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New guy with amp questions...

J_McKim

J_McKim

Supporting Member
Mar 30, 2011
23
6
Lafayette, NJ
#1
I've been playing for a few years (mostly upright) and now I am getting into electric and more specifically the amp side of things. I bought the following the other day:

hartke HA2500 head connected to VX115 and a VX410 cab. (definite impulse buy!)

I am happy so far but I want to know the following:

1. what would be a good head to upgrade to since the 2500 has just a tube emulator and not much power? I would like something I can slip into the spot the 2500 is in on the VX115

2. Am I running the wrong cabs??? The 115 is 300Watts at 8 Ohms and the 410 is 400 watts at 8 Ohms.... not sure how they all play together.

What do you think???
 
#2
Well your head is 250 watts at 4 ohms so it is only sending 125 watts to each speaker, If you are looking for more power, getting a head that is 500-600 watts at 4 ohms would be more ideal. I am not a big fan of hartke, but if you want to stick with them im sure there is a head available that will fit your set up nicely. Or shop around for other brands.
Good luck.
 
#3
Derrida423 said:
I've been playing for a few years (mostly upright) and now I am getting into electric and more specifically the amp side of things. I bought the following the other day:

hartke HA2500 head connected to VX115 and a VX410 cab. (definite impulse buy!)

I am happy so far but I want to know the following:

1. what would be a good head to upgrade to since the 2500 has just a tube emulator and not much power? I would like something I can slip into the spot the 2500 is in on the VX115

2. Am I running the wrong cabs??? The 115 is 300Watts at 8 Ohms and the 410 is 400 watts at 8 Ohms.... not sure how they all play together.

What do you think???
Click to expand...
1. if you want to stick with hartke, the lh500 rocks hard for cheap. i'm an ampeg guy but i give total respect to those new hartke amps. and larry hartke just plain rocks. however...

2. i do believe you're running the wrong cabs. the power handling mismatch also translates to a volume mismatch, where the 410 will be twice as loud. plus there's all sorts of science stuff about destructive interference when mixing cabs of different speaker sizes. 115's and 410's are both cool, but if you're going to run two cabs, i'd say pick one or the other. i'd go two 410's or an 810 myself, but a 215 rig is also quite nice, even if it doesn't have the volume of an 810. people do mix cab sizes all the time, but imho it's not a good way to go. there's nothing to be gained by it. people see big speakers and think low end, and they see small speakers and think high end, but that's engineering by looks. you can design cabs with any size speakers to do it all.
 
#5
Thanks guys for the responses this helps a lot! I am having a lot of fun learning about how the Ohms affect the output (something I never knew about before this). It looks like what I am going to be doing is looking to piece by piece upgrade the entire rig until i have a 410 at 4 Ohms and a more powerful head and then go from there...

What do you suggest for the head? Does hartke make a 600 Watt head? I really do like the hartke sound.
 
#7
Derrida423 said:
What is this RMS you speak of? How does that effect output?
Click to expand...

RMS = continuous
Peak = peak

It can't handle 400W of power continuously. RMS is roughly half the peak. So this cab is more realistically a 200W cab... if i'm not mistaken

Peope will say power handling of a cab is irrelevant though. I just chimed in because I owned a Vx410, and you were already talking about wattage.
 
#8
Power handling for a lot of cabis only relevant to how much power you can give the drivers before their coil melts. What affects volume more is sensitivity and maximum excursion of the drivers.

Impedance matters in solid-state power amps. Given the same electric potential across the terminals, the lower impedance driver will draw more current, ie. More power. But this means more current flowing through the head, making it run hotter, and can trigger thermal protection or cause some serious damage. This is why heads have a recommended MINIMUM impedance.

However, if it's more volume that you seek, more speakers may be a better answer, so I'd go with another 410.
 
#9
kramj said:
RMS = continuous
Peak = peak

It can't handle 400W of power continuously. RMS is roughly half the peak. So this cab is more realistically a 200W cab... if i'm not mistaken

Peope will say power handling of a cab is irrelevant though.
Click to expand...
It would be relevant if specs got quoted accurately.
 
#10
I agree with most of the advice here. If you are looking to upgrade, I wouldn't upgrade the head first. I'd swap out the 115 for another 410 (the same kind as your other one) and see how you like that before making a decision about the head. It should be considerably louder and sound a bit better.
 

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