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Speaker farting.

Fingerpickingood

Fingerpickingood

Guest
Oct 30, 2014
1,103
1,277
Texas
#1
I'm sure this has been addressed many times before, but I'm pretty new, so I figured I'd keep bugging the experts for tips. I have an Ampeg PF350 that I run through an Acoustic B410 cab, and I'm experiencing "speaker farting" at higher volumes. This confuses my newbie brain, because the cab has a 400 watt handling capacity. Could this all be alleviated by adding say, an additional 2x12 cabinet to spread the signal? I've tried making minor adjustments to tone controls and such, but the farting continues.
 
#2
Speaker ratings are thermal (for the voice coil to melt) - NOT real world bass frequency power handling.

*Most* commercially available cabs will start to "fart out" at around 1/2 their thermal rating.

Adding a matching cab (as in the same one you have) is the easiest way to get more out of your rig (as long as you stay within the amps impedance specs).
 
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#4
Your instinct to adjust tone is on target. Aside from turning down or adding speakers, dropping some of the lowest frequencies may help.

If you do add speakers, try to make it another 410. You kind of want them to have similar capacities, because they're going to be splitting the power equally.

Another thing you could try is getting that cab pointed more toward your head and less toward your ankles. Even elevating it a foot or angling it back 20 degrees will make you hear yourself a lot better. And you won't need to turn up as loud.
 
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#6
Fingerpickingood said:
I guess my main concern about adding another 410 is that the 350 watt head might be inadequate to push so many speakers.
Click to expand...

Nah. I mean, they could probably handle more, but adding more speakers means more volume regardless of how many watts you're pushing.
 
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#11
Fingerpickingood said:
I'm sure this has been addressed many times before, but I'm pretty new, so I figured I'd keep bugging the experts for tips. I have an Ampeg PF350 that I run through an Acoustic B410 cab, and I'm experiencing "speaker farting" at higher volumes. This confuses my newbie brain, because the cab has a 400 watt handling capacity. Could this all be alleviated by adding say, an additional 2x12 cabinet to spread the signal? I've tried making minor adjustments to tone controls and such, but the farting continues.
Click to expand...
Also, don't mix cab types.
 
#16
I think we should all take a step back for a second before sending him off to buy a second cab.

OP what does your EQ currently look like? Could you take a picture of how you are EQ'ed? We need to know how your amp is set to give you a better idea of the problem, and possibly a starting point for a more optimal EQ
 
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#17
Is your 410 4 ohm or 8 ohm? If it's 8 ohm, ~200 watts is really not much power, especially if your cabinet is not very high (real) sensitivity.

Maybe this is a good time to re-think your rig and how it might be adjusted (or changed completely) to better meet your volume needs?
 
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#20
image.jpg
The cab is 400 watts, 8 ohms. The head is 250 at 8ohms, and 350 at 4ohms. I also typically play through the passive channel even though both basses have active pickups. I just crank the gain way down. It's higher than normal in the picture because I switched to the signal cut of the active channel. I'm hoping to put a stoner metal project together with some guys I know, and it will be a dual guitar operation, thus necessitating higher volumes. I'm still trying to find "my sound."
 

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