Ten watts is enough for a room, 25 holds up next to a quiet or electronic drummer, and beyond that you are buying for a band. In a flat the headphone output matters far more than the wattage.
Watts are the wrong headline
Doubling the power adds about three decibels, which is a small change. What changes more is the speaker size, the cabinet and how early the amplifier starts to distort.
What decides a flat
A headphone output, and whether it is voiced to sound like a miked cabinet or passes the raw signal. That single feature decides whether the amp is used at ten in the evening or not at all.
What decides a rehearsal
Headroom against a drummer. Twenty-five watts through an eight-inch speaker manages a quiet or electronic kit; an acoustic drummer at full volume needs more amplifier than anything in our practice-amp family.
Check your own manual before you plug anything in. Voltage, polarity and current draw differ from model to model, and the manufacturer’s figures take precedence over anything written here. A supply of the wrong polarity can damage a pedal in seconds, phantom power is safe for most microphones but not for every one, and the required voltage is printed next to the socket or stated in the manual — not inferred from a connector that happens to fit.
The questions players ask
Is a 100 W amp louder than a 50 W one?
Only by a few decibels — perceived loudness does not scale with watts. Headroom before distortion is what the extra power actually buys.
What about bass?
Bass needs considerably more power for the same perceived volume. A 10 W bass amp gives the click of the string and none of the note, which is why we look for 40 W in bass packs.
Last reviewed 2026-08-18