Advice on Custom TNT 100 Adjustment

[Dovleac]

Hello,

So I have a weird one for you guys today. I'm not a cab/amp expert, but after some advice and help, I've had my TNT 100 connected to an external head.

The head is a Peavey MiniMega RMS 1000 Watt head.

1 Old head wires were disconnected.
2 New wires were connected to a jack sticking out the back of the amp.
3 Speaker cable runs from back to head. The head has an adapter for one of the ports, but maybe isn't necessary.
4 Gain is only a pinch high, and the volume is about 1.5, and it's nice and loud. Knobs are mostly turned up on guitar with the gain just above half.

This was all done and it can go back to normal any time, but I've heard that if I have a 4 Om head and an 8 om speaker, the speaker might act as a resistance to the head and that could result in blowing the head.

I've been told it shouldn't be too bad as long as the gain doesn't go above 4-5, and to use the master volume, which protects the speaker.

I don't know a lot, the damage is done so to speak but it seems to be working fine.

It also has a headphone jack for normal headphones, do I have to keep it plugged into a load/the speaker when using headphones, or is it safe not to?

I know I should have done research before doing this but it seemed ok for the time being until I get a 1000 watt compatible cab.

Thanks for reading.

 

[sears]

careful not to blow the speaker!

 

[Al Kraft]

That head IIRC is 4 Ohm capable and when you connect an 8 Ohm speaker load to it all that will happen is that the head will not put out the full 4 Ohm rated power (1000watts)...it drops to around 700 Watts I think. There is no problem for the head to run into an 8 Ohm load. The big concern here is that even at with the lower output power that head can easily damage that speaker. The TNT speakers were meant to work with an amplifier output that was more than an order of magnitude less.

 

[Dovleac]

That head IIRC is 4 Ohm capable and when you connect an 8 Ohm speaker load to it all that will happen is that the head will not put out the full 4 Ohm rated power (1000watts)...it drops to around 700 Watts I think. There is no problem for the head to run into an 8 Ohm load. The big concern here is that even at with the lower output power that head can easily damage that speaker. The TNT speakers were meant to work with an amplifier output that was more than an order of magnitude less.

I was worried that maybe the power being pushed back would cause damage, but that's good to know, thank you. I'm not looking to crank the gain by any means.

Yeah the TNT 100 head is only 45 watts, and the 15" speaker is a normal thing, it's not a black widow or a scorpion. The TNT 130 and 150s are actually 130 and 150 Om heads but the 100 isn't. Not sure of the 115.

I just don't know what the speaker limit is. I've turned the gain up to about 3 and I hear a little distortion, so I turn it back down on the head and use the guitar gain, and it quits making that noise. Even at a gain of 1 on the head, if I turn the master volume up to half, it is very loud.

 

[Al Kraft]

I was worried that maybe the power being pushed back would cause damage, but that's good to know, thank you. I'm not looking to crank the gain by any means.

Yeah the TNT 100 head is only 45 watts, and the 15" speaker is a normal thing, it's not a black widow or a scorpion. The TNT 130 and 150s are actually 130 and 150 Om heads but the 100 isn't. Not sure of the 115.

I just don't know what the speaker limit is. I've turned the gain up to about 3 and I hear a little distortion, so I turn it back down on the head and use the guitar gain, and it quits making that noise. Even at a gain of 1 on the head, if I turn the master volume up to half, it is very loud.

I am quite familiar with the TNT100 as it was my very first bass rig and served me well for many years. Trust me when I tell you that the speaker is truly in a high risk situation.

My advice would be to get an appropriate cab ASAP and not play the head through the TNT100. I'm not sure what the speaker was actually rated for, but I am 100% certain it was less than what your head can produce even with minimal EQ and at low volume.

 

[Dovleac]

I am quite familiar with the TNT100 as it was my very first bass rig and served me well for many years. Trust me when I tell you that the speaker is truly in a high risk situation.

My advice would be to get an appropriate cab ASAP and not play the head through the TNT100. I'm not sure what the speaker was actually rated for, but I am 100% certain it was less than what your head can produce even with minimal EQ and at low volume.

I'll take your word, thank you for the quick replies. I'll go ahead and get the speaker hooked back to the regular head and look for a different cab. Thanks again.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I am quite familiar with the TNT100 as it was my very first bass rig and served me well for many years. Trust me when I tell you that the speaker is truly in a high risk situation.

My advice would be to get an appropriate cab ASAP and not play the head through the TNT100. I'm not sure what the speaker was actually rated for, but I am 100% certain it was less than what your head can produce even with minimal EQ and at low volume.

