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800 watt head into a 500 watt cab?

Yeah---the funny thing with tweeters are that the car stereo ones always have silly bogus ratings of 150 or 200 watts. That's enough highs to kill animals and have the dogs barking 100 miles away. As Andy says----in a HIGH power system the tweet is unlikely to see over 25 watts. You look at the prosound tweets and they are rated between 15 and 60 watts, typically. I wish that I could say that such "creative" marketing like with the car tweets doesn't exist in bass gear, but unfortunately it does.
 
Mike - I'm saying that different players have a different concept of what reasonable is, what common sense is, and when a speaker is past it's limits. I do in fact see the results of such "miscalculations". You have a better or more realistic concept than many players, but I feel that it's important to help folks understand that real world limitations do exist and tgey are not obvious to every player.
 
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Is this just asking for trouble? I really want what the Mesa D800+ offers, but the wattage is very high. I was hoping if I went with this head I could run it into a single cab, but I don't want to risk blowing speakers and there are very few cabs available that can handle an 800 watt head by themselves (the only one I have found is the Orange Smart Power 4x10 rated at over 1,000 watts, but very expensive).

Do you know how loud 800 watts is? If you want to fill the room then a 500 watt amp into 2 good cabs will work. I have to wear ear plugs with 500 watts at half power into my 2 Barefaced cabs.

You want a bullet proof rig for a D800+? Get 2 Subway cabs. Get 2 Barefaced cabs. 2 smaller cabs (112's, 115's, 210's) are as good and easier to manage than 1 bigger cab, especially a 410.

I've used several 800 watt and 900 watt amps in the past and I always played at the same volume I played through my 500 watt amps. That's as loud as I needed to go. You get more headroom and possibly a better tone with 800 watts running at half power. You don't drive your car at full speed every time you go out so you don't/shouldn't run your amp flat out either.

If you really want to use a full 800 watts you should be buying a bigger amp than that and several big cabs. Oh, and some very good ear plugs.
 
If I was to choose a single cab for the Mesa D600+ right now, it would be the Orange OBC410. It's rated at 600 watts and is an 8 ohm cab:

OBC410 4×10″ Bass Speaker Cabinet – Orange Amps

Ive got that cab. Its either driven with my my little Orange TB500 or my Ampeg Pro IV which is 1200 watts. Never had any problems with the Ampeg. If you buy the Orange cab, do yourself a favor and buy a dolly. That sucker is a beast to carry.
 
@BusyFingers .. the two Eden 112xlt's in my avatar.. I no longer have them, but they were rated at 250 watts each.. I ran a GL MB800 Into them, so each cab was getting roughly 400 watts each.. no issues


My fEARful 12/6, be it a different beast than the Eden cabs.. I've bridged 1200 watts into it.. it's amazing!

As it has been said, use your ears and common sense and all will be good
 
Is this just asking for trouble? I really want what the Mesa D800+ offers, but the wattage is very high. I was hoping if I went with this head I could run it into a single cab, but I don't want to risk blowing speakers and there are very few cabs available that can handle an 800 watt head by themselves (the only one I have found is the Orange Smart Power 4x10 rated at over 1,000 watts, but very expensive).

800 is into a 4 ohm load. If it's an 8 ohm cab you will be fine
 
Another concern is the misconception over amp power. Just because an amp is rated at a certain max power does not mean it's putting out that much the minute you plug it in. It's not! That D800+ isn't going to send 800 watts to your cab until you turn it up all the way, and THEN send a maximum strength signal to the input. If you're not cranked all the way, and digging in hard, you're not getting the full dose.

Thus, plug in, turn on with the gain and master down, as Andy and Mike have said, and gradually turn up, listening to your cab all the way. Don't take it on blind faith and wait until you're on stage to test your rig. Try it out before you've got 500 screaming fans out there.

Raf
 
Another concern is the misconception over amp power. Just because an amp is rated at a certain max power does not mean it's putting out that much the minute you plug it in. It's not! That D800+ isn't going to send 800 watts to your cab until you turn it up all the way, and THEN send a maximum strength signal to the input. If you're not cranked all the way, and digging in hard, you're not getting the full dose.

Thus, plug in, turn on with the gain and master down, as Andy and Mike have said, and gradually turn up, listening to your cab all the way. Don't take it on blind faith and wait until you're on stage to test your rig. Try it out before you've got 500 screaming fans out there.

Raf
MOST players will never hear their amp going full tilt. If they are, they needed a bigger amp.
 
Is this just asking for trouble? I really want what the Mesa D800+ offers, but the wattage is very high. I was hoping if I went with this head I could run it into a single cab, but I don't want to risk blowing speakers and there are very few cabs available that can handle an 800 watt head by themselves (the only one I have found is the Orange Smart Power 4x10 rated at over 1,000 watts, but very expensive).

As others have said, if you run the Mesa D800+ with an 8 ohm cab, you're "only" getting 400 watts anyway.

You'll be fine with an 8 ohm cab rated at 600.

If you want a 4 ohm cab rated at 800 watts, check out the GK CX410. I have one, and it's great. They make an 8 ohm and 4 ohm version, so if you end up getting one, check to make sure you're getting the right one.
 
I don't get it. I've was in a number of very loud rock bands back in the '70s when dinosaurs and monster backlines that included things like dual Marshall stacks, SVTs, 360s, and Sunn Colosseums ruled the world. Those were the days when insane drummers routinely got drowned out rather than the other way around.

I don't think I ever ran one of my amps above 12 o'clock during that entire time. So what's going on these days in the clubs that, despite more efficient cabs and all the improvements in technology - and now FOH support in many places - that 500-800 watts is considered the minimal number of gigging watts in many quarters?

"S'plain it to me Lucy."
 
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I don't get it. I've was in a number of very loud rock bands back in the '70s when dinosaurs and monster backlines that included things like dual Marshall stacks, SVTs, 360s, and Sunn Colosseums ruled the world. Those were the days when insane drummers routinely got drowned out rather than the other way around.

I don't think I ever ran one of my amps above 12 o'clock during that entire time. So what's going on these days in the clubs that, despite more efficient cabs and all the imrovements in technology - and now FOH support in many places - that 500-800 watts is considered the minimal number of gigging watts in many quarters?

"S'plain it to me Lucy."
Whaanh... But Ricky, Fred is too old to carry my 'fridge to the gig, and I like those cute little bass cabs. They just need a lot more power to be as loud.
 
I don't get it. I've was in a number of very loud rock bands back in the '70s when dinosaurs and monster backlines that included things like dual Marshall stacks, SVTs, 360s, and Sunn Colosseums ruled the world. Those were the days when insane drummers routinely got drowned out rather than the other way around.

I don't think I ever ran one of my amps above 12 o'clock during that entire time. So what's going on these days in the clubs that, despite more efficient cabs and all the imrovements in technology - and now FOH support in many places - that 500-800 watts is considered the minimal number of gigging watts in many quarters?

"S'plain it to me Lucy."
I don't get it either. I've never needed more than 500w. I've routinely gigged a 200w-250w amp with plenty of volume. Gotta be a rock thing. Just way too loud. Why even use a PA?
 
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Whaanh... But Ricky, Fred is too old to carry my 'fridge to the gig, and I like those cute little bass cabs. They just need a lot more power to be as loud.
What cabs would those be? Most cabs are very efficient these days and don't need a lot of watts to get loud. Oh, and that word 'headroom'.......I shake my head every time I hear/read it. Does one really need to be that loud?