Quick MarkBass Power Question

[Hot Tub]

Is my CMD103H gonna be "big" enough for a small pub? It'll be up against one electric guitar, one acoustic guitar, drums, and a singer. The band isn't "deafening" loud, but you have to shout a bit to hold a conversation.

Subjective I know, but what do you think?

[peteb]

[quote name='Hot Tub' post='725609' date='Jan 26 2010, 07:19 PM']Is my CMD103H gonna be "big" enough for a small pub? It'll be up against one electric guitar, one acoustic guitar, drums, and a singer. The band isn't "deafening" loud, but you have to shout a bit to hold a conversation.

Subjective I know, but what do you think?

[/quote]
yea - it will be fine

I've got one and it's louder than you would imagine - seems to have just as much volune as my mesa mpulse & two 4x10s

[DirkThrust]

I use an LM3 with a Barefaced Compact in both my current bands. Both have two guitarists and quite a heavy hitting drummer and we play an assortment of different sized pubs and clubs and I never even get close to limits of this set up.

I also used one of the first generation Markbass Traveler 104s with an LM1 in a classic rock band with keyboards and a loud guitarist and again it was more than adequate. It was window rattlingly loud.

I can't see you having any problems. Obviously neither of these rigs are quite the same but both are in the same ballpark. I think we tend to overestimate the amount of power we need.

[JDH]

[quote name='Hot Tub' post='725609' date='Jan 26 2010, 07:19 PM']Is my CMD103H gonna be "big" enough for a small pub? It'll be up against one electric guitar, one acoustic guitar, drums, and a singer. The band isn't "deafening" loud, but you have to shout a bit to hold a conversation.

Subjective I know, but what do you think?[/quote]
I’ve got the CMP102P and I haven’t had any problems with any pub gigs, even the larger rooms. I have an extension cabinet but rarely us it. I think your combo is rated at 400W as it stands - so no worries there.

JDH

[Hot Tub]

Kewl! Thanks folks!

On the same subject, and as I've never used it in anger before, is it correct to set the gain to just before clipping and turn the volume up as required? Is anything gonna get damaged by using "full throttle"?

[DirkThrust]

[quote name='Hot Tub' post='725724' date='Jan 26 2010, 08:51 PM']is it correct to set the gain to just before clipping and turn the volume up as required? Is anything gonna get damaged by using "full throttle"?[/quote]

That's what I do. Turn the gain up so it's just clipping then back it off a tad. Always seems to work for me

[bigjohn]

[quote name='AndyMartin' post='725680' date='Jan 26 2010, 08:25 PM']I think we tend to overestimate the amount of power we need.[/quote]


There's definitely some of that going on... I've played pub gigs with 100W amps before... I've played with drummers (using brushes) easy with 50W amps.

The difference is though - I have to EQ an amp like that to get it to sound loud enough. But with a big rig, I EQ to get the tone I want then turn it up until it's loud enough.

I'm sure I could play a big pub with a 400W amp. It might not sound [i]exactly[/i] like I'd want it to, but it would certainly be loud enough.

Edited January 26, 2010 by bigjohn