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questions about head and cabinet

S

stampede_bass

Apr 27, 2010
13
0
#1
hello, i purchased a basson 8X10 cabinet. they recomend to use a head that has 1500 watts or more to power the cabinet. Here is my question, i have a hartke LH1000 Head that pushes 1100 watts at 4ohms. this head seems to be very powerful for its rating, i blew twice a behringer 8X10 cabinet that was SUPPOSED to be rated at 2000 watts, and i only had the volume at 5 haha. my question is ive played ampeg heads before SVT4, which are rated to 1200 watts, yet for some reason my hartke seems to be wayyy more powerful than any ampeg i played before. my concern is would this be bad for the cabinet to use this head since it might be underpowering and possibly i can burn the coils in the speakers? ive read people use this cabinet with the svt4 pro no problem at all. do you guys think im ok using this head and not at risk? like i said this head feels very powerful, i just want to be on the safe side and not burn the coils in the basson..

thanks!
 
#6
SpamBot said:
Nope. You can only blow a speaker through overexcursion or thermal failure, both if which are caused by sending too much power to a speaker. FAQ.
Click to expand...

I am really curious why Basson says this then. Wouldnt they want everyone to buy their cabs? They don't make bass heads so it's not like they're pushing people to buy more of their product.

Not saying you're wrong Spambot; I've always thought that you cannot underpower a speaker. Just wondering what Basson has to say about this.
 
#7
Burlington said:
I am really curious why Basson says this then. Wouldnt they want everyone to buy their cabs? They don't make bass heads so it's not like they're pushing people to buy more of their product.

Not saying you're wrong Spambot; I've always thought that you cannot underpower a speaker. Just wondering what Basson has to say about this.
Click to expand...

Perhaps we have a Basson rep on TB to enlighten us. I know some companies have reps that search TB for brand keywords and respond to these sorts of question.
 
#9
timbledum said:
From what I read if youre clipping your solid state amp it can warm up the coils to melting point, but you'll be able to hear it clipping first. Moral of the story, if it sounds painful, it probably is.
Click to expand...

The reason this happens is that any amps, SS or tube, put out more than their rated power under extreme clipping. The coils heat up to the melting point because they are supplied with too much power. This can happen with an amp rated above, at or below the cabinet's wattage rating.
 
#11
sales reps don't design or build the things, they're just salesmen, who don't always know what they're talking about.

if you drive a lower-powered head into clipping, and if that clipping causes the head to put out more power than the cab is rated for, it can kill the cab. (clipped amps put out way more power than their clean rating). the clipping itself doesn't matter.

you burn up a cab by sending too much power into it, or too low a frequency into it. that's all.

rock your hartke head on your basson cab, and don't give it a second thought.
 
#12
here's the real deal with basson cabs...got this from bill fitzmaurice...

they use giant magnets that truly do require a huge amount of power to work. if they don't get that power, the magnets won't power the voice coil properly and the voice coil will burn up. so you really should have the minimun power basson says they need. this is the one rare instance where blowing your cabs by underpowering is not a myth. however, it's for a whole different reason than the usual underpowering/clipping myth.

i would think 1100w would be close enough, but after knowing what i know now, and basson recommending 1500, i don't think i'd chance it.
 
#15
thanks for all the input guys. the head is underpowering i can tell a little. for some reason it does not feel as powerfull as it was before; for example in practice studio there was no way i could put the volume up to 5 with my old cab. now with the basson i can put it up to 5 and doesnt feel as powerful.

i think i am just going to upgrade and buy a power amp, and a pre amp seperately. any opinions in these right here:

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or

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the behringer price is soo good compared to the crown, anybody got any experience with the behringer? is 4000 watts at 4ohms bridge!!

as for the pre am i was thinking of getting this

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thanks!
 
#17
the carvin is 1300 watts at 4ohms..

this is what the sheet of paper that came with the basson says

"Your power amp Requirements
Minimum Required Amp Power rating must be:
1500+ watts at 4 ohms per channel
DO NOT underpower this cabinet or damage to the speaker coils may occur."

im just gonna follow what they say i think haha so anybody got experience with any of those power amps and pre amps i listed?

btw this cabinet is a killer cabinet, this makes Ampeg look like a kids toy

thanks!
 
#19
i have heard that power amps is one thing that behringer has actually done right. but their rating systems for them are based on so much marketing hoo-ha that i would much rather go with a name that tries to give more honest real world specs like crown, qsc, carvin, peavey, etc., because at least i would know that when they say it's a 1500w amp, it's a 1500w real world usage amp and not just a 750w amp disguised as a 1500w amp.
 

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