So what can I expect with a 350 Watt amp into a 1000W cab?

Yes. 1000W is not the minimum to drive the cab, it's the maximum the cab can safely handle.

 

In all likelihood 350 watts is plenty to drive a 1,000 w rated cab to full output. You won't have a ton of headroom, but OTOH you may not need it.

 

It'll be fine. My Carvin is pushing 225W into an 800W cab, no problems.

 

The Schroeders are very efficient cabs.
My 1200 watt rated Schroeder 410 sounds great with a lil ole 300 watt Walkabout head driving it.

 

Same here, pushing a 1000watt Epifani with a 300 watt Walkabout. Pure joy.

 

From what I gather, based on what many people say about this highly contentious issue, the only problem that could arise in this kind of "underpowering" situation is that your amp, when pushed to its absolute maximum, can send spikes of high current output that actually exceed the maximum handling capability of a cabinet. This would cause the speakers to either buckle under too much heat or too much cone excursion.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but we probably don't need to start another one of these threads.

 

Yeah ...

If you put a 350W signal into a 350W cab, you get a 350W sound.

If you put a 350W signal into a 1000W cab, you get a 350W sound.

It'll be fine.

 

No. This has been frequently debunked here. If you have the time to do a search (I say that because there have been a LOT of threads on this, and thee's a lot of stuff to sift through), your eyes will be opened. You could start by reading comments from Bob Lee (of QSC) and billfitzmaurice.

 

475 watts into a 1000W Schroeder 1212.
No Problem.

 

MB heads, 500watts in to either a 1210R or 1212L. no problem other than being bloody loud ;-)

 

Well ive never needed to use two cabs at any gig.
partly though i cant as space is restricted in the car but ive also not run out of steam with just a one 4 ohms cab. close, but not quite.
In my situation anything louder than my rig can put out would mean i need PA support. I can already get louder than our drummer.

 

This really depends. I use a Schroeder 1212(R) that's an 8ohm cab. I like it, because I tend to like more lows below the Schroeder (more cab isn't always about more volume)...and I can run 2 8ohm cabs to that effect, and with my current head, that will give me the full potential 500 watts.

Many gigs are smaller, crunched for space or travel room and I'll bring only one cab, they also tend to be smaller gigs, so the single 1212 is fine even if I'm only getting part of my 'total wattage' out of it.

To be honest, I ran a MOSFET Hartke 3500 with a 8ohm cab as my stage set up for over 10 years without a problem. I have also used my Hartke with my Schroeder without difficulty. The 1212 is a LOUD cabinet. It will really maximize your amp's potential, even when only running it at 8ohms.

 

you guys seem full of so much wisdom i have a similiar question. (i hope this doesn't sound too ignorant)
what exactly are the consequences of running a 500w head into a 4 ohm 400w cab??
thanks for all the insight

 

No real consequences. Your amp is 500w, but unless you're pushing it full out and hittin' really hard all the time, you're not really pushing 500w through your speaker. This kind of mis-match is something that lots worry about but few ever experience disaster from.

 

Note too that the ratings are just general guidelines- the actual amount of wattage used varies constantly, depending on your rig, your settings, and every small aspect of your playing. Believe it or not, your playing style and the way you set up your rig have much more to do with the wattage actually being used than the ratings written on the devices. So when you see something like an amp rated 500W and a cab rated 400W, it means almost nothing except in relation to the way you use them.