Bass Watts?
- Thread starter Cool John
- Start date
I really depends on what volume level is actually resulting from the gear. I'm not sure I would even want to be on the stage with a guitar setup like that running very near peak.
Do you mic the amps for the PA, or do the stage amps provide all the instrument volume?
It's not uncommon for a bass amp to be 2-4 times the watts of the guitar amp. Speakers are another story. A bass rig with a 4x10 cabinet and a 1x18 cabinet can produce a pretty good sound with a good amp. It can also provide nice low stage volume for setups where the primary instrument comes from the PA.
My guitar rig runs 160 W through 2 2x12 cabinets. However the amp is usually between 2 and 3 and stage volume is not really that high. The bass rig is 600 W through a 4x10 and 1x18. Again volume is set low on the amp.
Ed
Do you mic the amps for the PA, or do the stage amps provide all the instrument volume?
It's not uncommon for a bass amp to be 2-4 times the watts of the guitar amp. Speakers are another story. A bass rig with a 4x10 cabinet and a 1x18 cabinet can produce a pretty good sound with a good amp. It can also provide nice low stage volume for setups where the primary instrument comes from the PA.
My guitar rig runs 160 W through 2 2x12 cabinets. However the amp is usually between 2 and 3 and stage volume is not really that high. The bass rig is 600 W through a 4x10 and 1x18. Again volume is set low on the amp.
Ed
Light
New member
I would go with an Ampeg SVT 4pro, through a couple of 810 cabs. Show that guitar playing punk who's boss, bitch!!!
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
Light said:I would go with an Ampeg SVT 4pro, through a couple of 810 cabs. Show that guitar playing punk who's boss, bitch!!!
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
I'd do this as well, only I'd be using an 810 and a 215 cab. Just running those two cabs off my 350w B2R head was ridiculously loud.
Garry Sharp
Lost Cause
Jeez, I hope you guys wear earplugs. I hope the front ten rows of the audience wears earplugs! Does the sound guy mutter about stage spill a lot or do you only play stadiums?
spankenstein
New member
Holy crap... We've got a 40W 1x12 and a 65W 1x12 combo for guitars and they are loud.
I've always stuck with double guitars but be above 150W. It also varies.
My first rig was a Peavey Mark III (150W RMS) with a Peavey 1820 cab (1x18 and 2x10) I sold the cab and got a Gallie-Kreuger 1x15. It wasn't near as loud but easier to lug around. With the Peavey cab I never had a volume problem. The GK wasn't as loud but was more than adequate.
I sold all that and got an Ampeg B-1 Combo and an SVT-212 (2x12) SVT-1510HE (15, 10 and a horn). It's been great. The combo is loud and easy (150W as well) but hooking up the two cabinets makes it plenty loud for any normal stage.
Basically... I take this approach: We amplify instruments to get loud enough to work with the drums. So... on stage you only need to be loud enough to blend with the drums. That's not all that loud really.
I've always stuck with double guitars but be above 150W. It also varies.
My first rig was a Peavey Mark III (150W RMS) with a Peavey 1820 cab (1x18 and 2x10) I sold the cab and got a Gallie-Kreuger 1x15. It wasn't near as loud but easier to lug around. With the Peavey cab I never had a volume problem. The GK wasn't as loud but was more than adequate.
I sold all that and got an Ampeg B-1 Combo and an SVT-212 (2x12) SVT-1510HE (15, 10 and a horn). It's been great. The combo is loud and easy (150W as well) but hooking up the two cabinets makes it plenty loud for any normal stage.
Basically... I take this approach: We amplify instruments to get loud enough to work with the drums. So... on stage you only need to be loud enough to blend with the drums. That's not all that loud really.
Moonrider
New member
Cool John said:
Do your ears ring after a gig or practice? That's more power than I can conceive of *ever* needing on stage for anything other than an outdoor gig on a BIG stage. Matter of fact, it sounds like a good start on permanent hearing loss. Most of the time my 15 watt Vox or my 120 watt Peavey handles any chore I need them to.
Anyways to answer the question, I'd go with a good bass preamp, at least 1000 watts of power amp into a stack with one 18" or two 15", plus a 4x10, hi freq horn optional.
Garry Sharp
Lost Cause
spank - that's exactly what we do as well. A 100W Marshall combo for the guitar and a 400W bass amp for me gives us TONS of headroom - we just cruise happily along at about half max volume on the bass and the guitar on about 2 or 3.
spankenstein
New member
I can't imagine the stage volume of some of these bands. I think we're loud on stage.
bass stack
I used this exact set up in my last band: Apeg 410 on top of an SWR Big Ben (18"). The two guitarists in my band each had 100 watt Marshall halfstacks. I never had to turn the volume up past 3/4 of the way. If you have a decent equalizer you can find your spot in the mix w/o having to turn up super loud - at the same time my rig provides plenty of gain w/ almost no clipping.
WARNING: The SWR cab is a strange animal. The output is best heard a few feet from the cab (any scientists feel free to explain) so when I stood right next to or in front of the stack it never sounded loud enough to me but the singer and audience would disagree. The cab is also ported (two softball sized holes in the back at the bottom) and the sound coming out the back is about 95%+ the level coming out the front. Make sure you don't kill the drummer with the shock wave coming out the back.
I assume you aren't playing in church. We were a metal band and I measured us at 115 decibles before. Wear your earplugs.
I used this exact set up in my last band: Apeg 410 on top of an SWR Big Ben (18"). The two guitarists in my band each had 100 watt Marshall halfstacks. I never had to turn the volume up past 3/4 of the way. If you have a decent equalizer you can find your spot in the mix w/o having to turn up super loud - at the same time my rig provides plenty of gain w/ almost no clipping.
