Do I get a combo or a cabinet

[canadian_man_44]

I currently am running through a Traynor amp with two 10" speakers through a DI....so it's basically my monitor. My pastor is renting this amp as it is small and easily transported because our church currently doesn't have a permanent building and we have services in a hotel conference room.
Anyway, I have a Traynor YBA-1A bass head home but the 15" cab I'm running through has seen much better days so I'm going to get an amp and save the pastor the expense of renting. So, I'm coming to you guys because I don't have a lot of experience with the different amps that are out there. I am either going with a 4 by 10" cab, 4 by 12" cab or a combo amp. We play mostly new gospel music like Chris Tomlin and stuff like that. A little slap thrown in from time to time so I want something that brings out a nice slap tone but also can be very deep and mellow for the slower songs.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks all.

[canadian_man_44]

Just to add to this, my Traynor says it has 90 Watts Sine Wave @ 8 Ohms. One of the cabs I'm looking at says "Input and link outputs on ¼” TS and professional speaker connectors with an impedance of 4 Ohms". Is this ok to run together?
Am I showing how terrible I am with the amp and cabinet knowledge yet? LOL

[Mcrelly]

how many people do you get per service? I've found 3 x 12" AND 550 @4ohms (and a little less) is good for about a 500 number audience without bass going through PA. 410 is a little less than cone displacement of 3x12.

p.s. its nice that you are trying to lighten the cost for your pastor....

[Toptube]

I'd go with 12's over 10's.

It sounds like your church might be a smaller one? Man some churches are huge.

Even still, churches aren't looking to get their guts rumbled like a rock show. I'd probably start with a 2x12, see how that goes. Then you can add 1 or 2 more if you think you need it.

That said, you'll probably need a bigger amp if you get that many speakers.

[fingerbun]

Hi, I don't actually know the Traynor amp beyond having just googled it, but a couple of things.

First - if it says the amp should feed 8ohms, don't get a speaker box with less than 8 ohms or you could destroy the amp. 8ohms will give you the most power. Higher ohms will not damage the amp but will make it softer.

Second, that particular amp is old (from the late 60s and early 70s). I assume it will have a kind of old school sound more suited to blues and such rather than what you are playing (I stress, this is just theory form what I read about the amp....I've never actually used one).

So, options:

If you are happy with that amp and sound, and just want a box, there are lots of options. Depends how much money you have and what sound you want. Depending what is wrong with your current 15" box, you may even be able to just replace the driver in it and keep grooving. Or Hartke make a nice and inexpensive little 2x10" box that you could try. It has aluminium speakers, which most people think sound different from paper, so try before you buy.

If you want a combo there are lots of good options around. I use a Roland Cube CB100 in that situation. It's compact, does a good job of smaller rooms and the amp emulation is very useful (basically it will imitate various classic amps, so you can go from Ampeg to Fender sound at the flick of a switch. Others will probably point you to the smaller GenzBenz, GallianKrueger, and so on. Peavey TNT combos are cheap and rock solid, but some like the sound and others don't so try before you buy - including carrying it, they are heavy. Hartke make some nice stuff that's not too dear.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

[canadian_man_44]

Okay, so lets try to answer all the questions at once. First of all, yes it is a smaller church at this point. About 100 people(up from 30 when we started just 3 months ago). Currently I do use the amp to push the sound to everyone, but soon it will be using a DI box so it will basically be for EQ and my monitor at that point.

I've used my Traynor head once through a Marshall 4 10" for a couple weeks and it sounded really good. Actually, it sounded better then the Marshall head that was supposed to be with it. The 15" I have right now just doesn't sound good at all with this head. Never has and never will....especially for the type of music I play now.
One of the biggest things I was worried about was the OHMs. So an 8 Ohm head into a 4 Ohm cab isn't a good idea and could burn up the amp eh. Not something I'd want to do. Rather sell the head then do that.

Anyway, one of the other options that I've seen was a BenzGenz combo with a 15" speaker and an output of 250 Watts. I've never used this brand amp so anything you guys can tell me about it would be great.

[fingerbun]

GenzBenz is a good brand. I haven't used them but others admire them. There will be a lot more features on modern amps, but some insist that the sound of older amps is unmatchable.

Speakers......don't necessarily think of it as 10's vs 15s. Different speakers have different sounds. You can always take your amp and guitar into a shop and try it with different speakers. If possible, try the amp with a box that has Celestion speakers. That may give you the same sound as the Marshall box.

[rodl2005]

If you are thinking of getting a separate amp & can, definitely read up on the sticky at the top of the AMPS forum page-gives you all you need to know about ohms & watts etc....
Genz Benz are a good brand with great customer service.

[canadian_man_44]

Just as an update to this thread....I sold the Traynor head and cabinet and bought a Yorkville 400B combo with the 15" cabinet. Once our church is in a permanent building I may also add 2 by 10" and 2 by 12" cabs in the future. They're probably not necessary since I run a line(post EQ) into the system anyway.

[Alex1984]

I think the GK MB212 is the ideal size for most church bands.