wizzy owners... how much wattage?

I've only had my two Wizzy's for six weeks - so take this for what it's worth.

First, the site says 200 watts, other documentation says 250. I figure clean power should allow these speakers to handle 450-500 watts peak apiece (not that I plan for it).

When I'm only using the Wizzy's, I power each of them from a separate channel of my plx 2402. This theoretically would allow 700 watts or so at the 4-ohm load. I try to keep my signal strong until it drives the amp, so I only use about 1/3 volume on each channel. So far, no problems - I figure this is about 250 watts or so per cabinet. This is plenty loud for stage volume at shows.

Lately - I've been using my 2x10 vertically, faced sideways, as my speaker for the drummer and the rest of the band. I then stack the Wizzy's with the top one tilted up for my bass monitor as well as filling out the house in conjunction with the P.A. This means I drive the Wizzy's with one channel of the 2402 at 2-ohms. With the volume on half, I'm probably sending close to 600 watts to the two cabinets...no issues at all and no stress noted.

Hope this helps.
Jay

 

I am interested too. With one wizzy I have only run my iAMP with the master at 12:00, which should be well under 250W. Usually when I get to that volume I use two wizzys. And two should handle the entire 500W output of the iAMP.

 

You figured wrong.

No it shouldn't.

You can't just set the master volume and expect its position (be it at 30%, 50% or 100%) to have a proportional effect upon the power output.

All those volume knobs are just gain knobs. So the output from your bass, your preamp gain, your preamp master and your power amp master all interact.

If your amp has output LEDs then that's a good indicator: -20dB is 5% power, -10dB is 10% power, -3dB is 50% power. If you have a clip LED lighting up then you know you're getting full power. But only for the brief moment that the LEDs are lit.

Forget power output. Can you hear the amp clipping? Is your cab farting? Then you're pushing your rig too hard and need to turn down or reduce your lows. Otherwise, all is well.

Alex

 

My understanding was EA cabs tend not to fart if you put to much power through them Alex, they just blow up.

I could be wrong though

 

Alex you're right on this thread too.

Big Daddy has spoken!

There is no way to know how many watts you are running out of your unless you measure them. A rms volt/ohm meter set to AC volts with a peak hold function. plug the answer into watts = volts squared divided by impedance of load(your speakers).

easy enough to do and i gurantee you will be surprised how easy it is to use up the wattage of your amp even with volume controls below halfway up.

 

Speaker cabs are rated at continuous power - not peak. You rarely, if ever, run anywhere near the continuous power rating. So, don't worry about it.

Most often, it is too little power that causes problems. Clipping the amp is what most often causes drivers to blow. Clipping can happen at relatively low volumes if you don't know what you are doing. Here is an example: You boost the bass on the amp (+15 db) then crank the bass on your active bass (+15 db). You have now boosted the bass some 30 db. Considering it takes double the power for every 3 db increase, by doing this you are demanding, from your amp 10 times the power. Now, at even at relatively low volume, it is easy to clip the amp and blow the speaker.

Mike

 

Yep, you're wrong. EA cabs will break up if clipped just like any other cab. ... and again, it is rarely due to too much power, rather amp clipping

Mike

 

I agree. My Wizzy's seem capable of working well with amps rated far higher than 250w, but this is with me paying close attention to my gain stages, and listening for any signs of stress. If I hear any, I definitely back off. Of course, I have yet to hear the Wizzy's stress out under any reasonable volume scenario. My preferred amp with the Wizzy's is my iAMP 800, driving two of them. This makes for a 2 ohm load, and the iAMP 800 is rated at 1,000w into this load. I can get super loud with no clipping/farting or other signs of stress with this rig. In fact, it's one of my favorite "small" rigs.

Also, FWIW, I have on many occassions driven two VL-210's with 3,000w (for both, not each) and never heard any signs of stress (and yes, my cabs are still functioning perfectly!).

Of course, on the flip side, I have found my Wizzy's to sound good with lower wattage heads, too. The same is not so true for the VL-210.

Tom.

 

I've never heard this, nor have I encountered anything along these lines. And trust me, I have driven some of my EA cabs pretty darn hard!

Tom.

 

Always nice to be wrong for once

 

Maybe you misunderstood me, I was told that EA cabs stay clean for a very long time where as most cabs fart out almost as a warning that they are receiving to much power EA cab's don't so if you keep putting power into them and they don't fart out they just blow up.

But maybe I got the wrong end of the stick?

Any help clearing this up for me would be greatly appreciated

 

I guess I am saying that I've never heard of the blowing up part. And I agree with Mike, that if you try hard enough, you can get any cab to fart out.

Tom.

 

Then I would speculate that the wizzy can take 500W since the iAMP500C is an iAMP500 with a wizzy. I doubt EA would put out that product without testing if the wizzy could handle the load under normal conditions.

 

I can't add too much mmore to what Tom and Mike have said. What I did want to clarify "master' vs. EA speak: Level and Main. Here is a short note from Gary at EA. (Well, not that short)

On the iAmp 800 at the active input, turn up the input control until all the LED's light significantly during normal playing, including the yellow one, and leave it there. Then, increase the main volume on the amp until you have what you need.

If you are uncomfortable with the input control being up so high, for whatever reason, move your bass to the passive input and do the same thing. Note that the instrument volume should be run near maximum as this control affects the sound of the signal more than the amp settings do, in my opinion. If you can't light all the LED's on the 800 with your bass all the way up and the amp input control about 75% and plugged into the passive input, the output of your bass is weak.

Please note that there is a clip LED located at the input jacks, and this LED will light as an indicator you are about to clip the input stage. Effectively, you can turn the input control up as far as you want until it clips, no matter what the LED's read. You will hear the clipping when it starts to occur. The clip LED is after the tone controls, so if you have a particular frequency range boosted from the EQ, it will clip at that frequency range first.

On the 500, there is no input LED indicator, but there still is a clip LED at the input. I just set the input control between 50% and 75% and use which input jack gives me the best control. If the input clip LED lights, just back it off a little.


Hope it's helpful.