100 watts at 8ohm, 160 at 4ohm

As long as the wattage rating of the cab is above the power output of head at that impedance you're fine. There's no such thing as under powering a cab.

 

You just take a amp which wattage is small or equal the cabs .Of course that need the impedances are match.

 

the power of amp,it mean the amp can push how many energy ,and the power of cab mean it can accept the most watt of energy.so in the same impedances ,cab's power better no smaller than the amp's power

 

in other side ,if the cab's impedances is larger than amp, amp will sent less watt,else if the cab's impedances is less than amp ,the amp will sent more watt.so if the impedances of cab and amp are no match,it will become more difficult to analye

 

I'm not sure which specific Marshall heads you're referring to, but a 15 watt Marshall can power 8x12"s 'better' (i.e. louder) than it can a single 12"! Many people seem to think that more speakers need more power, when the opposite is true(r) - more speakers means more surface area which means greater sensitivity (loudness per watt). Your 160W amp through an 8x10" fridge would probably be great for small gigs (the Ampeg V4B through such a cab gets plenty of love here and it's just 100W!), where the same 160W amp through, say, a 2x10 might struggle.

This is part of the reason why the SVT, with its lowly (by modern standards) 300W output, is regarded as legendarily powerful - it's traditionally paired with a huge 8x10 cab!

 

Truth #14 - You can safely use any amp with any cab, regardless of power ratings, but if you hear distortion or farting, turn down the volume or the bass knob.

from: http://barefacedbass.com/technical-information/mythbusters1.htm

 

Great information.

 

Which cabinet(s) are you contemplating using?

 

Hendrix used 100W heads. They weren't modified. Just cranked up into 2 4x12 cabs, and he used multiple stacks.

Cheers!

 

As others have pointed out, this is an error. In general, you can use low power amplifiers to drive any speakers as long as the impedance limits of the amplifier are observed. N.B., I did not say a low power amplifier will be loud.

 

If that's in Wikipedia, it's WAY wrong. In 1969, the big boys were the Super Lead (model 1959) and Super Bass (model 1992), both rated at 100W, but when driven into distortion could easily put out over 150W. There were 50w versions of those amps as well - model 1986 for bass, model 1987 for lead. There were also tremolo versions of the lead amps with a "T" on end of the model number (1987T, 1959T). Marshall had other amps available at that time, with different power ratings, but those were the big 6 if, you will. Jimi definitely used 100w Lead amps (I don't know Jimi's history 100%, but in '69 he likely had Super Leads, but he might have still been using earlier 100W heads known as JTM45/100. Either way, it was always 100w lead heads into 2 4x12 cabs, and multiple full stacks cranked up).

Cheers!