Watts

[5StringBlues]

I recently used this one in another similar thread, but I can't help myself. So, with my deepest apologies, please let me rephrase the original question in a way that makes more sense.

If a chicken and a half can lay an egg and a half in a day and a half - how long would it take a grasshopper with a wooden leg to kick all the seeds out of a pickle?

The correct answer is: Yes, or no, or maybe, it depends.

Sir, I like the cut of your gibberish.



Also:

 

[Downunderwonder]

You''l need earplugs or before long you won't hear much of anything.

 

[J-Bassomatic]

I don't know why I would be in possession of a 1500W amp, unless someone gave it to me.
Guy: Here's a 1500W amp for free.
Me: All I have is a 500W cab.
Guy: Be careful.

I guess the way I see it is if I'm not loud enough I need a more powerful amp. If I have a more powerful amp then I want cabs that can handle whatever the amp puts out. You can theorize all day about it so I keep it simple. I have to read AgedHorse's posts quite a few times and more than a couple of trips to Google before I get just the drift.
Happy Holidays everyone, stay safe.

 

[gumtown]

2000 watt speaker ??

WATTS UP?

Must be rated in BEHRINGER WATTTS !!!
HA ha

To need that much power, your speakers must be very un-sensitive and in-efficient.

 

[two fingers]

I recently used this one in another similar thread, but I can't help myself.

So, (with my deepest apologies), please let me rephrase the original question in a way that makes more sense.

If a chicken and a half can lay an egg and a half in a day and a half - how long would it take a grasshopper with a wooden leg to kick all the seeds out of a pickle?

The correct answer is: Yes, or no, or maybe, it depends.

Wait.... are we talking metric or English crickets?

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Wait.... are we talking metric or English crickets?

Wouldn't English crickets use metric?

Merry Crikets everyone.

 

[Tommyc]

Will a 500 watt head sound as good as a 1500 watt head running a 1200w cab or 2000w full stack? Will a 1500w head sound as good as a 500w head with a 500w cab? Or will it break it?

I think you're asking a quantitative question but seek a qualitative answer.

 

[dindinbre]

Loudest solid state Watts I've ever heard are Peavey and Trace. 50W Peavey turned all the way up is so loud that people near it cant hear their own thoughts.

 

[SactoBass]

Will a 500 watt head sound as good as a 1500 watt head running a 1200w cab or 2000w full stack? Will a 1500w head sound as good as a 500w head with a 500w cab? Or will it break it?

AngryHammer:

I thought I would chime in with some information regarding wattage ratings of bass cabs. You didn't specify the brand of cab, but if it's a consumer-grade cab, please don't make the mistake of thinking that the cab can actually handle its wattage rating. Most consumer-grade cab manufacturers publish wattage ratings based on what amount of power will melt the voice coils (known as the "thermal" rating). Those manufacturers love to publish those ratings because the number sounds so impressive, especially to unsuspecting buyers. The real limiting factor with bass cabs isn't the thermal rating, but rather the *mechanical* rating (the limit of cone movement). You won't find consumer-grade cab manufacturers publishing those numbers! Goodness no! They want to keep those numbers hush hush! A safe rule of thumb to use is, the mechanical rating for consumer-grade cabs is about half of their thermal rating.

When I say "consumer-grade", I am referring to those commonly mass-produced cabs of various brands that you find all over the place. Their published wattage ratings are thermal, not mechanical. However, there are a few boutique cab builders that don't play that sneaky game. You can actually trust their published wattage ratings because they are more representative of what their cabs can actually handle. A few examples of those cab builders are Jim Bergantino, Alex Claber (Barefaced cabs), Duke LeJeune (Audiokinesis), and Greenboy (fEarful, fEarless).

Hope that info helps!

 

[Rip Van Dan]

Will a 500 watt head sound as good as a 1500 watt head running a 1200w cab or 2000w full stack? Will a 1500w head sound as good as a 500w head with a 500w cab? Or will it break it?

It can depending upon what the sensitivity of the speaker cab is. If it's a very efficient cab, then yeah, a 500-watt head will drive it just fine. I have an 800-watt amp and a 1400-watt power handling cab. Even though it has such high power handling, it's still has tremendous sensitivity (106db @ 2.83v[1-watt]). It takes very little power to make this cab loud. I usually run my 800-watt at 9:30 on the master because running it at 10 o'clock will drive people from the room.

Had my 800-watt amp in the shop for a couple of months and ran it with my 400-watt amp. Ran the master up to about 10:30 to 11 o'clock on the master to get the same volume. So yeah, with the right cabinet, it will run at least a 1400-watt cab just fine.

Running a 500-watt cab with a 1500-watt amp though is something else entirely. Yes, it will run it fine as long as you listen to your cab and back off on your bass EQ when it starts making farting sounds. If that doesn't fix it, then you need to drop the master. Those sounds are ;telling you that you are pushing too much power into the speakers. If you continue to play it with that same EQ and power, you will first of all crease the cones and then melt the voice coils. You can safely run it with that many watts if you listen to it, but I wouldn't recommend it.

