Tube amp guys, opinions on 50w needed

[Sibob]

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

[Beer of the Bass]

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.

[Lozz196]

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.

[davidlovellbass]

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

[Dad3353]

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.

[skidder652003]

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

[Kiwi]

100w would probably be a better choice if cleans are desired.

[Sibob]

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

[Beer of the Bass]

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.

[barkin]

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.

[Roland Rock]

[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

[JapanAxe]

[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.

[Gramatron]

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.

[funky8884]

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.

[Prime_BASS]

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.

[Sibob]

Cheers for all the input guys

Si

[brensabre79]

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...

[davidlovellbass]

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