wattage question

[madbassist666]

if i have a head that plays at around 170 watts at 8ohms, 230 watts at 4ohms, and peaks at 300 watts at 2ohms can i use the head on a cab that peaks at 200 watts max?

sorry for my ignorance....im new to this sort of thing

 

[pbd]

what is the impedance of the cabinet? If the cabinet is 8ohm and will handle 200 watts you would be all set. Depends on the cab.

Todd

 

[Rick Auricchio]

What's the impedance of the cab? That determines the power output of the amp.

Be advised that most speakers begin to fart out long before you hit their power limit. If you keep pushing them when they distort, you can destroy the speakers.

 

[madbassist666]

the cab will handle no more than 200 watts, but i wont be cranking it up any more than half volume plus i will be combining it with a gk backline 600 and a gk blx 4x10 cab

 

[Rick Auricchio]

You have no way of knowing what "half way on the knob" means in terms of watts. Just keep below the fart-out level and you should be fine.

 

[madbassist666]

i know, but that wasnt my point but on second thought i might as well just get a cab that can handle a full three hundred watts

 

[allexcosta]

You have no way of knowing what "half way on the knob" means in terms of watts.

You just need a voltmeter to do it...

 

[lindseyp]

if i have a head that plays at around 170 watts at 8ohms, 230 watts at 4ohms, and peaks at 300 watts at 2ohms can i use the head on a cab that peaks at 200 watts max?

sorry for my ignorance....im new to this sort of thing

Yes, if your cabinet is 8 Ohms. It may be a different story if your cabinet is 4 Ohms, since the head listed above may be too much for it when the master is cranked beyond 3/4 of its turn.

 

[madbassist666]

Yes, if your cabinet is 8 Ohms. It may be a different story if your cabinet is 4 Ohms, since the head listed above may be too much for it when the master is cranked beyond 3/4 of its turn.

so i would just be better off buying a cab that can handle the full wattage?

 

[Jaco who?]

the cab will handle no more than 200 watts, but i wont be cranking it up any more than half volume plus i will be combining it with a gk backline 600 and a gk blx 4x10 cab

The backline 600 will do 300 watts at 4 ohms minimum impedance. Assuming the blx 4x10 is an 8 ohm cab, and your other mystery cab is also 8ohms, the 300 watts would be divided equally into both, so the mystery cab would see no more than 150 watts, so you should be fine.

This is assuming both cabs are 8 ohms. If either are less than that, you will likely eventually see plumes of smoke from the BL600 head, since it is designed to see a minimum impedance of 4 ohms, and 8 ohms parallel with 4 is 2.67 ohms; 4 ohms parallel with 4 ohms is 2 ohms.

 

[madbassist666]

The backline 600 will do 300 watts at 4 ohms minimum impedance. Assuming the blx 4x10 is an 8 ohm cab, and your other mystery cab is also 8ohms, the 300 watts would be divided equally into both, so the mystery cab would see no more than 150 watts, so you should be fine.

This is assuming both cabs are 8 ohms. If either are less than that, you will likely eventually see plumes of smoke from the BL600 head, since it is designed to see a minimum impedance of 4 ohms, and 8 ohms parallel with 4 is 2.67 ohms; 4 ohms parallel with 4 ohms is 2 ohms.

the cab is probably going to be another blx 4x10 or a goldline 4x10 both rating at 8ohms

 

[billfitzmaurice]

so i would just be better off buying a cab that can handle the full wattage?

Not necessarily. The power rating doesn't tell you how much power it can actually use, nor its sensitivity, nor its frequency response. In fact, the power rating in and of itself means very little. If it goes loud enough without distorting that's all that matters. If it doesn't a higher rated cab might not work any better, they only way to know for sure is to compare what you have now and what you're considering side by side.