Risky Head/Cab connections

[DanLights]

I´m not talking about a situation that will definitely destroy your speakers, I´m talking about a "just don´t put the volume too high on the amp and you´ll be fine kind of situation". To be more specific, I´m looking at a GK 2x10 cab that takes 200w at 8ohms, and my head is a Peavey Firebass 700, which at 2 ohms sends 700 watts, but at 8 it sends 275 watts, so in reality it´s only 75 w above what the cab can handle, I´ve read around that in this kind of situation normally you can get away with simply not driving the amp too high, but I´m a bit afraid and I don´t want to buy a cab that might potentially end up damaged cause I plan to use it for live gigs very often. I´m only looking at this specific option cause it´s locally available, in almost new condition and at a very good price.

Any thoughts or experiences to share?

 

[Omega_Void]

I'd hook such a rig up in the controlled environment of the studio without much fear. But in a live situation I would worry because if feedback occurs it could drive the amp to its full output. A sustained 275 Watts would be fatal pretty quickly.

 

[DanLights]

Makes sense, and I probably already knew it, so I guess I'll keep looking then, thanks. Any other thoughts?

 

[Omega_Void]

Probably nothing you don't know anyway...

IMO the cab makes a more significant difference in tone than amps when it comes to most approaches to the bass sound.

Therefore, I'd sooner trade in the amp to use a speaker I love the sound of than use a different speaker for the convenience of keeping the amp.

For live use, this assumes I'd get enough SPL out of the speaker to be heard, of course. That kind of depends on what size venues you'll be playing...

Remember that every 3dB extra in the speaker's sensitivity figure halves the amount of Wattage it needs to produce the same SPL. A 400W 96dB speaker won't go any louder than a 200W 99dB speaker; and it'd need a bigger amp to get there!

You usually have to Google up a manual to check sensitivity figures, annoyingly for such an important piece of info.

 

[Omega_Void]

There's less rules in metal for the bass than the guitars; rhythm gtrs will always be heavily overdriven. Bass always plays a supporting role to that, but there's a whole lot of different ways to fit it, in depending on what type of contribution you want it to make to the overall sound of the band.

Bass tone could be clean or smashed to filth, smooth or punchy. One might be playing fast runs over high-tempos, or playing a simplified version of mid-paced chunky gtr riffing. You might want to dig deep for bowel-loosening lows, or push the midrange for more prominent and gutsy bass tone. Do you need the bass to cut through the mix, or to fill it out... and so on.

The more compression/overdrive, the less headroom you need, obviously.

Also, I prefer to buy speakers used if possible. It's already run in, so you don't have to second-guess how much the sound will change.

Plus, if you go off it or find something better, you can sell it on at little to no loss of money. Which is good, 'cos you'll probably need a bit of chopping and changing of the rig before you find what works best for the band as a whole.

 

[DanLights]

Probably nothing you don't know anyway...

IMO the cab makes a more significant difference in tone than amps when it comes to most approaches to the bass sound.

Therefore, I'd sooner trade in the amp to use a speaker I love the sound of than use a different speaker for the convenience of keeping the amp.

For live use, this assumes I'd get enough SPL out of the speaker to be heard, of course. That kind of depends on what size venues you'll be playing...

Remember that every 3dB extra in the speaker's sensitivity figure halves the amount of Wattage it needs to produce the same SPL. A 400W 96dB speaker won't go any louder than a 200W 99dB speaker; and it'd need a bigger amp to get there!

You usually have to Google up a manual to check sensitivity figures, annoyingly for such an important piece of info.

There's less rules in metal for the bass than the guitars; rhythm gtrs will always be heavily overdriven. Bass always plays a supporting role to that, but there's a whole lot of different ways to fit it, in depending on what type of contribution you want it to make to the overall sound of the band.

Bass tone could be clean or smashed to filth, smooth or punchy. One might be playing fast runs over high-tempos, or playing a simplified version of mid-paced chunky gtr riffing. You might want to dig deep for bowel-loosening lows, or push the midrange for more prominent and gutsy bass tone. Do you need the bass to cut through the mix, or to fill it out... and so on.

The more compression/overdrive, the less headroom you need, obviously.

Also, I prefer to buy speakers used if possible. It's already run in, so you don't have to second-guess how much the sound will change.

Plus, if you go off it or find something better, you can sell it on at little to no loss of money. Which is good, 'cos you'll probably need a bit of chopping and changing of the rig before you find what works best for the band as a whole.

Thanks for all your help, I didn't know about the sensitivity, I'll definitely make sure I know that spec before buying anything. Speaking about venue sizes, at least for now they will be quite small, in fact the first venue we'll play, according to my guitarist we might not even need to mic the amps cause it's tiny (haven't been there myself), so I'm gonna be counting on my rig to be heard, although I could send the DI out of the head to the PA if needed, but I would prefer to shake the ground with my rig before simply going through the PA cause we only have like two big PA monitors but no subs and such.

It's not metal btw, it's a cover band playing rock stuff from all decades (we have at least one song from every decade as far back as the 50s to the year 2010), the most metal songs would be Motorhead, Black sabbath or twisted sister, still nothing modern metal so the tone intended is not metal, I'm looking mainly for a live and slightly growly bass tone (I might even use a tubescreamer in front of the amp if my head doesn't give me enough growl, although I doubt it won't).

I am looking for used cabs, but I'm open to anything if I can afford it. Thanks for all your comments