Help a frustrated idiot out

[B-string]

Originally Posted by 1958Bassman

What effects do you have between the bass and the amp? How many can add gain and how do you have the controls set?

^ highly valid question. Also use of an octave pedal reduce power handling by easy 2/3 to 3/4. Cabs are not rated at normal bass frequencies as is (most manufacturers anyway).

[NYCbassist]

A weak head is worse than a Head with tons of power. Once you get above about 7/10 on the volume, the speakers are taking a hit. I know there's people that will disagree with me and they went to some school etc....But....Clipping kills Voice coils thanks to all the heat generated. Long story short. I'd rather have a head that "Too Powerful for the Cabinets" than one that's not powerful enough.

Also, There's cables for Guitars and then there's cables for Speakers. Shielded Vs. Unshielded. The wrong Cable can damage equipment.

Yes! D/C Voltage will fry speakers. Immediately check your head for D/C voltage "Bleeding" into the signal. Let an expert check it all out for you.

[Downunderwonder]

Either you're clueless what a distressed speaker sounds like, or the amp is faulty.

[B-string]

Um.......check your facts, the "signal" sent to the speaker IS AC. It is DC offset you don't want from the amps output.

A very thin gauge "un-shielded" cable is every bit as dangerous as a shielded cable for an amps output to speaker cab.

[NYCbassist]

Originally Posted by B-string

Um.......check your facts, the "signal" sent to the speaker IS AC. It is DC offset you don't want from the amps output.

A very thin gauge "un-shielded" cable is every bit as dangerous as a shielded cable for an amps output to speaker cab.

I stand corrected! Change made. My main point is that OP really needs an Amp tech to check it. When it happened to me there was an obvious hum and I just didn't react quickly enough.

[Munjibunga]

Originally Posted by B-string

Um.......check your facts, the "signal" sent to the speaker IS AC. It is DC offset you don't want from the amps output.

A very thin gauge "un-shielded" cable is every bit as dangerous as a shielded cable for an amps output to speaker cab.

Which is why I use ProCo Guardian Fat Max 8-gauge speaker cables.

[Bassmec]

Originally Posted by NYCbassist

A weak head is worse than a Head with tons of power. Once you get above about 7/10 on the volume, the speakers are taking a hit. I know there's people that will disagree with me and they went to some school etc....But....Clipping kills Voice coils thanks to all the heat generated. Long story short. I'd rather have a head that "Too Powerful for the Cabinets" than one that's not powerful enough.

Also, There's cables for Guitars and then there's cables for Speakers. Shielded Vs. Unshielded. The wrong Cable can damage equipment.

Yes! D/C Voltage will fry speakers. Immediately check your head for D/C voltage "Bleeding" into the signal. Let an expert check it all out for you.

So the clipping of a hard driven amplifier is very different to the clipping of an overdrive circuit you say. That's the only quasi scientific information, I as an engineer, I can deduce from what you have written.
Can you explain how your voice coil would be overheated by clipping a power stage and not damaged by a pre amplifier stage being clipped by the same percentage of harmonic distortion.
I put it to you that, short of a faulty amplifier the only difference can be the level of the clipped signal.
Therefore the only scientific difference in what melted the voice coil
Is heat due to power in watts.
Why are you not understanding the only variable here, or does your bass guitar only output a very simplistic waveform like a sine wave.
I know it doesn't.

[OJackson]

I own 2 of the Goldline 500 heads to power 16 Ten inch speakers. It does that in spades. The GL 500 output is underated. The GLX 15 in speakers are not recommented to used with the GL 500 head that was designed for it. I blew out two cabs before reading the manuel's warning. It will heat up the speakers a little and blow out your eardrums. Standing in front of the cabs is like being in front of a fan because the air is really pushed. I have the MK 500, SWR 400, SWR 750 heads and none of them can match the output of the GL head. I don't know what happen cause many of these heads had problems when they first came out but the ones I have will go down in talkbass walls as one of the best low priced hi output amps ever. I can back this up. You might need some real bass cabs.

[two fingers]

At this point, here's what I would do.

1. Get the head checked out. Too many unanswered questions even for the really smart and generous guys here. (And I mean that. You won't find any more qualified or helpful people on the interwebs than I have found here.) And too many variables to diagnose from a distance.

2. Bring whatever information the tech gives you back here and start the process over.

[skunky33]

Originally Posted by Bassmec

Are you quite sure you have the right sort of speaker rig for your amp, if you like a bit of distortion you might not be hearing when the cab is getting quite uncomfortable.
This is a rather nice little combo:

as in combination of the right size speakers for the job in hand.

I hope this is meant to be funny...lol

[ejmy]

Turn it down a little, cause after you fixed the cabs issues, it's your hearing that will give you problems. And that is hard to fix.

[skunky33]

It just sounds like you've been very unlucky. I've been using a late 1980's SWR SM-400 on and off since the early 90's and the only thing I ever needed was to replace the preamp tube a couple times and I've played it out at least 100 times. For reliability, I'd go with old SWRs and Ampegs. I always seem to be pulling those out of the closet when the new stuff fails.

[skunky33]

It just sounds like you've been very unlucky. I've been using a late 1980's SWR SM-400 on and off since the early 90's and the only thing I ever needed was to replace the preamp tube a couple times and I've played it out at least 100 times. For reliability, I'd go with old SWRs and Ampegs. I always seem to be pulling those out of the closet when the new stuff fails.

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by NYCbassist

A weak head is worse than a Head with tons of power. Once you get above about 7/10 on the volume, the speakers are taking a hit. I know there's people that will disagree with me and they went to some school etc....But....Clipping kills Voice coils thanks to all the heat generated. Long story short. I'd rather have a head that "Too Powerful for the Cabinets" than one that's not powerful enough.

If the clip doesn't exceed the power handling of the cab, then it will not be any more damaging to the cab than a clean sound. I've taken a 25w amp and turned it up all the way in a cab rated for about 10x what the head could put out, and nothing ever happened to it.

Yes! D/C Voltage will fry speakers. Immediately check your head for D/C voltage "Bleeding" into the signal. Let an expert check it all out for you.

Actually, I think he just believed the bogus power handling quote of the Goldlines, and kept turning it up and up till it blew. Goldline cabs are cheap crap, to be quite honest with the OP.

Here's a little rule of thumb I go by...if your cab sounds like it's going to explode, it will, regardless of what the manufacturer tells you is its power handling. Use your EARS and not your eyes.

[obimark]

Let me ask the obvious- HOW HARD DO YOU PLAY? Do you beat the crap out of the strings, do you pop and slap HARD, do you get over-aggressive with a pick?

Or do you have a light-touch and play harder for emphasis?

YOu could easily blow most bass cabinets if you beat the crap out of say even that 3rd and 5th fret on your b-string at moderate volume...

[chadds]

Originally Posted by obimark

Let me ask the obvious- HOW HARD DO YOU PLAY? Do you beat the crap out of the strings, do you pop and slap HARD, do you get over-aggressive with a pick?

Or do you have a light-touch and play harder for emphasis?

YOu could easily blow most bass cabinets if you beat the crap out of say even that 3rd and 5th fret on your b-string at moderate volume...

Turn the amp up and play gently. You can play hard or soft and protect your hands so you can play well as an older bassist. Your music will have dynamics.

[obimark]

Amen, exactly my point. Your playing style if too hard can blow speaker cabinets easily.

My old(er) fingers just need to lightly touch the strings 90% of the time, and lightly weild my pick 90%- the other 10% i dig in a bit more for accented pieces.

[Munjibunga]

While we technically haven't been lownered, I believe we're now posting in an orphan thread.