Peavey MiniMega 1000

[thudfromafar]

There's not really any way to provide a rule of thumb for master volume position that will guarantee safe operation with a particular speaker cabinet. There's too many variables like the bass you're using, playing style, EQ settings, etc... I think it's important for bass players to know what speaker distortion sounds like, and what cooking voice coil smells like (pungent odor...kind of like the exhaust smell from a car with a bad catalytic converter).

Not necessarily looking for a master position, just want to know anything else I could do (besides listening and smelling) to prevent an accident. I mean, I don't want the master to be set at 2 out of 10 and the cab blow up.

I really like Eminence, and I use their speakers sometimes, however, I don't believe that the 3012LF is a 450W speaker. It's probably more like a 250W speaker when used for bass guitar. I think Eminence tends to exaggerate the specs on the speaker components they market to the public. If I called up Eminence and asked for a sample of the 3012LF, the specs that they would send me would most likely be different than the ones they publish for you.

Wow, those are some strong claims. Especially when many users have been using single woofer fEARful cabs for years now with big amps. Also some great designers (greenboy, duke) have confirmed that the wattage specs are solid. I did push 800 watt amps thru 3012F and 3015LF cabs (basically to clipping), but 1500 burst is something different.

 

[monsterthompson]

Not necessarily looking for a master position, just want to know anything else I could do (besides listening and smelling) to prevent an accident. I mean, I don't want the master to be set at 2 out of 10 and the cab blow up.

Any response stating any positive "green light" would be a nightmare for a company representative to make in public. Asking for such a response is not going to yield fruit.

Similarly, I've asked Mesa folks about running their solid state heads without a speaker load (for silent recording). While the whole web will tell you "no problem" doing that, the manuals and personnel will tell you each and every time to only run your rig with a load.

 

[monsterthompson]

As for the wattage rating in drivers, I've always found this link from Baer amps to have particularly open ended and squishy wattage definition. It will make you wonder how the industry has any "standards" at all.
http://www.baeramps.com/rating-pop.html

 

[mbelue]

Any response stating any positive "green light" would be a nightmare for a company representative to make in public. Asking for such a response is not going to yield fruit.

Similarly, I've asked Mesa folks about running their solid state heads without a speaker load (for silent recording). While the whole web will tell you "no problem" doing that, the manuals and personnel will tell you each and every time to only run your rig with a load.

I'm not sure if Mesa thinks you are stupid or if their person answering your question is stupid; but that sort of response is stupid without a doubt.
If they cannot provide different canned responses for different products what is their service department worth?
No wonder the M9 was downgraded.

 

[monsterthompson]

I'm not sure if Mesa thinks you are stupid or if their person answering your question is stupid; but that sort of response is stupid without a doubt.
If they cannot provide different canned responses for different products what is their service department worth?
No wonder the M9 was downgraded.

It's the language in their manual. I'm assuming it's company policy. Interestingly, their tube amps like the Buster and Prodigy have silent recording options where they do admit no-load is fine... but thy suggest you keep one attached in case the switch gets bumped into the non-silent running position.

 

[mbelue]

It's the language in their manual. I'm assuming it's company policy. Interestingly, their tube amps like the Buster and Prodigy have silent recording options where they do admit no-load is fine... but thy suggest you keep one attached in case the switch gets bumped into the non-silent running position.

So use more words to say less?
Stupid lawyers.

 

[monsterthompson]

So use more words to say less?
Stupid lawyers.

The lawyers might be a bit easier going if the people they protect their companies from were a bit more . . . Let's, say "predictable."

 

[R Baer]

...I really like Eminence, and I use their speakers sometimes, however, I don't believe that the 3012LF is a 450W speaker. It's probably more like a 250W speaker when used for bass guitar. I think Eminence tends to exaggerate the specs on the speaker components they market to the public. If I called up Eminence and asked for a sample of the 3012LF, the specs that they would send me would most likely be different than the ones they publish for you.

IMO, Eminence is very good about their speaker ratings and note exactly how they arrive at this info on their website.

"The Eminence power rating is derived using an EIA 426A noise source and test standard. All tests are conducted for eight hours in a free-air, non-temperature controlled environment. Eminence tests samples from each of three different production runs and each sample must pass a test exceeding the rated power by 50 to 100W."

Keep in mind that driver ratings don't tell you how many watts the driver will take before your cabinet "farts out", simply because the cabinet design itself has so much to do with how the driver will perform. As Eminence has nothing to do with the cabinets their drivers are loaded into, they simply stick to a recognized standard for rating the raw drivers and leave it to the manufacturers themselves to rate their cabinets. For the most part, their rating is telling you how much power the voice coil should handle before it burns up. Very useful info.

I would refer you the information on speaker ratings from one of our cabinet pages, as the info there was intended to help players understand just what ratings mean in context to cabinet design, but apparently this information is particularly open ended and squishy and should be held to no standards at all.

As for the wattage rating in drivers, I've always found this link from Baer amps to have particularly open ended and squishy wattage definition. It will make you wonder how the industry has any "standards" at all.
http://www.baeramps.com/rating-pop.html

 

[monsterthompson]

IMO, Eminence is very good about their speaker ratings and note exactly how they arrive at this info on their website.

"The Eminence power rating is derived using an EIA 426A noise source and test standard. All tests are conducted for eight hours in a free-air, non-temperature controlled environment. Eminence tests samples from each of three different production runs and each sample must pass a test exceeding the rated power by 50 to 100W."


I would refer you the information on speaker ratings from one of our cabinet pages, as the info there was intended to help players understand just what ratings mean in context to cabinet design, but apparently this information is particularly open ended and squishy and should be held to no standards at all.

