I recently bought the ampeg b4r to power my basson 4x10 which peaks at 1000 watts, also the apeg head also peaks at 1000 watts, but its not getting any louder than my 300 watt amp... Any opinions or advice would be a huge help
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Ampeg b4r seems to lack power please help
- Thread starter Anthony4string
- Start date
I have the same head. If you're only using one cab than the impedence is 8 ohms. In order to get the full power out of the amp you need to biamp it. push the biamp/full range button in and get a speakon to quarter inch cable and use speakon end and put it in the middle speaker out. You could use a speakon to speakon cable as well.
a side from doubting what the power is or isnt.^^^
truth is with one 8ohm cab with the amp not in mono operation the cab is only getting 200watts. if its in mono mode the one 8ohm cab should be getting around 700 watts. big difference.
truth is with one 8ohm cab with the amp not in mono operation the cab is only getting 200watts. if its in mono mode the one 8ohm cab should be getting around 700 watts. big difference.
What is your gain and master set on? What are your tone settings? Does this 300w amp get louder in the Basson cab than your B4R? Bassons are not real loud cabs. They go very deep and have speakers with gigantic magnets, so I would be surprised if a 300w amp could even make a dent in them. Basson's minimum power requirements for their cabs are bare minimums according to the speaker experts on here, and they require at least 750w for the 410.
So if the 300w amp in the Basson was as loud as the B4R in the Basson, that makes me think you might not have your gain up high enough to get full clean power out of it. Also, you don't get 1000w out of a B4R bridged at 8 ohms. The manual says you get 840w and 680w continuous...that means you only get 680w clean power.
You picked a very finicky speaker cab, and with what you've said it's tough to know what's going on for sure, but that may give you some ideas.
So if the 300w amp in the Basson was as loud as the B4R in the Basson, that makes me think you might not have your gain up high enough to get full clean power out of it. Also, you don't get 1000w out of a B4R bridged at 8 ohms. The manual says you get 840w and 680w continuous...that means you only get 680w clean power.
You picked a very finicky speaker cab, and with what you've said it's tough to know what's going on for sure, but that may give you some ideas.
Anthony there are a handful of reasons why your B4R isn't performing as you would like it to. I own one myself, and know the rear panel pretty well, so the advice im giving you is somewhat ligit lol.
So, youre only getting a minimal wattage output for a couple of reasons.
First off, the B4R is a bi-amp. This means that inside this model are two smaller amplifiers. When run through an 8 ohm cabinet WITHOUT the mono bridge switch enabled (which is located on the back of the B4R), you are recieving 205watts through only one of the amps inside the B4R, a pretty mediocre output. If you run it thorugh a 4ohm cabinet without the switch enabled (which is more powerful than an 8ohm. The less the ohm amount, the more powerful the cabinet.) the B4R is putting out 340 watts through one of the amplifiers. "Mono" means that you are using the power of both of the amps inside the B4R together as one, and that is why the output in 'Mono' is so high.
In order to get the power output you desire, make sure that the monobridge swich is ENABLED. Before you do this however, you need to buy a special speakon speaker cable. If you dont buy the cable, you can do ALOT of damage to the cabinet.
And also, if your cabinet is an 8 ohm, running 700 watts in mono should be just fine. However if your cab PEAKS at 1000watts @ 4 ohms, do not run the B4R mono bridged thorugh it. You never want to run output from an amp into a cab that peaks at the same output power. Always look to get a cab that runs in the ball-park of RMS to the output power.
For example:
A B2RE from ampeg runs 450watts at 4ohms. An ampeg BSE4x10 runs 400watts RMS, and peaks at 800 watts at 4 ohms. These two are perfect for each other. You would not want to run an 800 watt head that runs at 4ohm through the cab, even though the BSE 4x10 can "technically" handle the load. You will find that when you play with relatively high gain/volume, the cab with struggle and could potentially burn out.
Hope this was helpful, It is alot of information. The only reason I know all this is because I've used a HUGE varitey of amps and cabs, and I currently own the B4R myself. People aren't born knowing how to use this stuff, but if you search for the PDF file version of the B4R manual in google, that should help out
So, youre only getting a minimal wattage output for a couple of reasons.
First off, the B4R is a bi-amp. This means that inside this model are two smaller amplifiers. When run through an 8 ohm cabinet WITHOUT the mono bridge switch enabled (which is located on the back of the B4R), you are recieving 205watts through only one of the amps inside the B4R, a pretty mediocre output. If you run it thorugh a 4ohm cabinet without the switch enabled (which is more powerful than an 8ohm. The less the ohm amount, the more powerful the cabinet.) the B4R is putting out 340 watts through one of the amplifiers. "Mono" means that you are using the power of both of the amps inside the B4R together as one, and that is why the output in 'Mono' is so high.
In order to get the power output you desire, make sure that the monobridge swich is ENABLED. Before you do this however, you need to buy a special speakon speaker cable. If you dont buy the cable, you can do ALOT of damage to the cabinet.
And also, if your cabinet is an 8 ohm, running 700 watts in mono should be just fine. However if your cab PEAKS at 1000watts @ 4 ohms, do not run the B4R mono bridged thorugh it. You never want to run output from an amp into a cab that peaks at the same output power. Always look to get a cab that runs in the ball-park of RMS to the output power.
For example:
A B2RE from ampeg runs 450watts at 4ohms. An ampeg BSE4x10 runs 400watts RMS, and peaks at 800 watts at 4 ohms. These two are perfect for each other. You would not want to run an 800 watt head that runs at 4ohm through the cab, even though the BSE 4x10 can "technically" handle the load. You will find that when you play with relatively high gain/volume, the cab with struggle and could potentially burn out.
Hope this was helpful, It is alot of information. The only reason I know all this is because I've used a HUGE varitey of amps and cabs, and I currently own the B4R myself. People aren't born knowing how to use this stuff, but if you search for the PDF file version of the B4R manual in google, that should help out
Wow? I see continuous power 680 watts (what is continuous power?), mention of RMS power from an amp as compared to the thermal electrical power input rating of a speaker cab?
I need a beer.....
I need a beer.....
