amp lingo

[HetfieldRules]

my cab is 300W contious power, i get that, but my head is 100W RMS, does RMS mean thorugh each speaker, becasue thats what i thought i meant but if it is than thats impossible cause my cab is only 300W not 400. can you clear up for me what RMS means?

[flank]

Re: amp lingo

idk what RMS is all about........but i do know that its basically how much power it has in total........so the 300watt cab is plenty enough with only 100 watts going into it....

[HetfieldRules]

Re: amp lingo

ne one else have some info on what RMS means?

[rspst14]

Re: amp lingo

RMS = root mean squared. I got this explanation from another site, maybe it will help.

"Root mean square (rms) is, literally, the square root of the mean of the square of a value. It is a process for calculating an average value for a fluctuating value (such as ac voltage or current.) The term rms power is referred to as the average power. A power amplifier rated as having "200 watts rms power" really puts out 200 watts of continuous sine wave power."

Ryan

[Gearjoneser]

Re: amp lingo

Solid state and modeling amp companies love to confuse this number.
It looks mighty impressive to have a 300 watt amp, however they usually blur the line between Peak Wattage and RMS wattage. I'm not sure, but I think
RMS is usually about 1/3 of what the Peak wattage is. That would make it a 100 watt solid state amp, which in terms of volume is equal to about 40 tube watts.. It definitely sounds better to say an amp is 300 than 40, when
the average buyer is thinking bang for buck. We all know better, tho.

[Grandor]

Re: amp lingo

Yeah, my SS fender is 160 peak and 100 rms.

[HetfieldRules]

Re: amp lingo

thanx, i get what it means know, but i am confused on how to figure out how many watts my amp is pushing out. the head is 100W and the cab is 300W so am i pushing about 100W or about 300W?

[flank]

Re: amp lingo

im not sure about how many watts are actually involved, but im almost positive that nothing bad is going to happen with that setup

[jmv]

Re: amp lingo

Its determined by the head, not the speaker cab.. you see, the number on the speaker cab is how much power the cab can handle. If you hook up a 100+ watt head to a 25 watt cab, you have a real problem, you'll shred those speakers in no time. But since your cab is rated for 300w, you won't mess it up, whether the 100w rating on your amp is peak or RMS.

[JammerMatt]

Re: amp lingo

You know, I never quite got the whole wattage vs volume thing. I don't really think there is much of a connection at all. My recollection of college physics was that wattage was a measure of energy dissipation (heat). I read somewhere that a 100-watt Marshall is only like 7 or 8 decibels louder than a 50-watt Marshall.

Heck, I don't know. Keep in mind a typical light bulb is 60-watts, and it's pretty darn quiet.

-Matt

[flank]

Re: amp lingo

yeah....actually the differnce between 100 watts and 50 watts is 3 decibels to our ears......so its not exactly that much louder......just provides more headroom and sometimes a different (usually bigger, punchier ) tone than the same amp in 50 watts version