500W 2x10" Combo or 200W 1x15" Combo WITH Extension Cabinet???

[emirjanranara]

Hi guys! Slightly new to the bass family.

 

Currently I'm looking for an amplifier upgrade; both for studio use and live use.

Unfortunately, I have a very strict budget of around 900 USD (my budget is a maximum of 50,000 Philippine Pesos) and I have considered either getting a single 500W 2x10" Combo Bass Amplifier (such as Ampeg RB210, Hartke HD500, Fender Rumble 500, etc.) for live use (as I currently have an Orange Crush Bass 50 for studio use) or sell the Orange, getting a single Fender Rumble 200 1x15" Combo Amplifier for studio use AND getting a Fender Rumble 115 extension cabinet for live use.

Fishing for a good deal on the second hand market is very hard in my country, so I can only rely on brand-new items sold on stores.

 

As I have said, I am fairly new to the bass community. My concern is if the Rumble 200 Combo + Rumble 115 Extension would be loud enough for medium-sized to fairly large-sized venues, as I fear that the 200W capacity wouldn't be enough to push through a loud audience. Would a 500W 2x10" combo be louder and overall better for live use?

 

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

The Rumble 200 plus extension would be louder. It's not about watts, it's about decibels.

[Baloney Balderdash]

In my experience venues where a 200W amp with a decent cab wouldn't be more than plenty will have PA support, in the latter case effectively reducing your amp to nothing more than glorified stage monitor anyway (that is unless you mic it of course, in which case though my point of the wattage being largely irrelevant still stands).

 

I've played open air festivals with a 50W bass amp head hooked up to a 1 X 15" cab and a 2 X 15" cab with PA support and stage monitoring, and have had no issues ever with neither hearing myself or getting heard, same with small bar sized venues with no PA support except for the vocals, and that is in the context of a loud noisy rock band with a pretty hard hitting drummer.

 

It amaze me every time I hear of people with a 500W rig not being able to hear themself or being heard, and makes me think that either playing with such a powerful rig has made them deaf or they are using a feather to strum the strings of their bass.

 

Edited March 13, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[Lozz196]

I think it depends on their caffeine-fuelled-chimp. In one of my bands my ABM600, connected to a 115 or 410 is on 9 maybe 10 o’clock on volume. In the other, connected to an 810 it’s on 2 o’clock, and it’s solely down to the drummer, who to this day doesn’t think he’s loud.

[Phil Starr]

Welcome to BassChat

 

We are all assuming you will be playing with some sort of rock or pop band with a drummer. I'm also going to make the assumption that you might be playing some gigs at least without good PA support. PA support means you will be able to feed the bass through the PA. This all means your bass amplification will need to match the volume of the drums. There is no point being louder because you'll drown them out and if they are louder than you then you won't be heard. You need to work as a team.

 

I don't have any experience of any of the combo's you mention but generally speaking a decent 2x10 or 1x15 ought to be able to play at enough volume unless your drummer is extremely loud. Most of the venues I play have 50-100 capacity and I'd expect to be fine with either set up. 

 

Your budget is quite good at UK prices and I'd expect to have a decent choice of combo's, I'd be choosing on sound rather than worrying too much about absolute volume, so take your bass along and try them out if at all possible.

[Stealth]

Give Blackstar  look very underrated

[Jaybeevee]

On 06/03/2023 at 17:15, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

The Rumble 200 plus extension would be louder. It's not about watts, it's about decibels.

Hi Bill, any chance you can flesh out this a little please. How does one maximise the decibels via cab selection/utilisation?

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

Decibels is a matter of speaker sensitivity and frequency response. On average fifteens have higher sensitivity and lower frequency response than tens, so on average two fifteens will go louder and lower than two tens, even when driven with less power.

[chris_b]

I'd go for the 500 watt 210 combo and start saving for the 210 extension cab.

 

IMO 500 watts ticking over will give you a better sound than 200 watts flat out. 

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

3dB higher sensitivity from the fifteens, which is easy to come by, makes 200 watts the equivalent of 400 watts into tens. Of course not all fifteens will have 3dB higher than all tens, but most will. Going to a pair of 210s would likely be competitive with a pair of 115, but that's not one of the options he mentioned.