No barb intended. I'm pointing out that the variables make it difficult for many consumers. Simple consumers want to see a wattage rating on a cab and mate it to a head rating, and feel comfortable the pairing will work. Of course, the speaker makers aren't the cab makers, and characteristics of the cabs the speakers go in can alter their real world performance.

At least power handling watts seem easily digested. But folding in thermal wattage handling adds one more variable for the consumer to consider. Head makers don't disclose thermal wattage, so how does a consumer get comfort with what that is?

I'd love to see a standard but it seems a hard thing to nail down.

Car tire makers rate the psi handling range for a given tire. The car maker indicates the recommended psi for each tire in the manual and inside if the driver's door panel, yet many drivers look to the tire for an acceptable range and then over/under inflate. It doesn't always turn into a car accident but if you overload the cargo or push the limits of the car, then somebody will experience failure.

User education is needed. I said I was shocked standards exist at all because it seems to open the producers to more liability than it saves them from.

 

[bebass]

Question for @BbbyBld :

If I have a 112 speaker cab, with an Eminence 3012LF variant (rated 450 watts RMS and 900 watts peak) at 4ohms, will it be safe to use the minimega if I never push it past a certain point on the master?

I have run 900 watts rms through 3102lf +3015lf cabs playing heavy metal competing with 2 guitar players with Marshall stacks and heavy handed drummer. Never needed to really be wide open but I was hitting those cabs hard and they still sound fine. I have used a 250 watt rated speaker with a 1100 watt amp and never blew it up.
If you pay attention you will be OK, but if you need more loudness get another cab. 750 watts RMS CAN blow it.

 

[R Baer]

No barb intended. I'm pointing out that the variables make it difficult for many consumers. Simple consumers want to see a wattage rating on a cab and mate it to a head rating, and feel comfortable the pairing will work. Of course, the speaker makers aren't the cab makers, and characteristics of the cabs the speakers go in can alter their real world performance.

At least power handling watts seem easily digested. But folding in thermal wattage handling adds one more variable for the consumer to consider. Head makers don't disclose thermal wattage, so how does a consumer get comfort with what that is?

I'd love to see a standard but it seems a hard thing to nail down.

Car tire makers rate the psi handling range for a given tire. The car maker indicates the recommended psi for each tire in the manual and inside if the driver's door panel, yet many drivers look to the tire for an acceptable range and then over/under inflate. It doesn't always turn into a car accident but if you overload the cargo or push the limits of the car, then somebody will experience failure.

User education is needed. I said I was shocked standards exist at all because it seems to open the producers to more liability than it saves them from.

Finding a standard is one of those things that sounds easy, but includes a lot of variable, not to mention everyone's own opinion of what those standards should be. I think the best case scenario is for companies to at least give explanation to what their ratings mean. Our ratings explanation may seem a bit open ended, but that's because the results themselves can be open ended.

While most test situations involve some form of generated waveform amplified and fed into a driver, the reality is that a bass guitar presents a very dynamic signal that varies wildly depending on the player technique, EQ used, tuning, etc. I've seen guys crank our amp full into one of our 112 cabinets and have it barely flinch. I've also seen guys fart out the cab with the volume at less than half.

 

[monsterthompson]

Finding a standard is one of those things that sounds easy, but includes a lot of variable, not to mention everyone's own opinion of what those standards should be. I think the best case scenario is for companies to at least give explanation to what their ratings mean. Our ratings explanation may seem a bit open ended, but that's because the results themselves can be open ended.

While most test situations involve some form of generated waveform amplified and fed into a driver, the reality is that a bass guitar presents a very dynamic signal that varies wildly depending on the player technique, EQ used, tuning, etc. I've seen guys crank our amp full into one of our 112 cabinets and have it barely flinch. I've also seen guys fart out the cab with the volume at less than half.

Talk of standards makes me giggle, taking me back to my mountain bike days. Several years back, square taper spindles on bottom brackets were usual, but there were no "standard" sizes. Somebody came up with a "standard" a few years ago, called ISIS. It was popular for a few seasons until somebody decided outboard bearings were better, and ISIS "standard" tapered off in sales. The same thing with head tubes. 1 and 1/8th steer tubes were pretty standard. Then someone got the idea for a 1.5 "standard" size. It didn't catch on and the 1 and 1/8th kept rolling along, until recently. Now some genius decided 1.5 on the bottom of the tube and 1 1/8th on the top is "best" and the source of a new standard. All this leaves the consumer chasing a dragon they can never catch, trying to have a "standard."

To keep this mildly on topic, it's amazing all the great music that was recorded and played long before much if this ratings and standards existed in the consumer radars

 

[BurningSkies]

Wow, those are some strong claims. Especially when many users have been using single woofer fEARful cabs for years now with big amps. Also some great designers (greenboy, duke) have confirmed that the wattage specs are solid. I did push 800 watt amps thru 3012F and 3015LF cabs (basically to clipping), but 1500 burst is something different.

Yep. My experience says that Eminence are rated faithfully if not conservatively. I've been running a Peavey IPR-3000 bridged @ 4ohms into two 3015LF's at very loud volumes for 3+ years without a driver overheating or failing. I even know where they run out of excursion.

 

[srxplayer]

Okay it looks like January release date. Glad to hear it's still coming. This is the first amp in a while that has had me really interested in a new amp.

If this hasn't been asked already. Is it going to be rack mountable? I rack mount everything so I hope it will have rack ears available.

 

[PeaveyPlayer]

Can't wait to get one, I'm gonna use it to power an 8x10 trace elliot

 

[thudfromafar]

any updates?

 

[monsterthompson]

 

[thudfromafar]

So, which color are you guys gonna use?

 

[Stephent28]

Have to see the different colors in the dark before deciding. They all look very cool but I am partial to purples/blues.

 

[PeaveyPlayer]

Purple but green will go with my trace logo