Heads, Cabs and Watts

[Metalblaze]

So, here we go again on the right forum

What wattage you would choose for a cab to match a 100W head?

Which is the best head/cab analogy in watts?

Is for the high wattage cabs like 300W-400W difficult to wake their actual sound?

Thank you!

 

[Smilemon]

Re: Heads, Cabs and Watts

hmm.. well, you dont want to blow speakers, so if your 100W head is pushing something closer to 170 or something when its cranked... you want to go higher, 200 - 300

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: Heads, Cabs and Watts

i go 300

 

[i love everyone]

Re: Heads, Cabs and Watts

usually they say it's best to match wattages, but from what i understand, cranked amps can put out over 1.5 times their rated power. however, also from what i understand, guitar speakers are different from hi-fi speakers when it comes to power handling. whereas hi-fi speakers will run clean up to their rated power, and then damaging distortion starts, guitar speakers run clean up to about 80% power handling and then start to safely distort up until about 150% of their rated power handling, above which point you can start causing damage. this safe speaker distortion can sound good, which i guess is why they bother making low-wattage speakers.

so i would say a little over matching wattages, maybe double just to be on the safe side. the cab i use most is a 140-watt 4x12 with a 100-watt head, and sometimes i run the head with the 140-watt cab and a 100-watt 4x12. when i run it with just the 100-watt cab, it sounds overloaded and blown-out.

 

[aleclee]

Re: Heads, Cabs and Watts

guitar speakers run clean up to about 80% power handling and then start to safely distort up until about 150% of their rated power handling

Generalities like this can lead to blown speaker and, if you play a tube amp, fried output transformers.

As for the original question, as long as the speakers aren't getting blown and the sound works for ya, there's no formula for good tone. As long as it's a "safe" combination, beauty is in the ear of the beholder. Personally, I get good results running a 10W amp into a 200W cab.

 

[Metalblaze]

Re: Heads, Cabs and Watts

You really helped, thank you guys!

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Heads, Cabs and Watts

some players love speaker distortion so they risk the lower wattage speakers to get that break up.... i use a 5150 head a lot into a Marshall 1x12 that has a 150 watter in it... yet i have never found a reason to get it turned up over 4 on the volume.... and if i did i'd use the larger cab to be safe....

in general i like the sound of higher wattage speakers so a 300 watt Marshall cab works for me too...

 

[Metalblaze]

Re: Heads, Cabs and Watts

I think something around 280W-300W would be nice for me too.

 

[muttonchopsrule]

Re: Heads, Cabs and Watts

as long as the power handling of the speakers matches or exceeds the power of the amp, you should be OK.

 

[James Rock]

Re: Heads, Cabs and Watts

Generalities like this can lead to blown speaker and, if you play a tube amp, fried output transformers.

Yeh but over wattaging my not be the sound you want for example imagine a vox ac30 without thier low wattage (30 watts MAX for a 33 watt amp) alnicos or a vintage marshall pushing 4 25watt greenbacks. If using 75 + watt speakers these amps wouldnt sound as good. That said it is probably better safe then sorry just don't go over (like 4 100 watt speakers for a 50 watt amp!)

 

[aleclee]

Re: Heads, Cabs and Watts

Yeh but over wattaging can lead to bad sound for example imagine a vox ac30 without there low wattage (30 watts MAX for a 33 watt amp) alnicos or a vintage marshall pushing 4 25watt greenbacks.

:bsflag:

Nice generalization, man. There are cases where speakers pushed to the ragged edge sounds like something from heaven while in other cases it sounds like something from the back end of my dog.

I'm glad you know that there's only one way to get good tone. I guess that's why the engineer for my band's CD decided to record so many of our rhythm guitar tracks with a 10W amp through a 160W cab.

 

[James Rock]

Re: Heads, Cabs and Watts

I didn't state that was the only good way (note the word can not will!). What I was saying (probably quite badly) was the way higher wattage speakers aren't neccesarily better. I wasn't saying that it is the only good way. Alot of amps need high wattage speakers that can't possibily break up. I was just pointing out that it isn't always the best to use certain speakers just to be safe don't limit your speaker choice by thinking you need speakers with more then double the wattage of your amp even though high wattage speakers may be the sound you want.