You know after lugging around 100 watt stacks playing guitar, then going to gigging with a 40 watt combo I thought I understood something about wattage, power, and volume. I have a 75 watt bass amp, a 200 watt amp, and a 600 watt amp and honestly none of them keep up with a good 25watt guitar rig. I was talking to a guitar player about it and he reminded me that wattage relates to power, loudness is measure in decibels.
A quick search and found these two articles that explained a lot more than I ever could… Understanding Wattage, Speaker Efficiency, and Amplifier "Loudness" - The Hub!
It’s crazy, a 25-30W guitar amp is loud and giggable for sure.
A 100W guitar amp is something like a Soldano SLO100, Marshall JCM800 or EVH 5150 range - just ridiculously loud. Like much bigger room than you think loud. In fact I think the 5150 is only 80W and it was EVH’s thing.
Unless the guitarist never goes above like 2 or 3, you’re gonna need a pretty beefy bass amp. However for the venues you’re describing, that might be fine, especially if it is just a stage monitor for you and you’re primarily going to the mixer and PA’s. This is kind of what Al was getting at - and I agree with him that a 60W amp would probably be fine just as a stage monitor.
You can also mic the amp if you need that little extra magic.
My little Genzler 10-2 array can easily annihilate a venue of a few hundreds. Bigger venue? I just add the second cab, I have 3 cabs and found and excuse to stack up the 3 cab at a big venue, I didn’t go pass noon on the dial.
Most likely. But check it’s true output. If it’s 500w @ 4 ohm and as it sits it’s using a single 8 ohm speaker it’s only producing around 250w into that speaker. You’d need to add another 8 ohm extension cab to get it’s full 500w output. Or is it a 500w 2x10 combo producing all 500w @ 4 ohm into both speakers? That rig would be louder.
But doubling the output doesn’t double the volume. What you gain is a marginal increase in volume from the amp but more clean headroom and about 3dB more perceived volume overall from multiple speakers of the same type and sensitivity.
For example; If I add a second 110 Bass Array to my Genzler MG350 Combo my amp will produce it’s entire 350w vs 175w and the additional speaker will add 3dB to overall perceived volume at the same amp setting for gain and master volume.
I’ve not played through a Rumble 500 but the stock speakers in the cab are a pair of Eminence ceramic 10" speakers and Eminence speakers tend to be pretty efficient. Probably somewhere around 97dB-100dB sensitivity. That combo pushing 350w should do pretty well for most gigs unless your drummer and your guitarist play at maniacal volume.
Since 10" speakers tend to be more mid focused if you find you need a bigger bottom end you can add the 1x15" 8 ohm extension cab and you’ll have the entire 500w available along with even more speaker cone area. That will also increase perceived volume. Start with the Rumble 500 and see how it works for you.
But a 200w Tube head through an 8x10 cab will blow a 500w 2x10 combo away. I’ve played concert sized outdoor gigs with a 300w SVT backline a 500w combo could never handle. They aren’t comparable rigs.
But these Genzler rigs of ours are extremely efficient in their design. We’re also doubling our wattage and our speaker cone area when we add a second cab and adding more cone area if we add a third cab. All of that will increase perceived volume.
I’d be curious to see how a Rumble 500 producing 350w into it’s two 10" speakers compares to an MG350 producing 350w into two BA Series 2 110-2 cabs.
It’s not just wattage - it’s also how much sound you’re putting out.
A 500W amp through a single 15" might not have as much headroom and coverage as a 200W amp through 4x10s or 2x15’s or some such.
It’s the combination of amp and speakers that really helps.
I had great luck with the Rumble 500 (500W and 2x10s).
Never needed any extra volume, and that was in a pretty loud quartet with keys, guitar and drums.
If you are in the 200-350W range, just make sure it’s not a single speaker.
A single speaker will limit how big the sound will be regardless, in my experience.
Yeah excellent point. One nice thing about the Rumble 500 is it’s a 2x10, so throw a second 2x10 on that and you have the full 500W into an effective 4x10, which is probably a real good plan. I think the newer Ampeg RB combo is a 2x10 too? (edit- yep, 500W 2x10).
The trend in modern combo amps tends to feature an 8 ohm dual speaker attached cab vs a 4 ohm cab permitting the addition of a second 8 ohm extension cab. In the case of Fender Rumbles it adds flexibility and they can sell more gear that way.
Genzler does the same but at a much higher price point. A second BA2-110 S2 cab lists for $800 and a BA2-112-3 for over $1100. That a lot of money for a single speaker cab however the line array is what makes it all that it is. Nothing else is quite like it.
Per stated wattage yes, I know. Some older analog amps and maybe even some of the newer stuff get much closer. For instance my Blues Cube 60 held it’s own against 50w tube amps and probably has more clean headroom. But I’d probably rated as closer to the equivalent of 30w tube amp.
I’m not sure how to suggest anyone view current Class D amps since they’re operating off a power module and many manufacturers state their peak power not their RMS wattage which is much less. But in the end wattage never relates directly to perceived volume for all sorts of reasons.
Maybe we should start a new thread called “My 100w is bigger than your 100w”.
