Advice for solid state power amp wattage for my cab.

C

Coreybm730

Member
I have a 4x12 cab with 4 g12k100s in it. 8ohm and 400 watts. My question is, do I need to feed it 400 watts to power it? I want it to be as loud as a 100 watt tube amp would be through it. Im prob gonna get a carvin since they are cheap. What do you use for your power amp, how many watts do you feed your cab and what is your cab rms?
 
the rough math on this is 400 watts of solid state power would be fairly equal to 100 watts of tube power. so anything running 400 watts into 8 ohms would be perfect. i also have a 4x12 with g12k100s and i use the matrix 1U GT1000FX. one side of that even at 8 ohms is as loud as my mesa dual i ran before this..
 
I was the victim of a Matrix GT1000FX driving two Marshall 4x12s. I could really feel the sound. There was no question about the quality and level of sound.
 
It felt like I was being jabbed in the solar plexus, but yes, it was awesome. I'm glad I've gone Matrix too. I could have gone cheaper, but what's the point if you've already forked out for an AF2?

Clarky was driving the system at the time: He was coming in at about 40 MegaFonzies*.

*The Fonzie is the SI unit of coolness.
 
I'd feed it 400W+. The amp will stay nice and linear into an 8 Ohm load. If you get it loud enough to damage speakers you've got other (hearing) problems.
 
xemckidx said:
the rough math on this is 400 watts of solid state power would be fairly equal to 100 watts of tube power. so anything running 400 watts into 8 ohms would be perfect. i also have a 4x12 with g12k100s and i use the matrix 1U GT1000FX. one side of that even at 8 ohms is as loud as my mesa dual i ran before this..
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1 watt = 1 watt, doesn't matter if its solid state or tube. There is a huge misconception that 100 watts from a tube amp will sound louder than 100 watts from anything else. Watts are watts no matter what is supplying it.

If a 100 watt tube amp is louder than a 100 watt solid-state amp then it means that the tube amp is supplying more power and not actually 100 watts.
 
hey jack you are mostly correct, and i may be totally wrong since im no expert but from all ive read and talked to the gurus you are totally right that 1 watt is 1 watt across the board, however a 100 watt solid state amp will run much lower than that in order to keep it in safe/clean ranges so that 100 watt solid state power amp may only be kickin out 25-30 watts of usable power. that being said 400 watts of solid state power would run at roughly 100 usable watts resulting in your desired goal. im no expert as i said but matt from matrix has posted about this before and said things very similar to what im saying only he is smart.
 
NiceChris said:
It felt like I was being jabbed in the solar plexus, but yes, it was awesome. I'm glad I've gone Matrix too. I could have gone cheaper, but what's the point if you've already forked out for an AF2?

Clarky was driving the system at the time: He was coming in at about 40 MegaFonzies*.

*The Fonzie is the SI unit of coolness.
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Whats the difference between the gtmatrix and a US made carvin? Both deliver flat response right? price is only difference I see?
 
Coreybm730 said:
Whats the difference between the gtmatrix and a US made carvin? Both deliver flat response right? price is only difference I see?
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As far as power, headroom, and response, they should be very close (assuming they have similar specs). A good number of the comments I've read, relating to advantages of the Matrix, have focused on "feel" and the Matrix amps being more tube-like. It seems that the more recent Matrix amps have incorporated some special "mojo" tweaking. You may have to do some of your own "mojo" tweaking via the Axe Fx if you go with the Carvin, you should be able to get similar results.
 
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Jack Napalm said:
1 watt = 1 watt, doesn't matter if its solid state or tube. There is a huge misconception that 100 watts from a tube amp will sound louder than 100 watts from anything else. Watts are watts no matter what is supplying it.

If a 100 watt tube amp is louder than a 100 watt solid-state amp then it means that the tube amp is supplying more power and not actually 100 watts.
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A watt is a watt is a watt...period. Here's the formula for calculating power:

P = E * I
where:
P = power in watts
E = EMF in volts
I = Current in Amperes

There's no variable for "tube" or "solid state".

