Re: How much does increasing wattage increase volume?

<longislandbassist@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:90253af5-6223-4169-b5fd-0c7a1a29ba81@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I have a Hartke HA3000 bass head going through a Behringer BB115
cabinet. The cabinet is 8 ohms, and the head is rated at 180 watts
(or 200 watts, depending on where I read it), at 8 ohms. I was
playing a show without getting miked through the PA, so I had to use
my amp to fill the room. I had to turn the master volume up to about
8 to get the sound level I wanted in the room, so I was often going
into the red and clipping.

I would like more headroom.

The documentation for the head says it runs at 300 watts when it's
going through 4 ohms. If I add another 8 ohm cabinet, that will bring
me down to 4 ohms and the full 300 watts. But my question is, will
this significantly impact my overall volume. According to
calculations I've read, increasing wattage by 50 percent will get me
less than 2 decibels louder. I know decibels is a logarithmic scale,
so I don't know in absolute terms how much louder 2 decibels is going
to get me. If I was pushing things at 200 watts, will 300 watts
really give me a lot more volume?

Thanks...



By the way, here's an idea I haven't tried, but I've heard it work nicely.
Another bassist here will put his 1x15 cabinet at the front of the stage,
off to one side, and he uses his 2x10 near where he's standing. The 2x10
provides better definition, which he appreciates because he's standing
pretty close to the drummer. He sticks a couple of 2x4s under the front to
tip it up a bit. On raised outdoor stages, he puts the 1x15 under the stage.
Sounds wonderful.


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