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Mesa cabs for b1500?

Discussion in 'Amps and Cabs [BG]' started by Thermo, Jul 31, 2009.

  1. Jul 31, 2009 #1
    Thermo

    Thermo

    Jul 23, 2009
    Sydney, Australia
    Hi,

    I recently bought a Carvin b1500, which can deliver 1900w @ 2ohms. I'm looking for a couple of good 4ohm cabs to run through it and I reckon I'll end up going with Mesa Boogie, since there doesn't appear to be much choice for 4ohm cabs of other brands where I live.

    I'm under the impression that the very clean and bass heavy tone that I'm after (for dub and reggae) requires lots of watts and speakers.

    Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm assuming that with the b1500, I can run a 1200w 4ohm and a 600w 4ohm cab together and still have headroom. Or I could run two 600w 4ohm cabs together and have more headroom. Is that right?

    I'd also be interested to hear your thoughts on which mb powerhouse cabs or cab combinations will give me the tone I'm looking for, e.g. 1200, 4x12, 8x10, 4x10 + 2x15, etc? There almost seems like too many choices.

    Any help will be greatly appreciated :)
     
  2. Jul 31, 2009 #2
    benrhodes

    benrhodes

    May 13, 2009
    first!
     
  3. Aug 1, 2009 #3
    Thermo

    Thermo

    Jul 23, 2009
    Sydney, Australia
    Do you mean stack a 1200w and 600w together? I like that idea too, does anyone know how the 410 and 215 sound together compared to, say, the 412 or 1200 alone?
     
  4. Aug 1, 2009 #4
    Richard Lindsey

    Richard Lindsey Supporting Member

    Mar 25, 2000
    SF Bay Area
    Headroom has absolutely nothing to do with the cab's rated power handling.
     
  5. Aug 1, 2009 #5
    lorenk

    lorenk

    Apr 8, 2008
    Bend, Oregon
    From everything I've heard, you want your cabs to match power wise, so all the speakers are working the same amount...as for what kind of cab...really I would say go try some as that is the best way to figure out what config you want :)
     
  6. Aug 1, 2009 #6
    RickenBoogie

    RickenBoogie

    Jul 22, 2007
    Dallas, TX
    All good cabs, but the deciding factor is based on personal preference. In this case, yours. Try before you buy, see what sounds good with what.
     
  7. Aug 1, 2009 #7
    Thermo

    Thermo

    Jul 23, 2009
    Sydney, Australia
    Sweet as, thanks. I will definitely check them out for myself, but it'll be hard for me to do so until I return to NZ in a couple of months. For now I'm just trying to get a rough idea of what bottom heavy cab setups I could use to get the most out of the b1500.

    Richard, I just read some older posts of yours on the subject of headroom which cleared things up a bit. I guess I should've searched more thoroughly beforehand.

    I suppose what I'd still like to know is whether it's ok to run both a 1200w cab and a 600w cab (of 4ohms each) through a b1500 at all, or is this pushing it's limits? Is it really preferable for speakers to have the same power rating? I apologise if these are pretty basic questions, it's still new territory for me.
     
  8. Aug 1, 2009 #8
    Richard Lindsey

    Richard Lindsey Supporting Member

    Mar 25, 2000
    SF Bay Area
    You're still not understanding what headroom is. I repeat, it's got nothing to do with the power handling rating of the cab. No, the B1500 is not pushing its limits just because you've hooked it up to cabs that supposedly handle a total of 1800 W between them. (Whether they actually can is another story.) Again, the power rating of a cab in NO way determines the amount of stress the amp is under. Cabs don't somehow demand power or take power away from amps, they accept it as it is delivered. A 1 W amp into a 500 W cab isn't pushing its limits unless you turn it up.

    If you try to get more power out of the B1500 than it's capable of giving by turning it up too far, THEN you're pushing its limits. Or if you try to make it drive too low a load (like 1 ohm). But just hooking it up to those speakers does not. The power rating of a cab does not determine how hard an amp is working.

    And the cabs are not running through the amp, the amp is running through the cabs.
     
  9. Aug 2, 2009 #9
    Thermo

    Thermo

    Jul 23, 2009
    Sydney, Australia
    Ok, that makes it clearer to me now, thanks for explaining it Richard.