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Peavey Firebass cabinets connection

G

Gene871

Mar 23, 2022
13
6
#1
Hi, I write from Italy (sorry for my english; Google translate helping me).
I have a Firebass 700 with a 15" Peavey cabinet at 4 ohms. I also have a 4x10 Ashdown Mag cabinet and a 2x10 from an old Redhead, all at 4 ohms.
The head has a power range of
275 watts at 8 ohms
475 watts at 4 ohms
700 watts at 2 ohms.
It is generally not advisable to run an amp down to 2 ohms even if it is instructed in the manual, but the question is:
With this particular head and two cabinets, could I go down to 2 ohms easily or should I be cautious and compromise: another 8 and a 4 ohm cabinet and get to 2.67 ohms?
With a 4 ohm one, the power would be enough, but I was wondering this…
Thanks
 
#2
Personally, I would use either the single 15 OR the single 4x10 by themselves. All of your cabinets are mis-matched enough that you could likely get poor results combining them. I wouldn't worry as much about the 2 ohm load since the head is rated for that, but if you want to run two cabs at once, I would invest in two 8 ohm versions of the exact same cab.
 
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#5
agedhorse said:
If the amp is rated for 2 ohm loads, why isn't it a good idea?

Maybe you (or who you heard this from) don't have experience with well designed equipment?
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No, it's just that I wanted to be sure I could use the head without any problems even with impedance at the limit. Maybe I wondered because there are few transistor amplifiers that go down to 2 ohms, at least the modern ones. Here in Italy, in the forums we always tend to be cautious with the minimum impedance, especially when they read "2 ohms", because it is unusual and in theory it puts a lot of strain on the amplifier. But in fact, thinking about it, if today the minimum impedance is almost always 4 ohms and many exploit all the power by connecting two 8 ohm cabinets, it should be normal to put two 4 ohm cabinets and go down to 2 ohms with a head like Peavey that provides them. Especially with Peavey, which has always built excellent and honest products.
 
#7
Gene871 said:
Here in Italy, in the forums we always tend to be cautious with the minimum impedance, especially when they read "2 ohms", because it is unusual and in theory it puts a lot of strain on the amplifier.
Click to expand...
Read the manual. It will tell you what the amplifier can safely do. You shouldn't rely on what people on the internet (or AI) are thinking is right when you have access to the manufacturer's official statements.
 
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#10
Gene871 said:
No, it's just that I wanted to be sure I could use the head without any problems even with impedance at the limit. Maybe I wondered because there are few transistor amplifiers that go down to 2 ohms, at least the modern ones. Here in Italy, in the forums we always tend to be cautious with the minimum impedance, especially when they read "2 ohms", because it is unusual and in theory it puts a lot of strain on the amplifier. But in fact, thinking about it, if today the minimum impedance is almost always 4 ohms and many exploit all the power by connecting two 8 ohm cabinets, it should be normal to put two 4 ohm cabinets and go down to 2 ohms with a head like Peavey that provides them. Especially with Peavey, which has always built excellent and honest products.
Click to expand...
2 ohm minimum load has been standard in the pro audio industry for decades.

I come from the pro audio industry, I've been designing 2 ohm rated bass amp models for over 25 years without any history of problems.
 
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#14
agedhorse said:
2 ohm minimum load has been standard in the pro audio industry for decades.

I come from the pro audio industry, I've been designing 2 ohm rated bass amp models for over 25 years without any history of problems.
Click to expand...
I'm curious. I get that it's a standard in pro audio industry, but of course not all equipment is designed to handle a 2 Ω load.

I see loads of 4 Ω cabs and much fewer 8 Ω, with 8 Ω cabs frequently having two sockets to connect another cab in parallel. Marketing materials frequently show two such 8 Ω cabs (e.g. 1×15" and 2×10" with tweeter) sitting on one another, powered from one head at 4 Ω load.

It almost seems like the industry standard for bass cabs (single or dual parallel) is 4 Ω.

Which makes perfect sense, but in that case, why are some amps only rated for 8 Ω? And what will happen if you load such amp with an 4 Ω cab but not exceed 50% volume?
 
#15
Former Firebass 700 owner here. I had a 2 ohm setup, 1x15" and 2x10" cabs rated at 4 ohms. Deafening volume capability, huge headroom. I outgunned my guitarist with 2 Marshall STACKS with my setup! Three speakers, and FOH was asking ME to turn down!

It is more than capable of surviving your proposed setup. Mine actually survived a fall down three flights' worth of brick stairs once. Only thing that needed repair was the XLR out. Peavey gear has been unfairly underrated for so long in so many ways. Not so much now, but back then for sure.
 
#16
toughluck said:
I'm curious. I get that it's a standard in pro audio industry, but of course not all equipment is designed to handle a 2 Ω load.

I see loads of 4 Ω cabs and much fewer 8 Ω, with 8 Ω cabs frequently having two sockets to connect another cab in parallel. Marketing materials frequently show two such 8 Ω cabs (e.g. 1×15" and 2×10" with tweeter) sitting on one another, powered from one head at 4 Ω load.

It almost seems like the industry standard for bass cabs (single or dual parallel) is 4 Ω.

Which makes perfect sense, but in that case, why are some amps only rated for 8 Ω? And what will happen if you load such amp with an 4 Ω cab but not exceed 50% volume?
Click to expand...
It depends on the designer's intentions as well as their technical capabilities. Some designers don't see the need, some struggle with performance and reliability ans some are perfectly fine driving g 2 ohms.

All the 800 W Subway amps are 2 ohm capable, that platform has been on the market for over 10 years driving 2 ohm loads without issues. We back up this performance with a 5 year warranty too.
 
#17
I still have a Peavey Max700 head (that replaced the Firebass). I ran it at 2 ohms from time to time but I never really "needed" to do that. It is very loud at 4 ohms and at 8 ohms, depending on the cabinet. I have used it to run a pair of 18" FOH subs a few dozen times. Never felt that I needed more power.
 
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#18
I have another question: I am trying the Firebass head with "its" Peavey 115 BX BW cabinet and a Mag 410T Deep at 4 ohms; I must say that the Mag alone performs well, powerful with a nice sound that is not too clean, but gritty. If I connect them both, I seem to hear less bass and more treble. Is this normal?…
 
#19
Gene871 said:
I have another question: I am trying the Firebass head with "its" Peavey 115 BX BW cabinet and a Mag 410T Deep at 4 ohms; I must say that the Mag alone performs well, powerful with a nice sound that is not too clean, but gritty. If I connect them both, I seem to hear less bass and more treble. Is this normal?…
Click to expand...
No, it's possible that one of the cabinets is wired out of phase (polarity reversed) or one of the speaker cables is wired reversed at one end.

Look up speaker battery test.
 
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