Too much power

P

pulverizer

Member
What are your feelings using a samson s2000 power amp to test with my avatar 4X12 cab?

Speakers in cab are (2) hellatone 60-60watts 8ohm. (2) hellatone 30-30watts 8ohm.

Total 180 watts 8 ohm cab.

The power amp puts out 670 watts per channel. Of course I was only gonna hook up one channel to the cab.

Makes me a little nervous dont wanna fry the speakers.
 
Hi Pulverizer,

Discretion tells me that to use massive power to run 30 watt speakers would be
inviting potential speaker destruction (pulverized.....).

Do you have access only to this amp?

Do you have access to something with lower
power ratings? Maybe you'd want to try it instead for safety's sake.

If you must try the Sampson , keep the volume reasonable (duh).

FYI: My 60 watt Carvin DC150 is quite loud but not as authoritative on the lows as
my 250 watt amp. I am using Eminence 2512 250watt rated speakers in wedges.
The volume can be wall shaking, pictures falling type of loud with MORTEGAS Excellent
Lincoln Park patch ( Gracias , MO for your patches, humor and humanity! :D )


Cheers, Joel
 
That kind of worried me too....its the lowest power amp I have...I just want to see if I can get a good tone woth amp/cab setup!!!!


joeltc1 said:
Hi Pulverizer,

Discretion tells me that to use massive power to run 30 watt speakers would be
inviting potential speaker destruction (pulverized.....).

Do you have access only to this amp?

Do you have access to something with lower
power ratings? Maybe you'd want to try it instead for safety's sake.

If you must try the Sampson , keep the volume reasonable (duh).

FYI: My 60 watt Carvin DC150 is quite loud but not as authoritative on the lows as
my 250 watt amp. I am using Eminence 2512 250watt rated speakers in wedges.
The volume can be wall shaking, pictures falling type of loud with MORTEGAS Excellent
Lincoln Park patch ( Gracias , MO for your patches, humor and humanity! :D )


Cheers, Joel
Click to expand...
 
Just one thing to keep in mind, which may or may not be obvious -- while you can turn down the input gain on the amp, it is still capable of putting out 670 watts per channel at any time given a hot enough input signal, so be absolutely sure your patches are all leveled and/or compressed/limited so you don't accidentally send something much louder than you expected to the amp, as this can invite very sudden disaster for your speakers.
 
You can do it, just use caution, and use your ears - if you start hearing signs of straining, turn down! If you are careful, it's really nice to have the extra headroom, and you do need a bit more with SS IME. I run around 325 watts into my 280 watt 4x12's which is a good match up, and around 450 into my 140 watt 2x12's (lower impedance) with no problems though I do have to be more careful.
 
The key factors in controlling how much voltage actually reaches your speakers will be the Axe-Fx OUTPUT level controls, along with your playing style -- not the "Gain" knobs on your amp.
 
You have to look how your cabs wired too. Thats NOT a 180 Watt Cab.

I know it adds up to 180 watts, but the power is fed evenly with different rated speakers (as long as there equal Ohms - which yours are), and you have to use the lowest power speaker for your rating.

As you have an 8 Ohm cab, you'll have two pairs of series linked speakers, wired in parallel to each other.

If you have one 60W and one 30W in each series pair (which would be the obvious way) you would put half power (as the pairs are the same Ohmage) down each pair - BUT - that MAX you could put down that pair would be 60 Watts as the power is dropped evenly over both speaker (there the same Ohmage) . That gives a total of 120W power handling for your cab. Any more power and although yor 60W speaker can handle it (up to 240W watts would be fine for them) the 30W wont.

If its wired so both 30W are wired in a pair, and both 60W are wired in another pair - you can Still only put 60W down one pair - but could put 120W down the other. As the Ohms are equaly though - that still really only gives a Max power handling of 120W.

I would consider your cab to be a 120W 8 Ohm cab really. That said guitar speakers cab be overdriven a little without too much damage.

Given that - I would say a power amp up to around 600W into 8 Ohms is fine (rule of thumb is that with SS amps 5x the power of your cab is fine - as long as you look out for any danger sounds). your 600W + would be a little much for safety but you should be fine if you keep the knobs lower and keep an ear out for danger sounds..

OK you could use a 2000W amp AS LONG AS YOU KEEP IT TURNED DOWN (all other points about input levels also apply) but you need to be very carefull IMO.
 
Wow thanks that kinda breaks down my cab thanks!!!

paulmapp8306 said:
You have to look how your cabs wired too. Thats NOT a 180 Watt Cab.

I know it adds up to 180 watts, but the power is fed evenly with different rated speakers (as long as there equal Ohms - which yours are), and you have to use the lowest power speaker for your rating.

As you have an 8 Ohm cab, you'll have two pairs of series linked speakers, wired in parallel to each other.

If you have one 60W and one 30W in each series pair (which would be the obvious way) you would put half power (as the pairs are the same Ohmage) down each pair - BUT - that MAX you could put down that pair would be 60 Watts as the power is dropped evenly over both speaker (there the same Ohmage) . That gives a total of 120W power handling for your cab. Any more power and although yor 60W speaker can handle it (up to 240W watts would be fine for them) the 30W wont.

If its wired so both 30W are wired in a pair, and both 60W are wired in another pair - you can Still only put 60W down one pair - but could put 120W down the other. As the Ohms are equaly though - that still really only gives a Max power handling of 120W.

I would consider your cab to be a 120W 8 Ohm cab really. That said guitar speakers cab be overdriven a little without too much damage.

Given that - I would say a power amp up to around 600W into 8 Ohms is fine (rule of thumb is that with SS amps 5x the power of your cab is fine - as long as you look out for any danger sounds). your 600W + would be a little much for safety but you should be fine if you keep the knobs lower and keep an ear out for danger sounds..

OK you could use a 2000W amp AS LONG AS YOU KEEP IT TURNED DOWN (all other points about input levels also apply) but you need to be very carefull IMO.
Click to expand...
 
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