Smallest (watts) rig gigged with?

[markytbass]

Wattage wise, what is the smallest rig you have used at a gig?

Back in the early 90's I had a Carlsbro Stingray 100w through a 16ohm 18" speaker, now I don't know the maths but it couldn't have been pushing more than 70watts max. After that I had a Trace Elliott BLX130 without extension cab to start with. It amazes me what my mates and I would gig with back then, nowadays it seems some bassists arn't happy unless their rig can burst an ear drum at 100 yards.

Has live music (or drummers) got louder or do people use large wattage amps at lower volumes for more clarity?

Edited September 29, 2008 by markytbass

[Dubs]

I turned up to a gig once where I had been told by our drummer that I shouldn’t bring an amp/rig as the promoter was insistent that he would provide all the backline in order to save on backstage space and time loss during changeovers etc (we’ve all heard that sh*t before)…

Anyway, I stroll in about 20mins before the first band meant to be on and the promoter comes up to me and says “you didn’t bring your rig by any chance mate?”, and I kind of give him a “errr…you wot?” sort of response…basically the “backline” consisted of a 30W Marshall Valve State guitar thing and a 50W Peavey bass combo. I wasn’t impressed and didn’t have time to get my own amp, so I had it at ear level and totally cranked to 11. The monitors were sh*t as well so all I could hear all gig was the drummer and a very faint bass sound. apparently it sounded a bit better out front but I think I could safely say it was the worse on-stage sound I’ve ever had.

Realistically I wouldn’t gig with anything less than 300W – It’s not all about the volume, it’s also about the headroom.

[Protium]

Zero watts DI box

[chris_b]

For 2 years I gigged with a Vox Foundation, 50 watts. The whole band only had 160 watts shared between 2 guitars, bass and PA!
Ah, the good old days before 4x10's, solid state and headroom!

[Doddy]

I've gigged on double bass un-amplified.

[velvetkevorkian]

I've done 0, with a DI, and I think 15- 'twas a tiny Behringer combo the venue kept for that purpose. Worked fine on the tiny stage.

[Smash]

I first started with a 100 watt 15" H/H Amp, heavy and flat as a pancake in sound, not loud enough with 2 guitars either.

Remember as like Benwhiteuk turning up for a gig in London and the promoter telling me no worries about an amp we have a large stack here, turn up and find a 20 watt Carlsbro amp (first time ever I leave my cabs at home too). There was no PA support either, it was terrible, I just pretended to play as I couldn't hear a thing, felt like I was on an old top of the pops.

I wouldn't go out with anything under 300 watts but it depends on the PA

[ahpook]

i used to regularly gig with a 150W trace head...never had any problems being heard.

maybe it's trace elliot magic !

[obbm]

I used a Linear Conchord (30-watts) and a 4x12 cab (4 x Bakers Group 25-watt speakers from RCS, Croydon) from 1964 -1967.

[DirkThrust]

I went to an open mike night the other day in an average sized pub. Three performances were by what you could call bands, one of which had a very loud drummer and an enthusiastic guitar player as well as a keyboard player. The supplied bass backline was a Laney RB3 (65 watts I think) and it coped very well. It didn't shake the room but all the bass players were clearly audible with some bottom end.

It did have the effect of making of making 4 different bassists playing a Warwick, a Precision and an Ibanez something or other, all sound the same though so it wasn't "all in the fingers" that night.

[s_u_y_*]

[quote name='Protium' post='294963' date='Sep 29 2008, 10:39 PM']Zero watts DI box [/quote]

lol... same here too.

Onstage, I wouldn't feel comfortable with anything less than 150W as backline.

Edited September 29, 2008 by s_u_y_*

[john_the_bass]

I've gigged with a 30w practice amp brought along by a fella who "couldn't be arsed to lug his ampeg around"
I've done guitar gigs with 5 watts - valve watts admittedly

[xgsjx]

I've done a couple of gigs with a 30 watt Vox Venue combo with a car sub in it.

They was fairly small gigs of about 50 folk & I only had to compete with a semi acoustic guitar/singer and a mandolin and coped surprisingly well.

[waynepunkdude]

I have gigged with my Badger 10W 10" with the great EQ option of bass and treble nether of which do anything.

I love that amp

[endorka]

Like Doddy, It's not unusual for me to do gigs on totally unamplified double bass - no amplifier, no front of house. Works well enough in certain situations, although I don't know how the bass player coped playing like this in 18-piece swing bands in the old days.

