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Picking cabinets for a Mesa WD 800

#83
NateF said:
I've got a Subway 112 and a Subway 115. Together they sound amazing, and I've been able to carry small to medium size rooms with a loud drummer and loud guitarist playing loud rock/punk, with no PA support, without breaking a sweat. Everyone who's played through it loves it and asks me about it, and they're quite light and easy to carry.

Recently I let another band use my rig with no PA support, and they were WAY too loud (people in the audience holding their ears is not what you should aim for IMO), and yet the bass was super clear the whole time. I'd even left my D800 amp on the 2-ohm setting for protection in case they turned up a ton, and it was still way too loud (at the 2-ohm setting, with a 4-ohm load, the D800 only puts out 600 watts instead of the full 800).

I sometimes use just the 115, and it's great too, but the two-cab stack is even better and gets the top cab a lot closer to my ears, which is nice.

I think any two of the 115, 112, 210 will meet your needs with room to spare. A 212 or 215 would also work great.
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#84
What's this talk I keep seeing about people running their Mesa heads on 2 ohms to "protect their cab' because the amp supposedly puts out lower wattage in 2ohm mode when you are actually introducing a 4 load to it. Is it a d-800 and/or d-800+ thing? Or just an urban myth? In my wd-800 manual is says nothing about any of this,... And I mean nothing at all. I know how these things get started with musicians and then never die. Please enlighten me
 
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#85
DeeZee said:
What's this talk I keep seeing about people running their Mesa heads on 2 ohms to "protect their cab' because the amp supposedly puts out lower wattage in 2ohm mode when you are actually introducing a 4 load to it. Is it a d-800 and/or d-800+ thing? Or just an urban myth? In my wd-800 manual is says nothing about any of this,... And I mean nothing at all. I know how these things get started with musicians and then never die. Please enlighten me
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Talkbass member Agedhorse is the design engineer behind the WD800 and had reported that a side effect of setting the switch to 2ohm operation is it limits the power output to roughly 600W at 4ohm when the switch is set to 2ohm.

I had asked this question in reference to using the WD-800 in my Mesa Scout combo since it fits in there.

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With only 1 4ohm 12” speaker and a thermal rating designed to be used with the Walkabout he noted setting the switch to 2ohm to reduce to potential power output a bit.

This advise came with lots of warnings about overpowering the single speaker and wasn’t recommended. It was noted that the new subway 112 single cabs are 8 ohm and a higher power rating to help match the Subway heads power capabilities. Naturally they want to sell current products rather than see people repurpose old gear so I get that.

For me the master volume knob will always work at giving my cab(s) the right amount of power without overdoing it. I know what gigs my scout 112 will be appropriate and when I’ll need more.

The interesting thing I noticed about setting the impedance switch to 2ohm into my 4ohm Scout cab is it feels different. The limiting that’s going on in the amp gives the WD-800 more of that Walkabout bloom. I don’t prefer the sound or feel when I’m practicing in the studio but with my band it feels more natural to me.

Anyway, long story long, I don’t know what other subway heads have the impedance circuit like the WD800 but that’s where some of the talk you read came about. It’s that the ICE power modules weren’t designed to run at 2ohms from the manufacturer but Agedhorse (Andy Fields) has devised a way to limit the power out to get safe reliable 2 ohm operation. This limiting still has an effect when using higher impedance cabs and will in effect reduce the amps max output power some when using higher than 2ohm loads.
 
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#86
yep, flippin' the switch to 2 Ohm diminishes output at 2,4 and 8 Ohms. I have used my WD800 (set at 2 Ohms) with a PJB C2 cab rated at 200 watts and Barefaced One 10 rated at "250 watts, up to 500 if clean".......both sound great. The diminished power output gives me a little bit more margin for error, and I'm obviously careful with the overall volume.
 
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#87
MuthaFunk said:
Talkbass member Agedhorse is the design engineer behind the WD800 and had reported that a side effect of setting the switch to 2ohm operation is it limits the power output to roughly 600W at 4ohm when the switch is set to 2ohm.

I had asked this question in reference to using the WD-800 in my Mesa Scout combo since it fits in there.

View attachment 4485714

With only 1 4ohm 12” speaker and a thermal rating designed to be used with the Walkabout he noted setting the switch to 2ohm to reduce to potential power output a bit.

This advise came with lots of warnings about overpowering the single speaker and wasn’t recommended. It was noted that the new subway 112 single cabs are 8 ohm and a higher power rating to help match the Subway heads power capabilities. Naturally they want to sell current products rather than see people repurpose old gear so I get that.

For me the master volume knob will always work at giving my cab(s) the right amount of power without overdoing it. I know what gigs my scout 112 will be appropriate and when I’ll need more.

The interesting thing I noticed about setting the impedance switch to 2ohm into my 4ohm Scout cab is it feels different. The limiting that’s going on in the amp gives the WD-800 more of that Walkabout bloom. I don’t prefer the sound or feel when I’m practicing in the studio but with my band it feels more natural to me.

Anyway, long story long, I don’t know what other subway heads have the impedance circuit like the WD800 but that’s where some of the talk you read came about. It’s that the ICE power modules weren’t designed to run at 2ohms from the manufacturer but Agedhorse (Andy Fields) has devised a way to limit the power out to get safe reliable 2 ohm operation. This limiting still has an effect when using higher impedance cabs and will in effect reduce the amps max output power some when using higher than 2ohm loads.
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Thanks so much for all the details on this subject. It's good to know these things and now that I've got a very good confirmation on this, it might be something I will be using as well if the situation presents itself. Thanks again!
 

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