Is A Nashville 112 Loud Enough For A Live Gig?

[Bob Snelgrove]

Full band, not mic'd or going into the board? I'm used to 200 watts of Session/LTD power

bob

[Brad Bechtel]

What amps are the other members of the band using? What types of venues will you be playing in?

An 80 watt amp should be sufficient for most gigs, in my opinion.

[Dave Mudgett]

It was loud enough for me when I used one. That amp, which I still own, is totally stock. But I can see situations where it might fall short. Band with a loud stage volume - e.g., loud drummer, guitarist with a Les Paul into a Marshall stack, bass player with a 1200 Watt bass rig, and so on.

Another point - I was playing E9, not C6 in those situations. At high volume, the NV 112 might well crap out on the low C6 strings. But I think the big issue would be getting over a real loud stage volume.

[Richard Sinkler]

Two bands I play with mic my 112, but my master gain is only set at around 5-6 and pre gain maybe at 3, and that's enough onstage to get over the drummers and guitar players. I have played many other somewhat loud gigs with the 112 with no problem at all. I still prefer my NV400 though. My 112 does have a Travis Toy 12" speaker which was a 100% upgrade from the stock speaker, even though the TT12 is 8 ohm and the stock speaker was 4 ohm.

[Stew Crookes]

I used an NV112 for 5-600 gigs and quite liked it - the only reason I sold it was needing to downsize even further.

There was no problem keeping up with drums, bass, telecaster (through a fender deluxe) on the sorts of gigs where only the vocals and acoustic / fiddle were PA’d.

In louder configurations I was mic’d or direct to the PA but even with a backline supplied twin or NV400 you’d need to be mic’d anyways in those scenarios for FOH control, monitors for the other side of the stage, etc.

In my experience the NV112 was a great balance of volume, tone, portability & price. Mine was an early US made one, was very reliable throughout a decade of regular use, and any small issues that came up (loose molexes usually) were easily fixable.

[Nathan Golub]

If a band was too loud for an un-mic'ed NV112 that'd be a pretty brutal gig. I've used mine for years with a fairly loud gtr/bass/drums band & volume was never a problem. Agree that it's a very solid amp, well built and well priced.

[Chris Brooks]

This amp puts out 85 strong watts. I run Master gain about 6 and have never turned the Pre-gain over 3! I play a extended E 9 and the amp handles those 2 low strings very well.

Like Stew, I have an early N 112. Yes, I knocked off a knob (then got a protector). Only problem was that one night the amp wouldn't turn on--but it turned out to be the power cord itself!

Stew writes, "In louder configurations I was mic’d." Same here. Chris

[Richard Sinkler]

This amp puts out 85 strong watts. I run Master gain about 6 and have never turned the Pre-gain over 3! I play a extended E 9 and the amp handles those 2 low strings very well.

As a comparison, to get the same perceived volume out of both my NV400 ( a 200 watt amp) and NV112 (an 80 watt amp) on stage, my NV400 has the master gain at 10, and the pregain around 3to 5. The NV112, the master gain is maybe 7 and the pregain at 2 to 4. And my 112 has an 8 ohm TT12 speaker instead of the stock 4 ohm speaker.

[Dave Hopping]

I like my (Fox-chipped) 112, but with a full band it got to sounding a little thin if not mic'ed or XLR'd to the board. I play a Mullen RP U-12 so there's something of a low-end workout going on.
Decided awhile back that on any but the lowest volume gigs -- I.E. when there's no drums -- an amp's ideal function is that of an instrument monitor and the FOH is better suited for the heavy lifting.
Eventually I went to a Milkman PS-300 15" combo. It's plenty loud and full on its own but I mic it anyway; I've heard too many un-miced bands using amps as mains. What they get is lethal volume onstage and sonic mush out front.