I have an old Sunn 212 cab that is only rated at 100-watts. I bought a 400-watt amp that split that 400-watts between two cabs, so the Sunn cab was getting 200-watts. It was entirely too easy to push that Sunn cab into stress with twice the power it was rated for, so I stopped using that cab. I really wouldn't recommend trying to run a cab that is rated at 1/3 of the power that your amp can put out just because it's too easy to run it into stress and damage it.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

AngryHammer:

I thought I would chime in with some information regarding wattage ratings of bass cabs. You didn't specify the brand of cab, but if it's a consumer-grade cab, please don't make the mistake of thinking that the cab can actually handle its wattage rating. Most consumer-grade cab manufacturers publish wattage ratings based on what amount of power will melt the voice coils (known as the "thermal" rating). Those manufacturers love to publish those ratings because the number sounds so impressive, especially to unsuspecting buyers. The real limiting factor with bass cabs isn't the thermal rating, but rather the *mechanical* rating (the limit of cone movement). You won't find consumer-grade cab manufacturers publishing those numbers! Goodness no! They want to keep those numbers hush hush! A safe rule of thumb to use is, the mechanical rating for consumer-grade cabs is about half of their thermal rating.

When I say "consumer-grade", I am referring to those commonly mass-produced cabs of various brands that you find all over the place. Their published wattage ratings are thermal, not mechanical. However, there are a few boutique cab builders that don't play that sneaky game. You can actually trust their published wattage ratings because they are more representative of what their cabs can actually handle. A few examples of those cab builders are Jim Bergantino, Alex Claber (Barefaced cabs), Duke LeJeune (Audiokinesis), and Greenboy (fEarful, fEarless).

Hope that info helps!

Good info^

Here is a real world example...
(And yes this is a sample of one, and anecdotal. The naysayers can say their nay or they can stay away.)

I have the Rumble 200 V3 combo. Now you'd think the speaker in a combo should be able to take everything you can throw at it. But that is not the case.

Under certain EQ settings (heavy on the bass) I can make the speaker fart out, which is what we call the sound it makes when it's hitting it's mechanical maximums. ("Mechanical power rating", so to speak.) Now I have it on "authority", though it is second hand information, that the speaker used in the Rumble 200 combo is the same one used in the Rumble 1x15 extension cab. That speaker is rated, I believe, at 300 watts RMS.
The Rumble combo amp output power, into an 8 Ohm load (no extension speaker attached) is rated for 160 watts.
The speaker is rated for nearly twice that of the amp. I've never played my Rumble at full volume, yet under certain conditions of EQ, I can exceed the limits of the internal driver, and cause it to fart out.

Just because you think something will do what you think it will do, that does not necessarily mean it will do that thing. You always have to listen to your speakers and if they are stressing, you should back off, or add more speakers to better handle what you're trying to do.

 

[SactoBass]

Just because you think something will do what you think it will do, that does not necessarily mean it will do that thing. You always have to listen to your speakers and if they are stressing, you should back off, or add more speakers to better handle what you're trying to do.

Biiiiiiiig +1

 

[agedhorse]

106dB/1W/1M cabinet ?????

 

[lowphatbass]

I frequently bridge my QSC into a variety of cabs . None of them are rated past 500w and the amp is rated @3100w. How many watts it’s actually producing I have no idea. The last time I blew a driver was probably 10+ years ago and I was trying to get “loud” with a 180w solid state amp.

It really boils down to experience and knowing what the limits are, placing your cab(s) where you can hear them and being able to detect when a speaker stops getting louder and starts sounding different. Common sense.

Just because a car has 700hp doesn’t mean you have to turn the traction control off and try to drive it full tilt.

 

[Downunderwonder]

106dB/1W/1M cabinet ?????

Too quiet to be heard over the cricket commentary. NZ blitzed the West Indies again. Streakiest 50 you ever saw by an opening batsman. Priceless look on the face of the bowler hit or rather bitchslap reverse inside out swept over extra fine leg for six.

 

[Hoochie Coochie Man]

If we look at some other recent threads by the OP, we will see talk of blowing speakers, and amplifiers. Now we are talking about 1500 Watt amplifiers, and 2000 Watt speaker stacks.

What type of gigs are people who ask things like this doing?

And I have no idea what the heck Downunderwonder just said.

 

[Downunderwonder]

If we look at some other recent threads by the OP, we will see talk of blowing speakers, and amplifiers. Now we are talking about 1500 Watt amplifiers, and 2000 Watt speaker stacks.

What type of gigs are people who ask things like this doing?

And I have no idea what the heck Downunderwonder just said.

google Cricket.

 

[Downunderwonder]

Dead on re the OP.

By way of comparison to baseball, there is none, but imagine the look on the pitcher's face if a home run was hit by a batter that did a pirouette as he faced off and hit a home run with one hand on the bat and the other giving a one finger salute.

 

[basscooker]

106dB/1W/1M cabinet ?????

My thoughts exactly!

Do tell, @Rip Van Dan ......
810? 98dB 10.....
4x15? 101dB 15.....
Is this a PJB trick? Like 16-95dB 5"?

Do tell. With pics! I gotta see this beast. Talk about GAS.

 

[blubass]

Just because a car has 700hp doesn’t mean you have to turn the traction control off and try to drive it full tilt.

Coincidentally the average car enthusiast understands HP/TQ in relation to speed/acceleration about as well as the average bassist understands watts in relation to volume. More is better.