Guitar Gear

Cruising the forums this morning, I came upon a statistic that just blew me away; probably more so because I completely missed it when it first came out. But better late than never… Anyway, the guys at Creation Audio Labs did a loudness comparison of various amplifiers in different wattage ranges at the recent Nashville Amps Show. For the 1 – 20 Watt category, the Reason Bambino had a loudness of 120.2 dB through a Greenback!

That’s moving some serious air for an 8 Watt amp, and just goes to show you that’s it’s not necessarily wattage that determines how loud something is. Power handling is the key, and Obeid Kahn of Reason Amps is wizard with power handling.

I’ve been extolling the Bambino not only for it’s great tone, but also for how loud it can go. Friends have said an amp this small will never move enough air to gig with; I’ve proven them wrong time and again, but mostly through verbal argument. But now, with a number to back up the argument, I can confidently say that this amp can do it! I regularly use it for gigging with my 1 X 12 cabinet, and have absolutely no problem hearing myself over the drums. But let’s be clear: I’m not using the amp to project my sound out to the audience. I’m using it more as a direct stage monitor, of which it is PERFECTLY suited. I get my sound out to the audience by plugging directly into the PA board from the balanced line out, or miking my cabinet.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll say it again. Going lower wattage with your amp(s) is really a change in performance setup philosophy. Those who’ve embraced this understand that you really only need stage volume nowadays with the much better PA system technology that’s out there. Even moderately sized PA’s work better than stuff twenty to thirty years ago. The important thing to them is to be able to get their cranked up tones without peeling the skin off their faces and turning their eardrums into a liquid mess. Take for instance Matthew Followill of the Kings of Leon, a band that is really gaining popularity and starting to play a lot of arenas. I was amazed to read in an interview that he plays through a 50 Watt Ampeg Reverb Rocket. As he said in his interview, “I’m a big fan of smaller amps turned all the way up, instead of big amps turned up halfway…”

Circling back to the Bambino, it is a great, versatile amp that is really starting to turn heads; not just from its tone, but how well it can project its voice!