Probably the most mismatched gig I've ever done was in one of the aforementioned 18-piece swing bands with a bass guitar into a 30W Laney Linebacker. It wasn't really happening.

Jennifer

[markytbass]

There was a Trio (sax, double bass and drums) playing in the bar of the rehearsal rooms I use, the double bass came through quite clear (unamplified).

I nearly did a gig about 2 years ago, we turned up and there wasn't enough room on the stage for all the amps that had been bought along. The combo that the bass was to go through was an old Vox keyboard amp 30watts. My bass (active Cort) just sounded distorted no matter what I did. Anyhow the gig was cancelled after we had all set up

[Stan_da_man]

100w 1x12'' combo. Without P.A. A few weeks ago.

[Stylon Pilson]

My first amp was a Stagg 20W combo with an 8" speaker. Used that for half a dozen pub gigs. No PA support. Admittedly I didn't have to compete with a drummer, so the overall volume was low.

S.P.

[OldGit]

[quote name='obbm' post='294993' date='Sep 29 2008, 11:24 PM']I used a Linear Conchord (30-watts) and a 4x12 cab (4 x Bakers Group 25-watt speakers from RCS, Croydon) from 1964 -1967.[/quote]

Ha ha Dave, you and I do go back a long way
First amp was a 2 watt valve radio with my bass plugged into the "aux input". I didn't gig that though

First gigged amp was a Baker 30(?) watt valve head and a 1x15 home made cab with ( I think) a Fane speaker.
You bought a kit mail order from an ad in the back of the Melody Maker. Mine was second hand though.
That was loud enough 'til I joined a band where the guitarist had a Marshall head, two 4x12 cabs and a Les Paul ....


In the 70's I used a Fender 50 watt Bassman (valve) head and 2x15 cab with no problems against a big loud drumkit and a lead guitarist with a Marshall 100 watt amp and no master volume - in those days you had to turn up loud to get that driven sound, and he did. Fortunately he was on the other side of the drum kit (and that has been my prefered stage layout ever since )
We had a few GYGAFO gigs ....


But I digress.

To answer the question, I regularly play "unplugged" gigs with my 12 watt WEM clubman practice amp like this one~:

It sounds great. in fact I've been looking for many a year for [i]that [/i]sound - this amp on very low - but from a loud enough stage setup ...


The smallest amp I've used on stage in a modern setting was a tiddy bass practice amp when my band was on second at some 6 band extravaganzea - Fooled by the same tale as others have heard "yeah mate, backline supplied" hummm
Fortunately they DI'd my bass and I just had to use it as a monitor, just about managed that.
The gig was recorded though, and my bass sound fab on the recording ...


Like just about everyone else on here I believe 300 watts of contemporary solid state watts is a good minimum for gigging with a drummer and a couple of guitarists playing rocky stuff with little or no bass in the PA ...
Valve watts, and Peavey watts, are louder, of course.

[peted]

In my teens I used to gig with an 80 Watt 1x15" Crate combo as it was all my pocket money and birthday allowance could afford. Didn't have the best sound ever, but seemed to keep up with two 100 Watt small guitar combos.

In the last year I've actually chosen to leave my 350 Watt Hartke rig at home and gig a couple of times with my Line6 Lowdown Studio. That's 75 Watts through a single 10" speaker. Did it once with PA assitance and that was fine for me (guitarist didn't like it as he couldn't hear me). Did it another time without PA assistance and it really struggled to get much sound out to FOH.

[stingrayfan]

100w on full.

Now I have a 300w amp that also seems to be on full most of the time. Drummers must be getting louder.

Or perhaps I am.

[Adrenochrome]

I used to gig regularly with loud bands using 100watts [SS or valve], always had plenty of speaker area though, which I think was the key [4x12 or 4x10&1x15].
Smallest combo I used was at a "backline-provided" gig when I used a tiny Hiwatt combo DI-d to the PA. Couldn't hear it on stage but FOH sounded fine when I stepped onto the dancefloor.

[Merton]

Chronologically: 65W Vox Escort, 40W Laney, 100W Trace Elliot Commando combos. Then I finally got a "proper" rig in about 2002

[Shaggy]

Didn't the Beatles play Shea Stadium with only Vox AC30's?

My first one home made, probabaly 10W max. It blew up.

[Jarhead]

My Peavey 50 watter, and it has been said that Peavey Watts are louder lol
Zach