xXColaXx said:
Yeah. Slam is my friends band. They were doing a benefit and this little kid wanted to sing so I flipped on the camcorder.
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Head/Cab Suggestions and Advice
- Thread starter xXColaXx
- Start date
Yeah. Slam is my friends band. They were doing a benefit and this little kid wanted to sing so I flipped on the camcorder.
xXColaXx said:
Custard pie is my guitarist's led zep side project. The other ones are me. 8pc top 40 project and a band I was in covering a mr big tune.
xXColaXx said:
To get the most out of it, a 4 ohm cab will give you the full watts or if you think you need two cabs make sure they are 8 ohm cabs, most are. You can use. One 8 ohm cab and be fine too. That's what I use.
Alright, sounds good. So other than ohms there isn't anything else that would stop the cab from working with the head?
When the cab has a wattage rating, is that how much it uses, or it's limit? Say a 250w cab using a 500 watt head, will it blow the cab or will it only use 250 watts and work fine as long as it is the right ohms?
That's its thermal limit, the point at which it will suffer irreversible damage if subjected to that power for long enough. Most speakers will start to sound like warmed up shite at about half that (and some never sound very good!), so you need to pay attention and turn down the volume and/or your bass frequencies when it starts to complain.
You can blow a 250 W speaker with a 500 W head, and you can blow a 500 W speaker with a 250 W head.
xXColaXx said:
I think you are over thinking the whole process. Unless you are playing on 10 you should be fine. My ampeg cab said 200 watts and the head was rated a 500 watts and I never had any issues. I never needed my amplifier past 3. Just pick what your ears tell you and be sensible with with that volume knob. Remember, buying gear is supposed to be fun!
Being this paranoid will make you safe. As you add loudness be aware of the effect on the tone. Does it get louder politely or does it start to distort? I can easliy get my 200 W cab to sound like arse at "1/3rd" when the amp is only about 180W at the 8 ohm loading. Just crank those lows. Or don't, and your speaker will live!
Having an amp that isn't rated for twice the output that the cab can handle gives you better odds though. Also, be aware that 1/3 on the master may be 3/4 of the available output. The attenuator is frequently very non linear.
Jeez, this sure is alot to take in. Is this one of those situations where I will KNOW when I am obviously doing something wrong? Pretty much here is the hypothetical.
I get the Hartke LH500 and I need to get a cab. I find a cab on craigslist that I am interested in. When looking at the cab, how can I be sure that the LH500 won't be too much for it but also will handle good volumes in a live setting without cause permanent damage?
I get the Hartke LH500 and I need to get a cab. I find a cab on craigslist that I am interested in. When looking at the cab, how can I be sure that the LH500 won't be too much for it but also will handle good volumes in a live setting without cause permanent damage?
The more speakers you have, the louder you get, and with less chance of damaging them (as your power output is divided amongst them). How loud you need to be depends entirely on your own situation. For a "typical" (if such a thing exists) 3 or 4 piece band playing standard rock-type stuff, a 410 (or better still, 2 x 210s stacked vertically) with that head is plenty, especially if you have PA support.
In all settings, with all rigs, though, you still have to listen to what's going on -- as has been said several times, you'll sound bad before you do damage.
If I get a 4x10 cab I would eventually like to add in a 1x15. By doing this, would it make it, for lack of a better term "safer" than just using the 4x10. Also, out of curiosity, why would 2 2x10 be better than a 4x10? Is it because each would handle wattage output separately as opposed to it all going to a 4x10?
Just because stacking the speakers vertically gets them closer to your ears, and improves horizontal dispersion, so more of the stage and the audience can hear your mids and highs, rather than just your bass.
Also read about mixing driver sizes -- there's a good "real world" description of what happens in a current thread here (called something like "Oh my, 15s, 12s, 10s" or thereabouts).
OH, ok I see what you mean there. I found that thread and posted a question there, which I am sure I have many others. Thanks for the direction! I have seen a lot of bassists do the 4x10 on a 1x15, such as Victor Wooten, so that is what gave me the idea.