WARNING: The SWR cab is a strange animal. The output is best heard a few feet from the cab (any scientists feel free to explain) so when I stood right next to or in front of the stack it never sounded loud enough to me but the singer and audience would disagree. The cab is also ported (two softball sized holes in the back at the bottom) and the sound coming out the back is about 95%+ the level coming out the front. Make sure you don't kill the drummer with the shock wave coming out the back.
I assume you aren't playing in church. We were a metal band and I measured us at 115 decibles before. Wear your earplugs.
For keeping up with 2 cranked stacks, the dual SVT setup should keep up. There's the old Geddy rig, SVT into 810 and Sunn 2000S into 810. Old Kustoms with the 315 cabs, maybe a pair of them. The old Acoustic folded horn 215 cab should complement an 810 nicely as well, and the Acoustic 350 sounds pretty warm for a solid state amp. And of course, the Marshall Superbass, which is your basic non-master volume circuit, and came with bass 412's. Lemmy uses a 415 too IIRC.
...and if you have a budged and a line out of your bass head, the cheap and easy way to get loud is a power amp (Crown, Carvin, etc) and more speakers.
...and if you have a budged and a line out of your bass head, the cheap and easy way to get loud is a power amp (Crown, Carvin, etc) and more speakers.
cobradenim
New member
My old bassist has a solid state 400 watt Crate head that he runs through a pair of Ampeg 1x15 and 4x10+horn Cabs. Great speaker combination and tone as well as having plenty of power. we had enough volume to keep up with our Loud as hell, 2 beat 3 fill, sloppy, uncoordinated monkey-with-sticks drummer we had. I had a Fender 212 DeVille combo and people were suprised on how loud we were...especially with my little amp!
Hey John Eden or Ampeg works for me
John,
I know they are expensive but I have never found better Than Eden or Ampeg,I like to run Eden heads w/ ampeg cabs but that's just me,it is flawless for 3 pc rock.
I use a ton of gear when I need to and the tone of these 2 is incredible.
Man even the small eden combos rock,They are pricey but buy used,all the ones I have purchased have been rock solid,wether I use 1hd and 1 cab or my whole wall,The guitarist uses a wall of marshalls,and the drum's are BIG,and if I wanted to I could level the place w/ volume,but I prefer the tone factor
Its not about volume,my knob never exceed 3 or 4,But all that spare power ='s killer fat tone,of course your bass is where it all starts,but give em a listen,Even the little EDEN traveler heads have killer tone,
Good Luck check out this wall of vintage gear
http://brthesect.com/home.html
John,
I know they are expensive but I have never found better Than Eden or Ampeg,I like to run Eden heads w/ ampeg cabs but that's just me,it is flawless for 3 pc rock.
I use a ton of gear when I need to and the tone of these 2 is incredible.
Man even the small eden combos rock,They are pricey but buy used,all the ones I have purchased have been rock solid,wether I use 1hd and 1 cab or my whole wall,The guitarist uses a wall of marshalls,and the drum's are BIG,and if I wanted to I could level the place w/ volume,but I prefer the tone factor
Its not about volume,my knob never exceed 3 or 4,But all that spare power ='s killer fat tone,of course your bass is where it all starts,but give em a listen,Even the little EDEN traveler heads have killer tone,
Good Luck check out this wall of vintage gear
http://brthesect.com/home.html
Outlaws
New member
Holy fucking shit.
For once I don't even know what to say.
I mean....
Thats a lot of fucking power......
All of you guys.
I once heard what was supposedly a 2000 watt bass amp, but it was never anywhere near cranked. You guys must be going deaf and need bigger amps to over come the hearing loss.
For once I don't even know what to say.
I mean....
Thats a lot of fucking power......
All of you guys.
I once heard what was supposedly a 2000 watt bass amp, but it was never anywhere near cranked. You guys must be going deaf and need bigger amps to over come the hearing loss.
HHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Yeah thats funny!!!!!I could be deaf by now but too bad I still hear everything....
But Like I said for us anyway it's there if we would ever need it,but we never have,We use em all,it's the tone that you just cant get from a small rig,when I use the wall the 100 wt. marshall jmp's never get above 2 and the edens have never seen 5,Mucho Power at low volume w/ all the speakers gives us killer tone live!!!
Most touring bands use identical gear,even today,look at em at a show,bass usually has 3 ampeg cabs,and the guitars have at least 2 marshalls or something along those lines,man back in the ol days when Cream,Zepp,Mountain,Hendrix and others ruled,you never saw a guitar player w/ less than 2 full stacks,and most bass players used 2 of the Ampeg Noel Redding stacks,or marshall's.I dont know I love the tone you get from a wall of speakers driven by Quality heads.but that;s just me But I'm an Ol man now,the worst part is hauling it back to the trailer hahahaha
Later
Yeah thats funny!!!!!I could be deaf by now but too bad I still hear everything....
But Like I said for us anyway it's there if we would ever need it,but we never have,We use em all,it's the tone that you just cant get from a small rig,when I use the wall the 100 wt. marshall jmp's never get above 2 and the edens have never seen 5,Mucho Power at low volume w/ all the speakers gives us killer tone live!!!
Most touring bands use identical gear,even today,look at em at a show,bass usually has 3 ampeg cabs,and the guitars have at least 2 marshalls or something along those lines,man back in the ol days when Cream,Zepp,Mountain,Hendrix and others ruled,you never saw a guitar player w/ less than 2 full stacks,and most bass players used 2 of the Ampeg Noel Redding stacks,or marshall's.I dont know I love the tone you get from a wall of speakers driven by Quality heads.but that;s just me But I'm an Ol man now,the worst part is hauling it back to the trailer hahahaha
Later