Spot on!

 

[Element Zero]

I'll take your word, thank you for the quick replies. I'll go ahead and get the speaker hooked back to the regular head and look for a different cab. Thanks again.

Quite refreshing for someone who doesn’t know much about their gear, to ask questions, get first hand experience from people, and follow through with the advice given. Cheers and welcome to TalkBass!!!

 

[agedhorse]

Quite refreshing for someone who doesn’t know much about their gear, to ask questions, get first hand experience from people, and follow through with the advice given. Cheers and welcome to TalkBass!!!

Agreed, and it’s refreshing not to encounter attitude too!

 

[MultiScaleMale]

OMG, someone actually took advice and didn't tell everyone they're idiots?? Did I go to bizarro world TB today? (checking the URL)

 

[agedhorse]

OMG, someone actually took advice and didn't tell everyone they're idiots?? Did I go to bizarro world TB today? (checking the URL)

Just note that this usually doesn't happen until after the OP starts with the attitude and disrespectful replies.

 

[Dovleac]

I've reconnected the speaker to the original head, it's working just fine.

Went ahead and scored a BAG END Q10BX-D
https://bagend.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Q10BX-D.pdf

Got it for $330. Sticker on the back still says $999. This thing is CRAZY, and it works great, so loud and clear. I keep the gain below 5, and if I turn the master volume up past half you're talking insane loud. Says it's 8oms with 800 Watts continuous and 1600 program.

My Peavey MiniMega goes so good with this.
https://peavey.com/ItemFiles/Manual/118729_34229.pdf

I'm giving the TNT to someone who has decided to begin learning bass guitar. I don't know the speaker capacity, and there was no sticker on it. Kind of a generic 15. Anyway the TNT is a great beginner amp I think. Nice cabinet build too.

I was told that if I got a single 200 Watt 15" and connected it from the Bag End, that would bring out the full 1000 watts from the head. I might give that a shot.
Maybe this: https://bagend.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/ta15-c.pdf
or something to that effect.

Currently playing an Ibanez GSR205FM 5-string Bass - Amber Burst.
GSR205 | SR | ELECTRIC BASSES | PRODUCTS | Ibanez guitars

 

[6thplanet]

Dang, that's a pretty bitchin cab ya got there! Rock on

 

[Jaco who?]

Went ahead and scored a BAG END Q10BX-D
Says it's 8oms with 800 Watts continuous and 1600 program.

My Peavey MiniMega goes so good with this.

I was told that if I got a single 200 Watt 15" and connected it from the Bag End, that would bring out the full 1000 watts from the head.

You were misinformed.

That's not quite how it works - Your MiniMega puts out 1000 watts at 4Ω. With two 8Ω cabs, you'll have 500 watts PER speaker. It splits the power in half. The power handling rating of each speaker is only that - how much power they can handle. Ideally, you want each cab to be able to handle 500 watts.

 

[Dovleac]

You were misinformed.

That's not quite how it works - Your MiniMega puts out 1000 watts at 4Ω. With two 8Ω cabs, you'll have 500 watts PER speaker. It splits the power in half. The power handling rating of each speaker is only that - how much power they can handle. Ideally, you want each cab to be able to handle 500 watts.

Ok that makes sense.

 

[Dovleac]

You were misinformed.

That's not quite how it works - Your MiniMega puts out 1000 watts at 4Ω. With two 8Ω cabs, you'll have 500 watts PER speaker. It splits the power in half. The power handling rating of each speaker is only that - how much power they can handle. Ideally, you want each cab to be able to handle 500 watts.

I thought maybe it split my speaker directly in half but everyone I spoke to said it should still be operating at about 700 watts. I've heard if I connect another 8Ω it will make both speakers 4Ω. Do you guys think it's running at 400 watts or 700?

Thanks again.

 

[Jaco who?]

Your MiniMega puts out 700 watts at 8Ω, and 1000 watts at 4Ω. If you add another 8Ω cab it doesn't "make both speakers 4Ω" - a better way to look at it is the cabs are still 8Ω, but the amp is then operating at 4Ω. With your BagEnd cab by itself, the amp is operating at 8Ω, so it puts out 700 watts. Understand better?

There are some stickies at the top of the page on this, if you care to read through quite a bit of banter to get to the gist of it all.

 

[Wild Rice Chris]

Adding a single 8 ohm 15" to your 8 ohm 4x10" will yield 4 ohms total, and your amp will split 1000 watts between the two cabs evenly. The 15" will receive 500 watts, each of the 10" speakers will receive 125 watts. Not a safe situation for the 15" and the 4x10" won't be performing at full potential.