Most people will agree that when you turn a tube amp up it will sound louder than a solid state amp of the same wattage. This has to do with how a tube handles a signal vs a transistor when they get to the limit of their operating range. A transistor will clip the signal abruptly, and most people don't percieve that as a "good" sound.

A tube on the other hand will start compressing the signal as you increase it's drive level. By doing that, the average levels of the signal are higher, and we percieve that as louder.

It's basically the same thing that radio stations do to their audio (and now mastering engineers) to make the signal stand out.
 
There is also the wiring issue of the cab : those speakers are 100 watts and 8 ohms each.....so the global power would be 400 watts but if it is a 8 ohm cab they are probably wired in two parrallel series of 2 speakers wich means that max power is 200 watts or you will burn your speakers
the only way for that cab to handle 400 watts would be to have all four speaker wired in serial but then impedance would be 32 ohms.......
 
saturate68 said:
There is also the wiring issue of the cab : those speakers are 100 watts and 8 ohms each.....so the global power would be 400 watts but if it is a 8 ohm cab they are probably wired in two parrallel series of 2 speakers wich means that max power is 200 watts or you will burn your speakers
the only way for that cab to handle 400 watts would be to have all four speaker wired in serial but then impedance would be 32 ohms.......
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If you wire two of the speakers in series, you create a 16 ohm 200 watt load

and the other two in series, you create another 16 ohm 200 watt load,

then wire the first pairs together in parellel and you have an 8 ohm 400 watt load.

Therefore you can wire four 8ohm speakers in series parellel to present an 8ohm load.

Best regards from the airport.
Matt
 
here is the long and short of it, those speakers are amazing sounding and very powerful. with that cab if you want a similar loudness feel as a 100 watt tube amp get a solid state power amp that delivers at least 400 watts rms at 8 ohms. you will get the feel and power you are looking for and asking about. and yes the carvin is a great amp but the matrix is specificially designed to make you smile when you play your guitar. its flat and clean yet filled with mojo. its been said many time in many other posts on here but its true, the axe is an amazing high end unit so dont skimp on your power. the matrix is of equal build quality, has amazing customer support, and it has that feel you want.
 
You have two choices.
Either you look in this thread

http://forum.fractalaudio.com/axe-f...tch-doesnt-cut-through-live-2.html#post778311

Post 31 where Jay Mitchell explains how many watts you will need and you read post 33 where Cliff Chase explains the same thing.
You do what they suggests since i believe that you thrust them. After all you have an Axe. You will buy a 400 w head and be happy.

OR

You listen to the guys that say that you will be fine with a 100 w solid state head "since a power tube head rated at 100 w only puts out 100 w ", and you will hate yourself because you did not listen to the ones that obviously know what they are talking about AND have some credit on this forum.

Good luck!
 
This is probably not relevant (eh - could be), but I have a Carr Mercury 1x12" in my great room that has 1/10, 1/2, 2, and 8 watt power stage options. I rarely have it on anything over the 1/2 watt level. Strangely loud at that. I would have never believed it until I heard it myself. That said, the tone is sublime too!
 
Ok Im pretty sure its wired up 400 watts, 8 ohms. I originally bought the cab from a custom builder who doesnt answer the phone anymore. I originally got it with 2 g12k100s (8 ohm speakers) and 2 texas heats (16 ohm speakers). It was wired to be 8 ohms. I put the other 2 g12k100s in (same wiring) and im pretty sure it was wired series/parallel, so it should be 400 watts 8 ohm. I played through the cab afterwards with my 5150 and set it to 8 ohm, everything sounded good. So Ill be getting a 400 watt or close prob carvin. I seen the video about the tweaking for the presets to sound good through solid state amps. Im pretty sure it doesnt matter the brand as long as the bran is of good quality. Carvin are half the price compared to Matrix. I dont think it would be skimping but I would like to hear if anyone has tried one next to a carvin with the same presets.
 
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