How much punishment can V30's take?

[JakeAC5253]

I was just experimenting with Doom style tones with my rig and I had a real bassy dark tone dialed in, such that I could actually hear the speakers moving back and forth to recreate the low end. Actually resulted in a purring sound on long held notes. I absolutely loved this. The only thing I am worried about is overstressing the speakers. The cabinet is a Mesa Recto 4x12, and I know V30's have high wattage handling, but I'm not sure of their ability to handle sub lows that make them excurse like that... any advice? What are my warning signs before damage occurs?

 

[Nebulous]

Were you playing a guitar signal or bass signal though it?

 

[JakeAC5253]

Were you playing a guitar signal or bass signal though it?

It was a guitar, but I was using the neck humbucker, which is a JB.

 

[Nebulous]

I'd say that you should be fine, depending on the SPL. If it was doing that at bedroom levels then I wouldn't play a gig with it. If it only started at gig levels then maybe you could do it..... but I'm no Doom lord, so haven't got experience in that...

 

[bryan_kilco]

The way I always played it was - if the speaker is making an audible "woofing", it's probably not good.

 

[JakeAC5253]

The way I always played it was - if the speaker is making an audible "woofing", it's probably not good.

No I know what you mean, but that whole bassy woof thing is the entire point of doom tone hahaha. That's the desired result Just wondering how much is too much... would T75's be a better speaker to beat up in this way?

I'll see if I can get a clip up tomorrow, so we can judge how much distortion is coming from the speakers vs the amp itself.

 

[JakeAC5253]

I have a quick clip of the doominess that I am playing around with. This sounds rather tame on tape compared to how it sounded in the room. Doesn't seem to be much speaker distortion if at all. I lent my fuzz pedal out to a friend and I am anticipating this sound getting pushed into the extreme when I run the fuzz into it, which is the cause of my worry.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8838613/Sludge Test c.mp3