bass wattage. 100w isn't much for bass. I use an Ampeg B-1 combo (150w) and were it not for mics and direct boxes it wouldn't do much in a club.

Cool John, his last chance

[headstack]

Cool John,
For recording and playing at home you don't need much power. In fact I find it desirable to have tiny stuff like 10-20 watts. This way I can wind that baby out and get great output distortion. This is tube amps were talkin' here, right?
I use a Kolbe modified Fender Deluxe and it's continuous output is now rated at 35 watts. I have sent assistant engineers running for cover when I'm recording. My favorite thing is to track in the control room using the midfields as my "giant headphones" so I dont go deaf wearing the real thing. When I need resonant sustain I just shove the guitar near the monitors. Have I blown monitors? You bet!! It pays to be a tech }:-)
Stack

[CMEZ]

I'm ALSO from KC. I've played in lots of bands-currently in The Gaslights and a soul covers band called Shakejoint. Formerly of Pendergast.

I use a 22 watt Deluxe reverb for guitar. Anyone who thinks you NEED to have a 100 watt guitar amp is smoking crack. In fact, it's best you DON'T, if you don't want to overpower the p.a. in most clubs you will EVER play in. That is, if you're tone conscious and realize that your 100 Watt Marshall sounds terrible on '1'.

To play with a drummer and hear everything, something in the 20-40 watt range is more than adequate for guitar. In bigger places, it'll be miked anyway, so you don't need the extra power. I should qualify that-I'm assuming you're talking about a TUBE amp, yes? Because solid state amps are generally a lot less loud than their equal tube powered counterparts. (and generally sound like crap.)

If you absolutely, positively MUST pin an audience to the back wall, do it with a 50 Watt Marshall. At least the soundman will have a fighting chance of getting the vocals heard.

Bass is different; you usually want it to remain pretty clean, and bass frequencies eat up a lot of power. So you need more overhead. Generally, 300 watts will be enough to get the volume up where you need it with clean headroom to spare.

My advice: Go to some shows. See what others are using. Get similar gear to the guys whose tone you like best. It's a good starting point.

Chris

[CMEZ]

Oh, and by the way, that 100 watt amp that's too loud for the club? It's WAY too loud for most recording situations.

If you want clean, get a 20-40 watt Fender. If you want dirty, look for a Marshall 50 watt (check out the JCM 800 2X12 combos-they sound pretty good and are more portable than a half-stack. Plenty, PLENTY loud.)

You like the modern, scooped mid-range crunch tones? Look for a 50 watt Boogie. (But be prepared to sign over your first born.)

But no way will you ever need the 100 watt amp.

Chris

[87PRS]

To sign over your first born try a 16 watt Soldana, it'll blow most mid size away, very articulate hand wiring, not to mention tone. I use tube amps, main amp is a Peavey Delta blues 30 watt, 15 inch speaker. I've had the the big M stacks and 100 watt combos, just too much power unless your doing a large audience, a small guitar amp and SM57 mic is a versatile combo. Headroom and air movement are big issues with bass amps, keep it 300w or better, my son uses a 600w Carvin R600 in his band and it still sounds good on "1". Recording bass sounds great with DI, even bass to board. The clean channel on my Delta has to be reorded at 1 or just when signal is present, overdrive can be maintained at minimal volumes with a good sound.

[noiseportrait]

Like others have said, you don't need much at all for guitar. I've even heard little 15 watt peavy practice amps get over a drummer okay, although I don't recommend it. When you have to remember is that you MUST go with tubes for a guitar amp. I have never heard a solid state guitar amp that sounds good. It doesn't matter how expensive it is or what kind of amp simulation it can do. Spend the money on a good tube head!

Bass is a completely different story though. Solid state is fine, but it's really hard to push anything under 200 watts over a hard drummer in a live situation. I recommend 300-400 watts for a bass amp. This will give you some head room. In a studio this shouldn't be a problem. You can usually get a good sound just lining in direct from the amp, and if you want to use a mic, low volumes will sound just fine.