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Head to use with avatar 4x10

Basscat125

Basscat125

Aug 3, 2010
224
9
Glasgow, Scotland.
Disclosures
none yet
#1
Hey,
I am purchasing an avatar 4x10 eminence speaker cab for 200Euro and was wojndering what haed to buy for it?
Its my first cab so im inexpierienced but i know about the ohms and that sort of thing.
Any tips and help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Basscat125
 
#2
Basscat125 said:
Hey,
I am purchasing an avatar 4x10 eminence speaker cab for 200Euro and was wojndering what haed to buy for it?
Its my first cab so im inexpierienced but i know about the ohms and that sort of thing.
Any tips and help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Basscat125
Click to expand...

I run a GK MB2-500 head into my two, 8 ohm, Avatar 210 Neo cabs...
LOVE this rig!
LOUD 'n' full, with more power than I've been able to use in a loud, 6 pcs., country/rock group.
From what I've seen here at the T.B. forum, Avatar cabinets seem to work very well with just about every manufacturer's head.
 
#3
shoot-r said:
I run a GK MB2-500 head into my two, 8 ohm, Avatar 210 Neo cabs...
LOVE this rig!
LOUD 'n' full, with more power than I've been able to use in a loud, 6 pcs., country/rock group.
From what I've seen here at the T.B. forum, Avatar cabinets seem to work very well with just about every manufacturer's head.
Click to expand...
Right but i dont understand are there certain heads I cant run through it? terms of ohm,wattage and that sort of thing.
 
#7
Basscat125 said:
Right but i dont understand are there certain heads I cant run through it? terms of ohm,wattage and that sort of thing.
Click to expand...

I'm not aware of any manufacturers head that wouldn't be capable of driving your Avatar cabinet.
My GK MB2-500 is...
350 watts at 8 ohms. (One of my cabs.)
500 watts at 4 ohms. (Both of my cabs.)
With a total output of 580 watts at 4 ohms.
The GK MB into my two 210 Avatars, (stacked as a vertical 410), sounds huge and full with lots of cut on a busy stage.

I've seen threads here on T.B. where players have matched Ashdown's, Ampeg tube or S.S., Genz Benz 6.0's...9.0's...Streamliner's...,Trace's, Peavey's, Hartke's, Gallien-Krueger 400RB's...MB 200's...500's...800RB's...700RB's...1001's, Fender's Rumble heads, Markbass LM II's...LM III's, and one player that was running his Walter Wood into a Avatar 210, ect., ect.

At one time you could buy through Avatar, Ashdown bass heads to power their bass cabs, at present your can get a Genz Benz 6.0 or 9.0 or Streamliner heads direct from Avatar.

How many cabs you can run with whatever head you decide on will depend on what the ohmage of your cabinet is.
 
#9
As long as the amp's ohm output matches the cab's ohm input, AND the amp's power output doesn't exceed the cab's rating, any head you want (and can afford) will work just fine.

You might want to think ahead a bit tho...if you eventually want to have two cabs, each cab should be rated for 8 ohms, since two 8 ohm cabs make a 4 ohm load in total.
 
#12
Basscat125 said:
its 8ohm.
so I can use anything but ampeg right?
thanks guys help much appreciated.
Cheers,
Basscat125
Click to expand...

If you went with Ampeg's new solid state PF 500 head you'd get 300 watts output with your 8 ohm cab.
Later, if you need more coverage and volume you could add another 8 ohm 410 and get the heads full 500 watts.
If you want this heads full out-put with one cab you'll have to go with a 4 ohm cabinet.

The Ampeg SVT CL, VR, and SVT Heritage is set-up for 4 ohm or 2 ohm operation.
With a CL you'll have to have "two" 8 ohm cabinets or "one" 4 ohm cabinet for it's 4 ohm load, or "four" 8 ohm cabinets or "two" 4 ohm cabinets for it's 2 ohm load.
 
#15
I don't know if you want opinions on what is the best head to use with an Avavtar in terms of tone because that is totaly subjective and you will get 100 different opinions and it won't be very helpful.

I think what you are asking is this:

It doesn't mattter what head you run through it. The wattage of the heads output will be based on the ohm rating of your cabinet.

If your cabinet is 8 ohm and it rated at 1000 watts then theoreticly you can put a 1000 watts into the cabinet safely it will perform the way it was designed to perform. The problem here is that you never really know how the mfg. came up with that number. I really don't worry too much about that rated number. Also there are always exceptions to everything.

If you look at the output rating of the head it will usually have a max advertised output @ 4 ohms however there are some heads rated to go to 2ohms for their max output. Carvin and Peavey come to mind. If your cabinet is an 8 ohm cabinet then the actual output of the head will be about half of the advertised maximum output. There are some exceptions to this with solid state heads and that lower output may vary a bit but it will be around 50 to 60 percent lower then the output @ 4 ohms. An all tube head that will put out the same wattage at 16, 8 and 4 ohms. You just need to tell the head what ohm load its hooking up to by setting the switch on the back of it. You just don't want to overpower the cabinet by using a head that puts out significantly more wattage than the cabinet was deisgned for. This means if you hook up up a head that puts out 700 watts at 8 ohms to an 8 ohm cabinet thats rated at 300 watts. You could potentially have a problem and melt the voice coil, over extend the driver etc.

So again. It doesn't matter what head you use. The 4x10 Avatars are rated at 1000 watts. Very few amps on the market put out 1000 watts @ 8 ohms. So don't worry too much and pick a head that sounds good to you and go play.
 

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