I'm somewhat concerned about the lack of new posts/topics in the bass players section, so I thought I'd post someting fairly pointless to re-kindle interest.
On a recent shopping trip, I noticed that many bass amps come with ridiculously high power outputs; A fine example being a certain gallien kruger model with a 1300 watt RMS output.
My question is, why do bass amps have such high outputs in comparrison with guitar amps? Is it that most players use only their amp on stage, and do not make use of the PA? And does anybody truthfully need 1300 watts of power? (I iknow I want it, but want and need are very different)
Your input would be appreciated.
Thankyou (I hope this sets the ball rolling for new topics and posts!)
Peter.
In my opinion, a bi-amped 2X300, with a 4X10 over a 1X15 is about as big as I'd ever want to go. Any bigger than that, and you'll be louder than the drummer, and you'll have to mic everything anyway.
But watts are relatively cheap, so the amp makers get better profits from bigger amps.
And some people think that louder is better :twisted:
-Laz
The only thing I ever had that had 1300 watts was a hair dryer, and look what happened to me.
For one thing, it takes a lot more energy to drive low frequencies than high frequencies at the same decibel level. This means that a bass player needs approximately 5x as big an amp as the guitar player. A 300w bass amp is approximately equivalent in volume to a 50w guitar amp.
Using the currently fashionable 5 and 6 string basses and down-tuning increases this difference.
Second, a guitar player wants distortion or overdrive, which is easier to achieve with a smaller amp. A bass player typically doesn't and many say that the best bass sound is achieved with a lot of headroom, i.e. not running the bass amp near its max output.
Third, matching an unmiked drumkit may not be enough. Very often you need to mike the drumkit, even in smallish venues.
That being said, I can't envisage needing a 1300w amp myself anytime soon. In larger venues, the soundman has usually taken a direct line from my amp to the mixing table and PA system.
--
Helgi Briem
hbriem AT gmail DOT com
It can be necessary, depending on the venue, and on just how low your bass goes. With a low B, or even lower, you'll need some power to cut through in a loud situation.
