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How Gnarly will my Tone Be? *SUNN Content

#24
edbass said:
??? This is 150 watts, and cranked up it will "gnarl" your face off...
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Gee. Sorry to upset you, pal. You didn't notice the smilies and the rest of my post. N.B., I said the Diesel he has needs more power to open up to it's full extent. Fine—you missed that. Might I point out that the OP's mesa is a 4 ohm 215 rated at 800 watts, IIRC. Do you think his cabinet is as efficient as a Sunn JLB-equipped cabinet? Could his Diesel handle more than 150 watts?

Not that I want to get into this or anything, but I have used a 2000s with two cabs many times. I'll take the rig I have. Glad you are as happy with yours as I am with mine.
 
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#25
"Oh looks someone's thread about there stuff. Time to mention my stuff how my stuff is better because I don't understand watts aren't loudness or sensitivity."

Modern cabs cab be more efficient than old ones, because speakers and cabinet design have got better. For purposes of being gnarley, which those SS Sunns can very much be cranked, you want to aim for a cab with bright cones, upper mid bump, make the most of those distortion harmonics. Gotta strike the balance between being too bright and obnoxious though, playing in a band with cymbals playing makes that less bad than it might initially seem.
 
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#26
Perhaps someone can be bothered researching the measured sensitivity of the Mesa Diesel 800 watt 215 4 ohm cab or at least its drivers?

I am pretty familiar with Mesa gear. Sensitivity has not generally been their thing with cabs. Note the 400+ tube heads of the same era as the Mesa Diesel. :cool:
 
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#29
My 810e handles 800 watts rms, yet has a pretty high sensitivity (100db). I guess because it's a giant mofo. It's loud as * with a 100 watt amp, yet it's not even close to its power handling limit. Do I care? Not a bit.
 
#30
Jim Carr said:
No doubt. Mesa claimed 500 watts in product literature, hahaha!

Invalid Link Removed
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Mesa is always a little optimistic with how they rate tube amps.


middy said:
My 810e handles 800 watts rms, yet has a pretty high sensitivity (100db). I guess because it's a giant mofo. It's loud as * with a 100 watt amp, yet it's not even close to its power handling limit. Do I care? Not a bit.
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That actually isn't very sensitive for such a large cab.
 
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#31
Jim Carr said:
Perhaps someone can be bothered researching the measured sensitivity of the Mesa Diesel 800 watt 215 4 ohm cab or drivers....
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Ha ha—quoting myself! At 55 dB SPL per driver with standard measure, it looks like the EVM 15L drivers in the Mesa Diesel are fairly low efficiency compared to say the K140, which is 98 dB SPL, or the Kappalite 3015LF, which is 98.4 dB SPL, or the Faital 15P400 with 100 dB SPL.

Obviously the cabinets have a big effect, and not all those drivers are full range, but it is safe to say there is a high likelihood that a 4 ohm 800 watt 215 Mesa Diesel likes power, which was my only point. Apologies to Angry, Grumpy, and Whiny, (etc.), fellow TBers. Just ignore me as I do you. :smug:
 
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#32
Jim Carr said:
But seriously, assuming your Mesa Diesel is a 4 ohm cabinet, and that you have the 800, not the 400 watt version, you are not going to have enough power to take full advantage of your cabinet—unless total distort. If that doesn't matter, gnarl away, Brah—I mean, Dude!
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I'm sorry, maybe I've totally missed something, but as far as I'm aware "having enough power to take full advanatge of your cabinet" doesn't make any sense, unless you're trying to drivce the speakers into distortion as well. Maybe I'm just misinterpreting what you meant here, but it sounds really similar to the "under powering" arguement. I just want to make sure that's not the "issue" being trotted out here.
 
#33
@D.M.N. — Sorry for my lack of clarity. All I meant is that the cabinet is capable of more volume with clean tone, if given more clean power. Or even more dirt with more power. Not that one has to do it. Not saying it won't be loud. Not saying it will break anything other than the head might expire due to age. OK?
 
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#34
CL400Peavey said:
That actually isn't very sensitive for such a large cab.
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Right, the only reason it's as sensitive as it is, is because of sheer size. My point was that it's plenty loud with a 100 watt amp, even though it's not close to its power handling limit.

Could I achieve the same volume with a much smaller and more efficient rig? Yes. Do I care? Nope. Why do you?
 
#35
I think it will get pretty loud as it is loaded with EV's. It's not one of those Acme-type cabs that needs crazy wattage to get volume up. I have been running a Music Man HD 150 in to an old Trace 2x15 setup, and it gets quite loud.
 
#36
middy said:
Right, the only reason it's as sensitive as it is, is because of sheer size. My point was that it's plenty loud with a 100 watt amp, even though it's not close to its power handling limit.

Could I achieve the same volume with a much smaller and more efficient rig? Yes. Do I care? Nope. Why do you?
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I don't care what you play. That said the OP should understand the capabilities of his rig, and not get blind sided by the Sunn badge.

higain617 said:
I think it will get pretty loud as it is loaded with EV's. It's not one of those Acme-type cabs that needs crazy wattage to get volume up. I have been running a Music Man HD 150 in to an old Trace 2x15 setup, and it gets quite loud.
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Have the speakers been confirmed as EV's?
 
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