laney rb9, which cabinet ?

[vamp.yria]

I bought a laney rb9, but I wonder which cabinet I would use. I play in a metal band, I want a good quality cabinet and I want to go as loud as possible(for gigs). The guy from the music store told me that I would have a better sound and punch at 8 ohm, what do you think about that ? He says i'm better of with a good 8 ohm cabinet( Randall RB410XLT 800watt) than with 2 * 8 ohm cabs which are less expensive. ashdown for example) .He says it's because the speakers can go louder( decibels). I would like to hear your opinion. Also, on the website of laney they don't mention how many watts I would have at 8 ohm. Does anyone know ? Last question : do I have to count up the wattage of the cabinets if they are wired in parallel ? Or do they both have to be 300 watts?

 

[Jack]

Well, just for a start I'll have to say that everything he told you is a lie.


Your amp will be louder at 4ohms, less resistance from the speakers means it can chuck out more power. Also, having 2 cabinets gives you more speakers (presuming they're all the same, say identical 4x10"s) and so you will again be louder.

Ill say this now just so were clear, IME that amp is not loud enough for a metal band. I used to own what was the R5 (which was a 300W 2x10" combo) and I used that with the Laney 4x10" (had a 1x15" for a while but that's beside the point). And I struggled to be heard in a rock/pop type band with that setup. Its not like we were loud either.

If you simply MUST have that amp then go grab a couple of big decent budget cabinets, like maybe the Ashdown MAG series. That Randall cab that the salesman suggested I have no experience with but I can almost guarantee it'll be useless based on some of Randall's other budget products and because the idiot salesman suggested it to you.


EDIT- To answer your last question, I really wouldn't be too worried about the power ratings of the cabs. Each cab will get half of the rated output (providing they're both 8ohms) so they'll only be seeing 150W apiece. Pretty much any cab can handle that no problem.

 

[vamp.yria]

the randall isn't a budget cabinet, its 600 dollars. And it has 4 eminence speakers in it. It's a pro cabinet. I play on a trace elliot 100 watt and that's loud enough for rehearsals but not for gigs, so I think that 300 will be fine. In the topic "ohm" ,that the 8 ohm cabinet can be as loud as 4 ohm is confirmed.

 

[Jack]

Of course an 8ohm cabinet can be just as loud as a 4ohm cabinet. You could build a 4ohm, very low sensitivity cabinet with 1 8 inch speaker in it. Or you could build a 8 ohm monster super-efficient 20x18" cabinet. Of course the wall of 18 inch speakers is going to be louder.

Take two cabs that are otherwise identical though, say a Jackbrand (TM) 4x10" that has a sensitivity off 100db/1w/1m and is available in 8 or 4 ohm configurations. With your amp, you'll be putting ~150W into the 8 ohm cab, and about 300W into the 4 ohm. The result? The 4 ohm cab will be ~3db louder (presuming everything else is the same). Perhaps I should have clarified my point a little better in post #1: Same amp, same cab (aside from impedance) and a 4 ohm cabinet will be louder. Every single time. It's the laws of physics.

Without going back into the whole cabinet thing, which Trace do you use? And why do you think 200W is going to make any difference?

 

[vamp.yria]

I have a trace elliot gp7 150, I plugged the laney in the trace cabinet yesterday and it was definately louder so.. . Would u advice me to buy 2 8 ohm cabinets or 1 4 ohm cabinet, i'm thinking about an ampeg svt410HE or HLF

 

[Jack]

Well, theres a couple of school of though on this. If you buy a reasonably big cabinet that you're going to use all the time (say a 4x10" like you suggested) then you might as well have a 4 ohm cab seeing as you'll get more power from the amp.

If you were to get a couple of smaller cabs, say a 2x10" and 1x15", or even 2 2x10"s then you can bring half of the rig to the small shows and all of it to the bigger shows. Course, you'll need to get 8 ohm cabinets that way.

If you just want that Ampeg then I'd go for the 4 ohm, if you want that Ampeg cab now but you think later you'll want a matching 1x15" (or even another 4x10") then you'll have to plan ahead and buy an 8 ohm cabinet now.

 

[iceboxbass]

Well, theres a couple of school of though on this. If you buy a reasonably big cabinet that you're going to use all the time (say a 4x10" like you suggested) then you might as well have a 4 ohm cab seeing as you'll get more power from the amp.

If you were to get a couple of smaller cabs, say a 2x10" and 1x15", or even 2 2x10"s then you can bring half of the rig to the small shows and all of it to the bigger shows. Course, you'll need to get 8 ohm cabinets that way.

If you just want that Ampeg then I'd go for the 4 ohm, if you want that Ampeg cab now but you think later you'll want a matching 1x15" (or even another 4x10") then you'll have to plan ahead and buy an 8 ohm cabinet now.

Very good advice Jack! Thank you!