Why are bass amps so much more powerful than guitar amps?

[Kellanium]

I'm going to admit something right here. My dream amp is a Mesa Boogie Big Block Titan V12. It's a bass amp. it pumps out 1.2 kilowatts of power. ONE POINT TWO KILOWATTS (that's 1,200 watts for those who are bad with math)

Anyway, my other dream amp is a Hiwatt custom 50. Guitar Amp. 50 watts.

Now, presumeably the Mesa won't have 24 times the decibel level as the Hiwatt.

So why make the bass amps so damn powerful?

[jrmy]

Gots to have MUSCLE to push out the LOWZZZ!

[Joe Gress]

Bass frequencies require much more power to reproduce efficiently.

[delaydecay]

for ze pushing of ze low end freqs in your stomach and anus.

[Boxbie]

Becauz it takes lotz more electricities to move a speaker back and forward to make low frequencies than it does for high freqencies

[Kellanium]

Well that's a boring answer.

[D.o.S.]

+1 to the above. It's for clean headroom at loud gig levels.

[delaydecay]

because geezer butler and the rest of black sabbath are fucking deaf!

[McSpunckle]

There's a lot of reasons.

1) Bass speakers tend to be inefficient compared to guitar speakers, so they need more power to reach the same volume. I think it's just harder for speakers to make the lower frequencies.
2) The human ear is less sensitive toward the lows and extreme highs, and the guitar is sorta right in the middle, so it has an advantage. The bass isn't -that- low, though, generally.
3) It takes an exponential amount of power to make things much louder. Doubling the power will only give you a slightly bump in volume, so to make up for the other two, you need a lot more power.
4) Bassists are assholes. Nobody needs 1000 watts for any reason, and often times the speakers that can handle that sort of power do it inefficiently, so it's cancelled out.
5) Ok, maybe there is an advantage to all that power. Less speakers can get louder, so instead of an 8x10 at 300 watts, you can use a 4x10 at 600 or even 1000 watts. Less weight, assuming the speakers are loud enough.

As an example of the whole "efficiency" thing, my 15 watt head through a 1x12 guitar cab is way louder than my 100 watt head through a 4x10 bass cab. That's 4 times the speakers and 6 times the power, and it's still not as loud. Weirds me out.

[Kellanium]

There's a lot of reasons.

1) Bass speakers tend to be inefficient compared to guitar speakers, so they need more power to reach the same volume. I think it's just harder for speakers to make the lower frequencies.
2) The human ear is less sensitive toward the lows and extreme highs, and the guitar is sorta right in the middle, so it has an advantage. The bass isn't -that- low, though, generally.
3) It takes an exponential amount of power to make things much louder. Doubling the power will only give you a slightly bump in volume, so to make up for the other two, you need a lot more power.
4) Bassists are assholes. Nobody needs 1000 watts for any reason, and often times the speakers that can handle that sort of power do it inefficiently, so it's cancelled out.
5) Ok, maybe there is an advantage to all that power. Less speakers can get louder, so instead of an 8x10 at 300 watts, you can use a 4x10 at 600 or even 1000 watts. Less weight, assuming the speakers are loud enough.

As an example of the whole "efficiency" thing, my 15 watt head through a 1x12 guitar cab is way louder than my 100 watt head through a 4x10 bass cab. That's 4 times the speakers and 6 times the power, and it's still not as loud. Weirds me out.

Are you calling me an asshole, Spunckie!?

[devnulljp]

Bass players have much smaller penises and have more to compensate for ....
like hummer drivers

[unownunown]

need more wattz to push the air! also headroom and shit.

NEVERMIND, DEVNULLJP NAILED IT

Bass players have much smaller penises and have more to compensate for ....
like hummer drivers

[Kellanium]

Bass players have much smaller penises and have more to compensate for ....
like hummer drivers

Mine IS smaller than the average biological male, but 10 months of estrogen therapy will do that to it.

[Gone Fission]

Bassists somewhere back in history got convinced that they wanted a clean sound. The ongoing tragedy.

[Achtane]

Bass is cooler, that's why.