amp situation update

[drew_half_empty]

Well after asking all those questions and reading all those articles about twins/dual showmans, a couple practices ago I brought my showman, pulled v1, pulled 2 of the power tubes to get it to 8 ohms and ran it through the Weber jbl clone i have in the deville. It sounded pretty good, but the amp had to be dimed out to get... not enough gain. So I'm thinking okay, it's probably biased cold, so warming it up and doing the trem disconnect thing'll probably get it to where it needs to be. Had a show the next day we usually practiced, took the deville, sounded good.

Today we had practice again and the showman was still there, and I thought f-it, 4 into 8 is a safe mismatch, let's just see how it sounds. I had my bassist stand back a little bit and I a/b'ed the deville and the showman through the weber 15, they were about the same volume but the showman had a little more presence. it was also cranked up to about "8" to get the same amount of gain I get at 4.5 or so on the deville. Ran the set with the showman, and it sounded f-in great. I think it's a combination of just old school hand wired amps and the fact that it was on 8, but it just sounded.... bigger, and with a tube screamer on... damn. I don't even want a bassman to pair it with now, I want a super reverb for more of that 60's fender awesomeness. At some point.

So that settles it, as soon as andrew buys my deville I'm gettin a twin cab with a 1x15 baffle for this bad boy & a 4 ohm California. I totally get the whole twin & jbl thing now, with the paper dome it just... does everything i need it to

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: amp situation update

Alright on second thought I do have a question

I've come up with 2 solutions for this... needing extra volume at times--get a new impedance switching transformer and something like a 2x12 extension, or just buy another twin and put cali's in it. What would be the volume/tone difference between these 2 setups? Obviously my first choice would be the transformer and cab for cost reasons, but I'm afraid a big part of the tones I been getting come from drivin the hell out of that california, and if that's the case I'd be better off just saving up for another twin.

 

[everdrone]

Re: amp situation update

2x12 sounds way fuller to me than a 1x12 with extension, something about the physics of 2 speakers in one cab pushing air; thats why everyone does it! if ur worried about loudness, less wattage or an attenuator would allow you to crank and not loose the crankage. Im lucky cause my jcm900 has a 30w switch, and my thunderverb has a built in attenuator.

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: amp situation update

No man, more volume is why I'm doing this--I'm one of the lucky few that gets to crank big amps on the regular


my question was, is an 80 watt amp pushing the hell out of that single weber 15 a big part of the tone/sustain I'm getting? Or since it's ceramic and therefore fairly linear/isn't audibly distorting, would showing it less wattage and cranking the amp just as high yield basically the same tone?

I guess at this point the question is whether a +/- 27 watt amp through a (conservatively rated) 80 watt speaker will sound the same as an 80 watt amp through that same speaker

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: amp situation update

*cough*

 

[King IzzO)))]

Re: amp situation update

So you're running the volume at about the same output level, ie 27w at 10, 80w at 3 or 4? That should be close to equal and the cab should respond in a similar fashion, if that's what you're asking. There's a lot of other variables though, EQ and gain level, etc.

 

[jeremy]

Re: amp situation update

an 80w+ amp at 4 is gonna be pushing way more than 27w. the 27w amp is probably pushing 35w or something at 10 depending on what amp it is.

what you were getting is the combination of the 15 being pushed hard and a big bottle amp turned up loud which is a wonderful thing. if it were me, id run that dsr flat out with all four bottles in there, put reverb on the normal channel (not a big deal, just moving one wire) so you can jump the channels and up the gain and use whatever speakers you need to handle the onslaught the amp will put out. if you like 15's why not get a 2x15 cab. thats what showmans had back in the day.

an 80w speaker will handle 80+w but you could have a 30w speaker thats more efficient. power handling and efficiency are two different things and just cause a speaker is ceramic doesnt mean it wont distort.

 

[King IzzO)))]

Re: amp situation update

I was guesstimating.

Drew, if you do this I must hear you smashing through 2x15's with 80w maxed out, but only if you play your LP.

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: amp situation update

yeahhh i don't so much play anything other than the LP these days haha

2x15's are a colossal pain in the ass or i'd do it, also I'm getting enough gain with the verb channel on about "8" now

The question about the 27 watt was more for reference--I figure if i get a 2x12 extension for the 1x15 twin, each speaker will be seeing around 27-35 or so watts, which of course, would push the 15 a lot less hard than 80-100+ watts through that single 15. Damn... maybe I SHOULD do the 2x12 extension just to make sure I don't blow the 15... but the question was really if that 27-35 watts is gonna be enough to keep the 15 workin hard enough to sound good

*edit*

Or possibly I can just get another 1x15 cab, put another Cali in it & rest assured both are givin up the goods & still well within their limits.


... will update, as things worth updating arise