Sibob Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 Thinking about a 50w all tube bass amp. I have very little experience of tube-amps outside of recording really. Is that a gigable setup for small/medium-ish gigs with no PA? Or will it breakup before a decent volume is reached? Cheers Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 How much speaker have you got? I used a 50 watt Selmer Treble n' Bass a few years back in my first band and while it would get loud enough for the small venues I played in it would be semi-dirty at that volume. That was with a not particularly great single 15" in a sealed cab though. Later when I used a 100 watt Carlsbro with a more efficient 2x12" cab it never sounded close to breaking up in similar sized venues, which made me wonder if a good 50 watt head could work with that cab. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 Yep, I had an old Fender Bassman and whilst it would easily get loud enough, it was far too distorted/gainy for what I was doing at the time. Annoyingly I`d love that tone now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidlovellbass Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 Depends on the cabinet/s you'd be using. You'd be fine volume wise using either something modern and efficient like a Barefaced or a vintage Peavey/Acoustic/Ampeg 4x12, 2x15, 8x10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 I played for years with a Fender Bassman 50w into a Bassman 2x15 cab, and still use it, but no longer for gigs. The volume (loudness...) will rather depend on the cab(s) used, but I found that, for anything more than a light pub gig, the headroom is pretty low. We now use a Hiwatt 200w; headroom to the sky, but very, very much heavier. I'd say, in all, that 50w is a tad on the lightweight size. 100w give much more scope (and weight..!). Just my tuppence worth; hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skidder652003 Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 (edited) had a selmer 50W T&B a few years ago and it sounded awesome on guitar but broke up way too early on bass but I was using rubbish cabs. I don't know how better cabs might cope (one for Mr Fitzmaurice or Phil Starr!). I think 100W might be a minimum for loud pub gigs, 300W sounds awesome! If you mic'd to the PA though that might be ok. Edited June 28, 2014 by skidder652003 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 100w would probably be a better choice if cleans are desired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sibob Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 Should have said, I'll be using various combinations of 1 Barefaced Compact, 2 Compacts or 1 Compact & a midget . 100w is above my size, weight & price bracket at the mo Cheers Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 Two Compacts should definitely give you a fighting chance! They're quite efficient cabs already and you have two of them. I'd be tempted to give it a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barkin Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 Many moons ago I used to do pubs, small-ish halls etc with a Carlsbro TC60 into a single Acoustic 1x15 and it always seemed to do the job. Used to get a bit gnarly when it was pushed, but that was a plus... More recently, I've used it with a single Compact on pub gigs and not found myself needing more volume - but my idea of 'loud enough' may be different to yours. We do make a real effort to play as quietly as we reasonably can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Rock Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 (edited) [quote name='barkin' timestamp='1403970473' post='2488215'] We do make a real effort to play as quietly as we reasonably can. [/quote] ...says the man sitting on a 6x15 cab ;-) Edited June 28, 2014 by Roland Rock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JapanAxe Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 [quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1403965794' post='2488149'] Should have said, I'll be using various combinations of 1 Barefaced Compact, 2 Compacts or 1 Compact & a midget . 100w is above my size, weight & price bracket at the mo Cheers Si [/quote] I have a T'n'B 50, and I have tried it at home through my Compact+Midget setup (using an OBBM Serialiser to give a 16ohm load). It can be driven into distortion quite easily with a bass, and I can't imagine being able to gig it. Then again I am not convinced I yet have that amp working at its best. I would be quite interested to try a 100W valve head through my BF rig, but most are wider than the 19in width of the Compact, which makes for an ungainly-looking stack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gramatron Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 Personally I think 50w might be a little bitty on the low side. I had a 100W marshall superbass which sounded great until i started playing with a new drummer that is incredibly loud so I ended up getting a 200W AD200B to keep up. Also the sensitivity of the cab needs to be considered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funky8884 Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 I have used a Buster 200 into a Gen 2 compact and out of 3 gigs in a pub only 1 of those I had enough volume. The guitarist had a Mesa Lonestar 1 x 12 combo and the drummer wasn't a heavy hitter. If you have 2 Cabs that would be a better starting point. The Barefaced ( neo ) )cabs needs lots of Watts to get them moving. I would try and use well above the minimum recommended watts of the barefaced cabs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime_BASS Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 2 compacts maybe? 1 definitely not. The barefaced stuff does need some power behind them to make the most of them, as has been said. 2 might shift enough air to make up for it. It all depends if you are your amp purely as on stage monitoring or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sibob Posted June 30, 2014 Author Share Posted June 30, 2014 Cheers for all the input guys Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brensabre79 Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 I use a 160w valve amp through my Barefaced Super12, although we are on the louder side as pub bands go, it can usually just about cope - although it can get a bit overdriven sounding when you push it - it sounds awesome, but doesn't suit some material. When we play in larger places than a pub I'll tend to take my 500w Carvin instead - which is just clean at any volume. A lot depends on your tone though, I like lots of lows, which use up way more power than mids and highs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidlovellbass Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 My current rig is a 180 watt fender into either a BF compact or vintage. In the past a had a modded bassman 100 which I used both channels for extra gain and headroom. The master was on 9 but preamp on 3 or 4 and that was LOUD, enough volume for standing up to 2 guitarists with 4x12s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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