You are not an electric guitar player; You're gonna need more wattage and a bigger cabinet for bass

[Disclaimer: consult a qualified amplifier or electronics professional before hooking up amplifiers or speakers]

When people first start playing electric bass and they need an amplifier, sometimes they look to the amp set-up used by the electric guitarist they're playing with as a starting point. For example, a person who's learning electric bass is jamming in a rock band, and they know that the electric guitarist has, say, a 50 watt combination amplifier (or "combo amp", so named because it combines an amplifier and one or more speakers in a single wooden cabinet), so the bassist thinks that maybe a 50 watt bass amp will enable them to play bass in the band.

Unfortunately, bass takes more power to amplify those low-frequency

sound waves, so you're going to need more power. A 50 watt bass amp might enable you to play in rehearsals for some quieter, more acoustic styles of music. But it doesn't provide enough power for clean, clear reproduction of all frequencies, including the lowest string, in a live show setting. A 50 watt bass amp will be good for individual bass practice at home, but you'll be pushing it to the max if you use it in a band.

That's not good, because:

a) it'll sound bad because you'll get power amp clipping that distorts the tone; and

b) eventually this power amp clipping will blow the speaker.

If you're playing louder, electrified styles of music, it's good to use 150 watts or even 200 watts as your starting point for a combo bass amplifier. As well, it's better to get a bigger cabinet, because you get better deep bass response from a bigger cabinet. Yes, there's subcompact bass cabinets out there, but these are designed for ease of transport, and there's a trade-off in terms of deep bass frequency response when you have a small cabinet. In the loudest styles of music, such as metal and punk, you might want to look at 300 to 400 watt amps and several speaker cabinets.

If you buy a combo amp, the amp manufacturer will pick a speaker (or several speakers) that can handle the amp's power and which have the right impedance. But if you're using a separate amplifier "head" and one or more cabinets, it's best to ask for advice from a qualified amplifier technician or sound engineer. If you have the manual for the amplifier head (or find it online), the manufacturer may suggest the appropriate types of speaker cabinets and impedance.

• The back panel of the amplifier will almost always list the impedance (e.g., minimum 8 ohm or minimum 4 ohm are the most common). Never go below the minimum impedance. If the amp says "minimum 8 ohm", don't hook up a 4 ohm cabinet. If you're hooking up multiple cabinets, you are impacting the impedance that the amplifier "sees", so it's important to consult a qualified professional.