Bass vs Guitars watts

[Thurisarz]

My guitarist has a 100w Marshall ss amp, so i got a 100w to be on the same level, then i read on another thread that if you wanna be on the same level, you must have like 120-130w?

It feels kinda strange. Until my amp comes i have borrowed a amp from the store, 100w, i have around 4-5 on the master. While on my Roland Micro cube guitar amp which is on 5w(?), i got to have like 4-5 on the master?

Is there something wrong with the amp i borrowed or is this how it suppose to be?

[Tom M]

Re: Bass vs Guitars watts

A watt is a watt, BUT bass is MUCH harder to push from an amp's perspective. You need more power. To cut through and still have a little headroom, the best number I've experienced is actually 3 times the guitarists power.

[Hellion]

Re: Bass vs Guitars watts

Bass frequencies need amazing amounts of power to produce. It might help to think of it this way: Guitar amplifiers are typically designed to run flat out at all times, but bass amps are designed to loaf. To compete with a guitar amp, a bass amp should have at least twice the wattage of the guitar amp. My guitar rig puts out about 140-160 watts (which is way more than I need for any place I play, but it doesn't run at full volume), whereas my bass rig puts out about 900-950 watts (again, not at full volume, either, but it's like a muscle car). That power is simply in reserve and on demand.