What kind of AMP and how many watts ?

[Grungy_AJ]

Hey Everyone,
Just looking for a little advice or some kind of enlightment here, i guess... I was just wondering that how many watts of Amplifier would be considered a decent rig for playing in clubs, venues and such... Imagine a good size Venue... I mean is there a way to divide it in terms of watts, like for small venue, you should have 20 watts, for medium size, 40 and for big you need ... etc.
I am just wondering if anyone knows an answer to this dilemma, i don't want to buy tons of AMPS for different situations and would like to invest money only once and for all.. So any advice would be good... I play mostly Grunge music, i don't know if knowing what kind of music helps in this scenario but yeah... Hope to hear from you guys, any advices and knowledge would be appreciated, Thanks a lot !

P.s - Tell me a good amplifier for each wattage if you can, like your personal favourite. Thanks !

- AJ

[saladin]

Re: What kind of AMP and how many watts ?

It mostly depends on the type of music you are playing. If blues or jazz, then 30-40 watts is enough. If rock/punk/metal is your thing, then you need at least 50 watts to hear yourself. I use a 100 watt Carvin xv-212 which I never have it over 2 on the volume but I need a big clean sound that is not breaking up. Our band recently played an open mic gig where we used the clubs amps. I had to use a Bassman reissue, which is a great great sounding amp but it broke up too soon and all my clean parts came out distorted.

[saladin]

Re: What kind of AMP and how many watts ?

Most venues today have good PA's, so you should gauge it more on how loud the rest of your band are. If you have a hard hitting drummer, you'll need more power.

[SlyFoxx]

Re: What kind of AMP and how many watts ?

Awww sound guys are always pissed at the guitar player because we get all the chicks and he don't!

[Kommerzbassist]

Re: What kind of AMP and how many watts ?

Hey man how about the Marshall TSL 60 like I have? Should be able to give you a good Grunge tone stock and is pretty flexible when it comes to volume.

[Scott_F]

Re: What kind of AMP and how many watts ?

Get as many watts as you'll need for the larger venues you play and buy an attenuator for the small gigs.

or rely on the sound guy to mic your small amp.

Just depends on your sound guy....

[some_dude]

Re: What kind of AMP and how many watts ?

It depends on how much headroom you need.

I've owned a 25w combo....I bought it because it was convieniently sized, and I figured that it'd do me for small gigs and whatnot. I was wrong....it didn't have near enough headroom and the thing was always overdriving. Some people would probably love that, but it drove me up a wall. I like an amp that overdrives when I want it to, which is not all the time.

Also, I've run 50w and 100w heads, and for small gigs I honestly found that both were too loud. The headroom was great for the cleans, but you couldn't get them loud enough to get good power amp drive on your leads.

I've also been in situations where a 100w high gain amp is running out of headroom on it's lead channel....(too much compression killing the rhythm dynamics).

After my 25w amp experience, I'd rather attenuate a big amp than rely on a little amp. That said, the amp I just bought is an 85w amp with a 15w low power mode.....so we'll see how that one works out.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that no wattage is perfect for everything. If I was to make a suggestion, talk to the guys that gig locally in your area and find out what they're using. If they all have 100w Marshall's that they're allowed to turn up to a decent level.....when then, you're set. If they all say that they can't turn their 50w 1x12 combos up enough to get any OD.....well, you probably don't want a 100w fullstack.

[That90'sGuy]

Re: What kind of AMP and how many watts ?

I used to be the person that claimed that all you needed was 30w... open mouth/insert foot!

In my band, I'm glad I have my 80w Shiva. I really need that much wattage to get enough headroom on the cleans to cut through the mix without it being a mushy mess. When you're playing with a loud drummer, you'd be suprised just how much volume you really need to come out on top and settle in the mix (especially for leads).

If you trust the soundmen in your area, you could probably get away with micing anywhere from a 15w-30w amp (I've done it for small clubs), but if you have a more powerful amplifier with good master volume, you can get the same results while having much more power on tap should you need it.

[Grungy_AJ]

Re: What kind of AMP and how many watts ?

Hmm, thanks guys, thats really helpful, i think i might talk to 1 or 2 guys that play here and see what kinda of AMPs or how many watts of AMP they are using... I would be surprised if they use anything less than 50 watts, because thats what i have been hearing that to get a decent sound in any band, 50 watts can never go wrong, also depends on the brand and manufacturer of the AMP.... Surprisingly, some companys 30watt AMPS even sounds as loud as other brands 50 watts... it's really pain in ass to find the right AMP but then again, you need it at all costs !

Right now after reading all the threads here, i guess i might go with 50 watts... I am going to look around and see if i can find any good deals for that... Any advice on what company i should go for this AMP, i mean MARSHALL, RANDALL, FENDER,.... etc... I mean tell me from your good experience ?

One last thing, i don't know if anyone here tried this before, but how about buying a seperate Pre-Amp (Mesa-Boogie) and then buying 1 or 2 Power-Amps (Crown) and going with that ? Would you think that would be cheaper and reliable or not ? Do they get blown a alot or it's just crazy talk i am doing here and its better i stick with the whole AMP on its own ?

Thanks yet again.. you guys rock !

- AJ

[bungalowbill]

Re: What kind of AMP and how many watts ?

