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Can I make my rig louder without a new head?

#21
If you are practicing with a 350-Watt head cranked up to full, TURN EVERYONE DOWN! Even if you're not getting the full 350 out of that amp because it's rated 350W at 4 ohms, you do NOT need to practice that loud. That amp is rated at 200W at 8 ohms. I hope everyone is wearing hearing protection.

Yes, presuming your current cab is 8 ohms, you can add another cab - traditionally a single 15 - that's 8 ohms, and you will achieve two things:

1) Move more air because of more speaker surface area, and
2) Enable the amp to output its full 350 watts

But you do NOT need to do this for practice. You should be able to practice comfortably with your amp at 30% or so if everyone turns down.

If both cabs are 8 ohms, then each will get equal power from the amp - but if one cab is more efficient than the other in terms of output, then that more efficient cab will be louder than the other. I don't see that as a problem...you're going for more total sound. Personally, I recommend keeping the max power rating of cabs higher than the amp's output.

I'm not clear on details of how much power each cab gets when you drive two cabs - does someone want to clarify that?
 
#23
It kinda sounds like your current cabinet is rated at 4ohms, which invalidates most of what everyone has been telling you here. Everytime you add a cabinet you reduce the number of ohms - using 2 cabs with the same resistance will effectively cut it in half, meaning that 2 8ohm cabs = 4 ohms, and 2 4ohm cabs = 2 ohms. You have to make sure you are not going lower than your head is rated.

What this means in practical terms is that if your head's minimum load is 4ohms, which the majority are in my experience, you can use maximum 1 4ohm cabinet or 2 8ohm cabinet. So check your cabinet to find out whether it is 8 or 4ohm. If it is a 4ohm cabinet, your best bet may be to get rid of it and get 2 8ohm cabinets instead -- you will be getting the same wattage out of your head as both configurations are equal to 4ohms, and therefore will get the full 350W, but adding a second cabinet will make a big difference in overall volume.
 
#24
TrevorOfDoom said:
Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!!

if the lowest your head will go is 4 ohms, and your cab is 4 ohms, you're out of luck. DO NOT ADD ANOTHER CAB! you will blow up your head.
either sell the cab you have and get two 8 ohm cabs of whatever config you'd like, or get a more efficient 4 ohm cab.
Click to expand...

Agreed.

For reference, if you do get two 8 ohm cabs the total power (350W) will be split evenly between teh two cabs (175W each). This changes according to Ohm's law if the cabs are of different impedances.
 
#25
Here's free volume:

1. Tilt back the cab to aim at your ears. (Why make the sound waves bounce around the room before you hear them?)

2. Put the cab against the wall or in a corner. The low frequencies, which travel in every direction, will multiply. Imagine ripples in a pool. If they start in the Northwest corner, the energy sent north and west will join the energy going South and East. Now add in a floor to send the sound waves up and you've got low-frequency sound waves traveling in three dimensions.

3. Turn down the lowest frequencies. These eat up all your output and you can barely hear them anyway. Some cabs are designed to be loud by cutting these hard to hear frequencies. (If you're using the wall/corner method, they will be boosted anyway.)


Also note: The wattage rating on speakers isn't related to volume, but how much power they will take before overheating. Often, you can cut that number in half to estimate how much energy they will take before they stop getting louder. Past that point is distortion and heat.
 
#26
PSPookie said:
Agreed.

For reference, if you do get two 8 ohm cabs the total power (350W) will be split evenly between teh two cabs (175W each). This changes according to Ohm's law if the cabs are of different impedances.
Click to expand...

Thanks, PSPookie. Good detail to note.

I agree, if the OP's current cab is 4 ohms, then he is already getting everything possible out of that head and that cab. I believe his options would be to get another 4 ohm cab with (1) higher efficiency, or with (2) more speakers (the lovely Ampeg 8x10 or something back-breakingly similar). :eek:

The question that occurs to me is closely related to my first comments - if he can't be heard at practice with 350W into a 4-ohm 4x10, then I maintain the band is practicing MUCH too loud. For that matter, 350W is enough to perform at most venues, and if you need more for a large venue, isn't it time to look at whether they have a PA system that will support the bass?:eyebrow:
 
#28
I don't necessarily agree with this - I was having similar issues in practice with a single 2X10 running at 350W, mainly due to the drummer. It's just hard in most rehearsal rooms to get the drums comfortably low enough to avoid cranking things up a tad on the amps, though my band is slowly getting into the groove of reducing our volume. Now that we've got storage at our jam studio and I have both of my cabs running, I'm turned up to about 2.5 and plenty loud - which shows you how big a difference a second cab can make (not to mention the extra 250W, though most would say the extra cab is the majority of difference).
 
#40
::Saint:: said:
Wrong according to whom? I DIDN'T SEE YOUR SCIENTIFIC CREDENTIALS SIR!
Click to expand...

B.S. ISYE -- Georgia Institute of Technology

and yours?

Bass frequencies may apear to be relatively louder at a distance but that is due to environmental effects and not the result of some mystical property of LF propagation.

The SPL of any frequency will be proportional to the inverse of the square of the distance from the point source.
 

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