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Is my cab clipping?

#21
Best as I understand it, "clipping" is an pre-amp/amplifier issue. I have a light on my GK amp that signifies clipping and I can tell from the sound when it is happening. Happens when I am on my 210 and my GK600-Goliah Sr. 6x10, IF i push the input, especially with
active and the -10db not pushed...
 
#22
projectMalamute said:
You are about half right. It's most likely not going to be the cause of any damage, but it is absolutely possible to get a DC component in an asymmetrically clipped waveform.

Just do the math. Look at the Fourier series of a sin function with one half clipped off, you will find a constant component.
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Well that may be but it's not going to fry a voice coil. I'll be honest...I don't know much about it, but all the pros on here who do work with it all the time say without fail that the only way an amp will send DC to the voice coils is if it's broken. Good enough for me to parrot to someone else ;)

Anyway, I think the main issue with the OP is he's just playing too darn loud with the distortion on.
 
#23
bassfishin said:
JimmyM:
Did a quick search on "speaker clipping". Not much comes up other than a few things related to car stereo. But when "amp clipping" is searched, there is a ton of info on it due to the fact that the term "clipping" in audio refers to amplifiers, not speakers. Speakers can run into problems such as "over-excursion". Here is a quick google searched find on amp clipping... :rollno:
" Musical transients, those instant bursts of musical information that are loud, can cause an amp to reach its operating limits. When that happens, the sound wave from the amp is corrupted and it can take the speaker out of its operating limits, thus causing damage to the speaker. It can be seen on an ocilliscope because a square sine wave will become jagged when the amp clips".
Click to expand...
Jimmy is right the same thing ocurrs when you operate a loudspeaker out side the coil overhang the next bit of clipping is when the back of the spider hits the voice coil gap front plate or the pig tails rip clean out of the cone almost back to the future style.
Us engineers love these fx guys they always say the same stuff like:
"well I only had the amp at the same volume as I normally have it on" Engineer looks down and spies a gleaming new pedal, (output level dime'd, with the fantasmagorical super bass 3 octave monster fuzz mode engaged), through the now slightly thinning smoke.

FX GUY: "Oh and I read all pedals loose bass so since I got this yesterday I turn the active bass control on my Ibenez right up man, to counteract that just in case, you wouldn't want it to go all low frequency light would yer, but its not like thats a volume control or nothing man".
Engineer: Er! It does increase the load on both the amplifier and speaker consuming all available headroom and probably more.
FX Guy: "No mate! its like the same volume but dirty as feck with like with six times as much bass man, Why is my amp smoking then?.:spit":
 
#24
Bassmec said:
Jimmy is right the same thing ocurrs when you operate a loudspeaker out side the coil overhang the next bit of clipping is when the back of the spider hits the voice coil gap front plate or the pig tails rip clean out of the cone almost back to the future style.
Us engineers love these fx guys they always say the same stuff like:
"well I only had the amp at the same volume as I normally have it on" Engineer looks down and spies a gleaming new pedal, (output level dime'd, with the fantasmagorical super bass 3 octave monster fuzz mode engaged), through the now slightly thinning smoke.

FX GUY: "Oh and I read all pedals loose bass so since I got this yesterday I turn the active bass control on my Ibenez right up man, to counteract that just in case, you wouldn't want it to go all low frequency light would yer, but its not like thats a volume control or nothing man".
Engineer: Er! It does increase the load on both the amplifier and speaker consuming all available headroom and probably more.
FX Guy: "No mate! its like the same volume but dirty as feck with like with six times as much bass man, Why is my amp smoking then?.:spit":
Click to expand...
Spoken like a guy who's been there and done that, bought the T-shirt, AND posted the pics on Facebook.
 
#27
Bass_masta16 said:
But the thing is, I'm not playing loudly! :help:
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Sure you aren't, pal...sure you aren't ;)

Did you read Bassmec's post? Lots of food for thought in that one. And hey, we could all be wrong and it's just your amp/distortion box doing it. Or it could be something loose in the cab, or even something in the room making you think it's coming from the cab. But my money is on an answer somewhere between mine and Bassmec's. If I'm wrong, great! That means your cabs were never in danger.
 
#29
It's an effects loop that puts your effects between the preamp and power amp rather than in front of the preamp like you have now. But loops are never good for distortion pedals IMHO. Plus it won't solve your problem.
 
#30
Masta wrote that the pedal was 'set to 5.' Is that the level, tone, or gain? All 3? If you lose some of the gain and the sound goes away, then that is likely your solution. Tone may also play a role, but it seems to me less likely.

Is 'not that loud' like 'not earsplitting' or actually not that loud? IMO 'not that loud' is a very loose term that means different things to different people. When Jimmy wrote, "sure your not," I'm guessing that this is what he is talking about. Try turning your amp down so that it's really not that loud, as in you can have a conversation with someone while you're playing. See if it's still there then.

I suspect that if you're not able to get the sound to go away with turning your amp WAY down, then it is the pedal. I suspect that is you can't get the sound to go away with the pedal gain turned way down, then it's the amp. If you can't sort it out with either, then you're screwed.:(
 
#33
JimmyM said:
but all the pros on here who do work with it all the time say without fail that the only way an amp will send DC to the voice coils is if it's broken.
Click to expand...
Jimmy's 110% correct. Having worked in the car audio industry quite a while, the topic of a clipping amp burning voice coils was always a hot topic a few years back (and still is). A square wave (clipped sine wave), is compromised of 2 cycles, an AC signal.
The only way a damaging DC current is getting to the coils is with a damaged amp, usually shorted / damaged final (output) transistors. In which case, only 1 end of the voice coil will be burned out.
 

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