help with working out how much wattage i need!

[Phil Starr]

21 hours ago, Wombat said:

So what is true?

 

On 23/04/2025 at 14:10, sky said:

ive seen a peavey minimega used that i might make an offer on, but with 1000w is that too much

Confusing isn't it?

 

The simple answer is that most amps nowadays are using pretty much one of two or three power amp circuits and just about every manufacturer offers a class D amp which gives 300W into 8ohms and 500W into 4ohms. They don't all sound the same but all of them will be loud enough into almost any but the smallest speakers and most speakers will be able to handle that power. The straighforward answer is that you can choose from any one of those amps and you wont break the 4x10's you are using in the rehearsal room. When you get to gigging any one of them will do the job with 90% of the speakers on sale. If you are using a Peavey 4x10 you don't need to use a Peavey amp, any brand will do. I like and own a Peavey Minimax whch has a good range of sounds but the best thing you can do is try a few of these amps out and see if you like them. We all have different tastes.

 

If you want a simple version of the technical stuff then try this. Some speakers are much louder than others with the same amp. This is measured in how many decibels of sound you can make with one watt. Most bass speakers will vary between 90db/ W (not very loud/efficient) to 103db/W (loud) Each extra watt can only add to that sound level, ten times the power adds 10db and doubling the power adds 3db, so a 100W amp with add 20db to whatever the one watt figure is and 200W will add 23db. To work out how loud a system will be you need to know the power of the amp and the efficiency of the speaker. Either on its own won't tell you anything, you need both numbers.