Cabinet wattage handling?

[toejam]

I'm kinda amp retarded and just curious about my Crate 4x12 cab. It's rated at either 100 or 120 watts (MF catalog says it's 100, but Crate says it's 120. Anyway, the speakers are Crate's own (St. Louis Music) design, and they're 8 ohms each. I guess this would put the speakers at about 25 or 30 watts a piece if the cab handles 100 or 120 watts? All it says on the back of the speakers is 8 ohms and made by SLM, no indication of wattage. If I run a head (or a power amp) into it that's more than 100- 120 watts, will I blow the speakers?

[jgcable]

Re: Cabinet wattage handling?

No you won't. Crank it up and enjoy bro. I don't suggest you take a Crown 800 watt power amp amd max it out into the cabinet but if you are using guitar amps I wouldn't worry about it.

[zeegler]

Re: Cabinet wattage handling?

Yeah, even if it is a 100 watt cabinet, 99% of the time that refers to a continuous load. In order to bugger up the speakers, you'd have to be doing something goofy like running a 120 watt head at full volume through it.

Having said that, many years ago, I had a Peavey Bandit 112, and even though I never cranked it over 12 o'clock, I ended up blowing the speaker when it was 3 months old. Figure that one out. [img]/images/graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img] To top that off, I found out that the warranty covered everything except the speaker. [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

[jgcable]

Re: Cabinet wattage handling?

I used to occasionally blow speakers with my Hiwatt head but I used to play it on 10 or close to it with an MXR distortion + and a phase 90 in front of it. I also didn't pay attention too much to impedance back then.

[Ace]

Re: Cabinet wattage handling?

How much more than 100W are you looking at running? I'd be wary of running 200+ watts into it. What is the total impedance of the cabinet? If you have a high impedance cabinet and are running a solid-state amp into it, your amp's power is going to drop.

[toejam]

Re: Cabinet wattage handling?

Thanks, guys. I was just using it as an extension cab (it's an 8-ohm Crate cab with four 8-ohm speakers) for my Mesa F-30 1x12 combo, but then I just got a Fender RocPro 1000 (hybrid, 1 preamp tube) head that I'm using it with now. I guess it's okay since the Fender manual says the power output is 69W into 8 ohms @ 5% THD and 94W into 4 ohms @ 5% THD.
Though, the one thing I don't really understand is that the power requirements state 100V AC, 50/60 Hz, 300W. Can this thing somehow put out 300 watts?
I may also be getting a Carvin DCM150 power amp and start running my Sans Amp Tri-AC pedal as a preamp into that and the cab. That power amp is rated at 8 ohms per channel 50w, 4 ohms per channel 75w, and 8 ohms bridged 150w.

[zeegler]

Re: Cabinet wattage handling?

[ QUOTE ]
Though, the one thing I don't really understand is that the power requirements state 100V AC, 50/60 Hz, 300W. Can this thing somehow put out 300 watts?

[/ QUOTE ]

Joe, that's the power [b]requirements{/b] as in, that's the juice your amp needs to be getting from the wall socket.

[toejam]

Re: Cabinet wattage handling?

Ah, okay. Thanks! [img]/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img]

[OnlineStageGear]

Re: Cabinet wattage handling?

9 times out of 10 you are going to blow a speaker by sending it a nasty signal from an over driven amp rather than by overpowering the speaker with too much wattage.

Matt

[StukaJU87]

Re: Cabinet wattage handling?

TJ, I use two of those Crate 4x12's with my 5150 head. No problem, and they actually sound pretty friggin' good. I also have two valvestate 4x12 cabs just laying around. The Crates sound better.

[toejam]

Re: Cabinet wattage handling?

[ QUOTE ]
TJ, I use two of those Crate 4x12's with my 5150 head. No problem, and they actually sound pretty friggin' good. I also have two valvestate 4x12 cabs just laying around. The Crates sound better.

[/ QUOTE ]
Cool. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] It does sound good. I like how it's compact and lightweight and I can pick it up by myself and throw it in my car. And the metal speaker grill is a plus! The thing has to weigh only about 50 pounds and may even be lighter than my Mesa 1x12 combo.