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Kustom amplifiers

Fábio Duarte

Fábio Duarte

Guest
Apr 17, 2014
100
6
33
Portugal
#1
What do you think about that??


I'm thinking buying a Kustom DE115H (cabinet, 250watts, 8ohms) and a Kustom DE300 HD (head, 300watts rms, 4ohms).

My doubt is if it is pretty good, or just awful??

And if I can rig then together, because of the impedance (8ohms, 250watts cabinet plus 4ohms, 300watts rms head). See the photos.

Cheers
 

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#2
My first larger combo amp was a Kustom KB100, it was a very nice amp for the price, very simple and clean amp.
I know there are some fans here of the KBX500 head.

That said, I really wanted to try the Deep End series but could never find one locally to try, they looked and sounded good online...
 
#7
The impedance is ok. The 4ohm amp means don't go lower than 4 ohms. 8 is ok. You can add another 8ohm speaker if you want to be louder. The amp would then "see" 4ohms.

I played that amp before and thought it sounded quite good. I have not heard the Kustom speaker though, I played it with my own speakers.

That amp with that speaker will work just fine, and you can add one more of those speakers if you want to make a loud, "full stack".
 
#8
will33 said:
The impedance is ok. The 4ohm amp means don't go lower than 4 ohms. 8 is ok. You can add another 8ohm speaker if you want to be louder. The amp would then "see" 4ohms.

I played that amp before and thought it sounded quite good. I have not heard the Kustom speaker though, I played it with my own speakers.

That amp with that speaker will work just fine, and you can add one more of those speakers if you want to make a loud, "full stack".
Click to expand...
And about the power. Here in Portugal, many people say that the cabinet has to be powerful then the head (like 300watts head and 400watts cab), but I'm not sure 'bout that.. :/
 
#9
Fábio Duarte said:
And about the power. Here in Portugal, many people say that the cabinet has to be powerful then the head (like 300watts head and 400watts cab), but I'm not sure 'bout that.. :/
Click to expand...

If the cab is rated lower than the head, you may be able to blow the speaker. It really just means that you will have to actually listen to the sound you are making. Speakers nearly always give audible indication (distortion) of being overdriven and take a while before damage occurs (unless massively overdriven).

If the cab is rated higher than the head, there is still a good chance that the speaker could be blown. Cab power ratings are for 'thermal' power handling. The speaker could still be driven into over-excursion. This failure mode is difficult to detect because the head is likely being overdriven as well. The heads distortion can mask the drivers distortion (as it is being overdriven). For most commercial bass cabs, the over-excursion power rating is about 1/2 the thermal power rating (often worse than this, and rarely better). A rule of thumb is for the cab to have a power rating about twice the heads power rating (into the applicable impedance).

If you use equipment that is marginal for your gigs, here is no easy way out of this. Make it a habit to listen carefully for driver distortion and watching for excessive cone motion. In a more perfect world you are best off buying a rig that is capable of substantially greater spl than you need.
 
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#11
That head and cab should be just fine. I think the KXB500 would sound different, but there is only a $50 retail difference in the two heads. The KXB500 would put out max 300W into the cab. The DE300 should be somewhere around 180W. You could add a cab with either one.

Not sure what is going on with Kustom as their website just dropped listings of the cabs as well as the DE series amps.
 

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