Amp & Cabinet Wattage matching

[mr.L.]

I was wondering if it can damage a cabinet if you connect it to a higher powered amp (for example let's say you hook up a 450 watt bass amp to a 400 watt cabinet)? Does this increase chances of blowing speakers or should it be ok if you don't run the head on max volume?

 

[Last_Confession]

that will blow it in all probability, as far as i can tell you always need more wattage in your cab than your am just to be on the safe side

 

[Meisterjäger]

I once asked this question to the guys at Randall, enquiring about running a 280 watt T2 through a 240 watt V30 cab. He said things won't die if your poweramp is less than 20% more powerful than the maximum output of the speakers, but it's a bad idea to really turn it up. Again, that was a dude from Randall, and I never bought the T2, so have no experience... good luck finding an answer

 

[Metaltastic]

It's really not an issue, I've asked this question many times in many places, and the general rule is "if it sounds like crap, turn it down" - think about it, how many times have you heard a 50 watt tube head blow a 120-watt solid state combo out of the water volume-wise? The intensity of the volume is what shreds speakers, and thus since raw power is only part of the volume equation, it's really not a be-all end-all rating system. Case in point, I regularly have my 300-watt HD147 roaring through my 2x12 w/ V30s (combined 120 watt power handling) with no problems, so don't sweat it!

The main thing to listen for when you're wondering if a speaker is going out is woofing, btw, as if the speaker is lagging behind (and thus straining itself)

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I used to run a 200w head (solid state) through a 100w piece of shit cab.

This is when I was in middle school (long fuck time ago) and pretty clueless.

Never had an issue.

 

[mr.L.]

Thanks for the answers guys I feel alot better trying this out now

It's really not an issue, I've asked this question many times in many places, and the general rule is "if it sounds like crap, turn it down" - think about it, how many times have you heard a 50 watt tube head blow a 120-watt solid state combo out of the water volume-wise? The intensity of the volume is what shreds speakers, and thus since raw power is only part of the volume equation, it's really not a be-all end-all rating system. Case in point, I regularly have my 300-watt HD147 roaring through my 2x12 w/ V30s (combined 120 watt power handling) with no problems, so don't sweat it!

I can see what you're saying I just thought the same thing this afternoon, remembering how ridiculously loud the Mesa 400W all-tube head was compared to some of the solid state amps of somewhat higher wattage.

 

[Metaltastic]

Hahaha, jesus dude, when have you encountered a 400W Mesa head!?!? (or was it a bass amp?)

 

[mr.L.]

Hahaha, jesus dude, when have you encountered a 400W Mesa head!?!? (or was it a bass amp?)

bass head, a 400w tube guitar head would be just retarded

 

[Morgan138]

There are a ton of factors involved. I'd say the main thing to keep in mind that frequencies are going to matter as much as wattage - you can definitely blow a speaker by putting in less than its wattage at super low frequencies, for instance.

For bass these days I'm using a 1,200+ watt head through two 350 watt Acme cabs. The thing is that they're inefficient (so they need a relatively powerful amp to get loud) and have a really deep response (so they're going to be hard to blow with sheer low end). I'm never going to crank that amp obviously, but I don't lend it out much either just to be on the safe side.


I'd say if you just want to be SAFE get cabs with higher wattage than your amp. If you want to sound as good as possible get an amp that has enough power to get you as loud as you need to be without squashing your transients (which will require it to put out way more power for a tiny fraction of a second) - then make sure your cab can handle as much wattage as you'll need to play at the volumes you need to play at. And then yeah, you have to resist the temptation to crank your amp or turn the bass up all the way or something. But on the plus side, you aren't paying a ton of extra money (and carrying a ton of extra gear) for speaker headroom that you don't need.