Hmm, thanks guys, thats really helpful, i think i might talk to 1 or 2 guys that play here and see what kinda of AMPs or how many watts of AMP they are using... I would be surprised if they use anything less than 50 watts, because thats what i have been hearing that to get a decent sound in any band, 50 watts can never go wrong, also depends on the brand and manufacturer of the AMP.... Surprisingly, some companys 30watt AMPS even sounds as loud as other brands 50 watts... it's really pain in ass to find the right AMP but then again, you need it at all costs !

Right now after reading all the threads here, i guess i might go with 50 watts... I am going to look around and see if i can find any good deals for that... Any advice on what company i should go for this AMP, i mean MARSHALL, RANDALL, FENDER,.... etc... I mean tell me from your good experience ?

One last thing, i don't know if anyone here tried this before, but how about buying a seperate Pre-Amp (Mesa-Boogie) and then buying 1 or 2 Power-Amps (Crown) and going with that ? Would you think that would be cheaper and reliable or not ? Do they get blown a alot or it's just crazy talk i am doing here and its better i stick with the whole AMP on its own ?

Thanks yet again.. you guys rock !

- AJ

Play through the Boogies before you decide. Boogies are notoriously loud compared to their wattage rating.
I use a 30 watt tube amp to gig with although my setup wouldn't fly if your drummer is a gorilla or you are not willing to mic your rig. Good luck in your search.

[BigDreamer]

Re: What kind of AMP and how many watts ?

i'm just curious, did you got the mesa preamp/crown power amp idea from kurtsequipment.com?

[some_dude]

Re: What kind of AMP and how many watts ?

Hmm, thanks guys, thats really helpful, i think i might talk to 1 or 2 guys that play here and see what kinda of AMPs or how many watts of AMP they are using... I would be surprised if they use anything less than 50 watts, because thats what i have been hearing that to get a decent sound in any band, 50 watts can never go wrong, also depends on the brand and manufacturer of the AMP.... Surprisingly, some companys 30watt AMPS even sounds as loud as other brands 50 watts... it's really pain in ass to find the right AMP but then again, you need it at all costs !

Right now after reading all the threads here, i guess i might go with 50 watts... I am going to look around and see if i can find any good deals for that... Any advice on what company i should go for this AMP, i mean MARSHALL, RANDALL, FENDER,.... etc... I mean tell me from your good experience ?

One last thing, i don't know if anyone here tried this before, but how about buying a seperate Pre-Amp (Mesa-Boogie) and then buying 1 or 2 Power-Amps (Crown) and going with that ? Would you think that would be cheaper and reliable or not ? Do they get blown a alot or it's just crazy talk i am doing here and its better i stick with the whole AMP on its own ?

Thanks yet again.. you guys rock !

- AJ

It depends on what you want to do.

Since you mentioned Grunge....if you're going to rely on fuzz and distortion pedals you're going to want a lot of headroom and not alot of preamp gain....Fenders are great for that, as are the Mark series of Boogie, and the Boogie preamp into a solid state power amp setup you mentioned above. If you're going to rely on the amp for distortion, then check out amps like Peavey, Mesa/Boogie, Marshall, ect. Soundgarden used Peavey before switching to Mesa for Superunknown, and Alice in Chains was using a Bogner Fish preamp into a Mosvalve 500 poweramp, along with various Marshalls, a Peavey 5150, Bogner Shiva, Mesa Dual Rectifer, ect.....

Since you're asking about Boogie into Crown I assume you already know what Cobain was using, but you should probably note that he switch to Crest sometime around '93 because the Crowns kept blowing up.

Also, if you're going to look at a solid state power amp setup, you want as much wattage as you can afford. You'll never use it all, which is a good thing....but unlike a tube amp, you don't ever want to run out of headroom on a solid state.

[Grungy_AJ]

Re: What kind of AMP and how many watts ?

No i didn't, one of my friend who talks alot about pre-amps and power-amps told me to go with these, he said they rocked, he even mentioned CREST somewhere but i don't know if it was for Pre-Amp or Power-Amp ?

Either way, i just checked out that site, wow cool stuff... I didn't know people really cared that much about what kurt used for his effects... I'll look around that site more but i don't wanna mimic his same sound, i'll rather stand out on my own, although i do pay my respects to him

Thanks for the site !

and bungalowBill, thanks, i'll give one a try at the music store here and see how it goes ! I'll let you guys know, any more advices are appreciated...

[Grungy_AJ]

Re: What kind of AMP and how many watts ?

Hey Screamingdaisy,
I just found out about his setup, not bad but yeah even that site mentioned that his preamps used to blow up alot, i'll look into each ones u mentioned and try to find a good Preamp and PowerAmp combination... thanks alot, that was really helpful ! you guys are pro here

[Hendrix95]

Re: What kind of AMP and how many watts ?

One thing you need to know about wattage is that it's measured exponentially. So an amp that's half as loud as a 100 watt amp is 10 watts, etc........
Don't get more wattage than you really need. Alot of people go overboard and have way more than they need. The soundman at a club will make you run it on like 2. A 5 watt amp dimed is about as loud as a trumpet.

I'd recommend getting a lower wattage amp and just use a larger extension cabinet to play live. The size of the amp's cabinet is going to play more of a role than the wattage. Also, you can always mic anything through a PA.