SWR Triad

Progtastic · #1 05-12-2010, 08:39 PM

After playing with amps for several weeks, I finally bought this cab. I got a decent price, and warranty, I felt this was the best cab I had played through. (Compared to Ampegs, Mesas, Markbass, etc.)

I went to match a head to it, and found an SWR 550x for a good price. They sound great together, and I love the setup.

But one thing worries me, the triad is only rated at 400 watts, and the head is rated at 550 watts. It's okay for practice and home use, but at gigs I'm a little worried... The speakers move a lot much past noon on the volume, and much further and it gets a little muffled.

My question is: Is there anything I can do to make sure the head won't blow the speaker? Is it possible to rewire the cab to 8 ohms so it could handle it and then add another triad later?

Thanks dudes (and dudettes)

bass_lord_mutha · #2 05-12-2010, 09:09 PM

Nope, you're pretty much reaching your cab's max wattage and straining the voicecoils. You would do well to either run your volume at around 10 o'clock and run a DI line to your PA, or find a 350x or Bass 350 to replace your 550x.

Brad Johnson · #3 05-12-2010, 09:30 PM

There's a limit to what that cab can do and it's pretty easy to hear it when you're approaching it. I have one and it gets as loud as I need it with my Markbass LMII.

I have a friend who plays louder and more agrressively than me and he's blown up his drivers multiple times. Loves the cab but hates the blow-ups.

**IvanMike** · #4 05-12-2010, 11:27 PM

find out the wattage rating of the 15. IIRC it was 250 watts. treat the cab as a 250 watt cab. I love the sound of the triad, but they pop fifteens all the time. This isn't exactly a precise explanation, but the impedance of 4 ohms is from having an 8 ohm ten and an 8 ohm fifteen. the horn doesn't come into the equation. In a 400 watt 2x10, the wattage of the amp gets split between the two tens in all frequencies below the crossover point. In a three way cab like the triad, all of the bass signal after the 2nd crossover goes to the fifteen while the ten gets the mids. So in a non precise way, the fifteen gets all the watts your amp can put out at those frequencies - sorta.

FWIW, when eden made a similar cab with a 200 watt fifteen and a 150 watt ten they rated the cab at 200 watts.

Munjibunga · #5 05-12-2010, 11:53 PM

I think you'll be fine as long as you listen for distortion in the cab. If you hear distortion, turn it down a little.

kesslari · #6 05-13-2010, 12:09 AM

So outta curiousity - if you had one with a blown 15, and replaced it with a higher wattage 15 (assuming you found one where the Thiele parameters looked good for the cab) - would that increase the wattage capacity of the cab?

**IvanMike** · #7 05-13-2010, 12:14 AM

in theory yes

username1 · #8 05-13-2010, 07:14 AM

I used to run a seperate preamp and 800 watt power amp through my old triad. Never had a problem. Triads aren't overly efficient and need good power. Common sense in how much you are abusing your power will be what determines if you blow it.

Progtastic · #9 05-14-2010, 03:07 PM

Thanks guys.

Should I trade in the head and get a less powerful one, or trade in the Triad and get an 8ohm cab so I could grow?

Indiana Mike · #10 05-14-2010, 03:26 PM

I had a 350x with a triad.
I had the head almost dimed all the time and the limiter led on as well.
I would stay with the 550 and use common sense .
The 350 lacked IMO

rpsands · #11 05-14-2010, 03:58 PM

Stick with it as is, put a Kappalite 3015 in the Triad if it blows

Brad Johnson · #12 05-14-2010, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rpsands

Stick with it as is, put a Kappalite 3015 in the Triad if it blows

I have a friend who's blown up a couple of Kappa 10's and a Kappa Pro 15 in his so far. He's an aggressive player.