That would save a lot of wear and tear on the gearbox as then I would just leave it in 1st gear.
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Overclocking cabinets...
- Thread starter Eschaton
- Start date
How would we ever provide analogies if cars did not exist?
My carriage is drawn by a team of two horses. Will I be OK with a team of six??
It's workable, but far from ideal. you'd be better off getting Head rated much closer to how cab you think you're typically going to run. And remember, anything after about 300-400 is really more about headroom than volume, and even then you have to have the cab to keep up with it.
The GK 15 might comfortably handle 150-200w of low end on a continuing basis. Your amp is going to be capable of 4-5 times that. Your behringer cab won't really help either because those 2 cabs have no business being put together really, and the 1200w rating on the behringer is not much more than a fever dream.
I'd say your best bet is to sell the behringer head and cab, get another GK 15, and a nice head in the 400-600w range (at 4ohms). It's always safer to have more speaker than power. And the bonus is that it's actually a more efficient way of getting volume anyway.
So yes, people do sometimes get heads that outstrip their cabs, but you have to be eternally vigilant, because in the real world, bass speakers don't even handle the power they're rated for down low, so if you are hitting them with potentially even more than that, the results could be pretty disastrous.
The good news is that lower powered heads are cheaper anyway, so you will save money by not buying wattage you don't actually need and can't actually use. From the other direction, if you were set on that head, I would say you should be looking at probably 2 600w+ 4x10s or equivalent. But I'm guessing you probably don't need to be that loud in the first place.
The GK 15 might comfortably handle 150-200w of low end on a continuing basis. Your amp is going to be capable of 4-5 times that. Your behringer cab won't really help either because those 2 cabs have no business being put together really, and the 1200w rating on the behringer is not much more than a fever dream.
I'd say your best bet is to sell the behringer head and cab, get another GK 15, and a nice head in the 400-600w range (at 4ohms). It's always safer to have more speaker than power. And the bonus is that it's actually a more efficient way of getting volume anyway.
So yes, people do sometimes get heads that outstrip their cabs, but you have to be eternally vigilant, because in the real world, bass speakers don't even handle the power they're rated for down low, so if you are hitting them with potentially even more than that, the results could be pretty disastrous.
The good news is that lower powered heads are cheaper anyway, so you will save money by not buying wattage you don't actually need and can't actually use. From the other direction, if you were set on that head, I would say you should be looking at probably 2 600w+ 4x10s or equivalent. But I'm guessing you probably don't need to be that loud in the first place.
There is absolutely zero need to worry about the wattage a given amp is rated at as compared to the wattage a given cab is rated to handle. I have never worried about matching wattage ratings for head and cab. Those ratings, especially for cabs, are pretty useless anyway. I have never encountered an amp or head that didn't have a volume knob. Use it, and you will be just fine running your 300 watt single 15 under the 1000 watt amp or head of your choice.
Nothing you said is necessarily untrue. But generally speaking an amp that is way overpowered compared to your cab/s will have a lot less safely usable range on the volume knob, which is likely to make it a lot trickier to dial in.
Yes, in absolute terms, it "doesn't matter", but in terms of real world usability and safety, it does.
Yes, in absolute terms, it "doesn't matter", but in terms of real world usability and safety, it does.
How fast can my 2 horse chariot go if I overclock it with 2 additional horses?How would we ever provide analogies if cars did not exist?
I think I'm going to become a mechanic instead. I like Omega's Idea. I want to get some kind of new amp before I sell the Behringer, because it's the only "decent" amp head I have (by decent I mean not "parts/broken")
But I limit myself to Craigslist and other local classifieds, other than buying brand new. I don't like buying used stuff over a distance.
But I limit myself to Craigslist and other local classifieds, other than buying brand new. I don't like buying used stuff over a distance.
My carriage is drawn by a team of two horses. Will I be OK with a team of six??
You've been out-horsed, I'm afraid.
- Feb 12, 2006
- 61,092
- 5
- 221,221
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
You guys know that the master volume control does not limit the power an amp can deliver, it just changes the drive level required for rated output. If you turn the master volume down by 3dB and turn the input up by 3dB you will be delivering exactly the same power to the speaker.
I guess, if you consider using a volume knob to be "trickier to dial in".
"In terms of real world usability and safety", it is quite common to have an amplifier that is capable of blowing a speaker, either through turning up to loud, or misuse of the EQ. Which is why it's important to listen to your cab while you're playing.
It would be nearly impossible to run a preamp/power amp rig if you had to worry about "overpowering" a given cab.
In truth, he has a point here, especially as the Power Available vs Cab Power Rating ratio goes up.
In my kilowatt amp, I figure somewhere around half-travel is rated output (call it 5 on a dial that goes to 10).
That's about 4X what the little cab is rated for, so that means I'm at cab rating right around 1.25.
- Feb 12, 2006
- 61,092
- 5
- 221,221
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
Except that the "dial" means nothing relative to actual power output. Just the drive level required for rated output.
Kdogg, sorry but your last post doesn't really make sense.
The whole point is for it to NOT be common to have a power amp that's way too much for your cab/s, so that it's NOT impossible to match things up. If you have a 50w amp and a 500w speaker, there's VERY little chance you could ever blow it. But if you reverse those, it's almost more a matter of when than if, unless you extremely cautious, and it's much easier to get the knob in a place where the wrong transient could do bad things to your speakers.
Like I said, in theory, sure you can run any wattage amp into any wattage speaker. But the wider the gap is between amp power and (lower) speaking rating, the more likely you'll be to make a mistake and give the speakers too much power for too long a time for them to be fine. If the cab and the amp are matched, you're USUALLY safe. If the cab is rated higher than the amp, you're almost always safe. And if the cab is rated twice or more than the amp, you would pretty much have to try to get in trouble and it would probably sound awful way before you got there.
The whole point is for it to NOT be common to have a power amp that's way too much for your cab/s, so that it's NOT impossible to match things up. If you have a 50w amp and a 500w speaker, there's VERY little chance you could ever blow it. But if you reverse those, it's almost more a matter of when than if, unless you extremely cautious, and it's much easier to get the knob in a place where the wrong transient could do bad things to your speakers.
Like I said, in theory, sure you can run any wattage amp into any wattage speaker. But the wider the gap is between amp power and (lower) speaking rating, the more likely you'll be to make a mistake and give the speakers too much power for too long a time for them to be fine. If the cab and the amp are matched, you're USUALLY safe. If the cab is rated higher than the amp, you're almost always safe. And if the cab is rated twice or more than the amp, you would pretty much have to try to get in trouble and it would probably sound awful way before you got there.
- Feb 12, 2006
- 61,092
- 5
- 221,221
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
When your amp is more "appropriately" matched to the speaker, you have more margin before damage occurs. Especially if you have a "signal path accident".
I drive a Thunderchild 12" 4 Ohm V.1 with a GB Shuttle 9 and haven't had any problems in the last 4 years, am I doing something wrong?
While this particular amp/cab paring is a little out of wack, FWIW, every amp I own could destroy every cabinet I own...yet...it doesn't happen.
You are pretty safe with TB classifieds. I got my mb200 and half my pedals there, not a problem.
