Question about playing live and amps

[Thor Von Clemson]

I have a 2X12 cab that is the greatest sounding cab I have ever played. It is a home made cab with Sheffield speakers in it. I might start playing with with a band soon and I am wondering if I am happy with the tone I have right now, would I need to buy a 4X12 cab for practice and shows, or should I be ok with my 2X12. The 2X12 is mono, so I am worried if I turn the amp up too loud during practice, I might blow the speakers.. Any ideas?

[markD]

Re: Question about playing live and amps

if you like it, use it. i gig with 1x12 and 2x10 cabs and have no trouble. i do have a 4x12 that i put on the otherside of the stage, but i don't need it.

how powerful is your amp? what is the wattage on your speakers? don't worry about blowing it up. more often that not, unless you are playing a 120 watt tube beast cranked to 10 through a cab with 15 watt speakers, your cab will handle the wattage from the amp.

don't sweat it. but if you are really unsure, open it up and see what the speakers say and look at what your amp puts out, and post that info. i, or someone else, could let you if you are gonna be okay.

[Thor Von Clemson]

Re: Question about playing live and amps

I play a flextone II head through said home made cab. I believe the speakers are Sheffield 2120's (I am not positive, but I believe the last time I opened the back thats what was there).

[markD]

Re: Question about playing live and amps

well, i just looked at peavey's site for details on sheffield speakers. at worst case scenario your speakers can handle 50 watts each continous. best case scenario, 100 watts continous. your flextone is 300 watts, right? but that would be 150 per side? but since the cab is mono you could only use one side correct?

i think you might be okay....can't promise anything though.

[Inazone]

Re: Question about playing live and amps

You should have no problem with your setup. I've gigged with 2x12 combos, both tube and solid state, and both worked fine. Assuming you're playing at a venue with a full house PA system, you just need enough volume for a mic to pick up.

[Thor Von Clemson]

Re: Question about playing live and amps

Inazone- We will probably be playing at club 3 degrees more than anywhere else so I should be fine there.

I am more concerned about practice. The last time I the amp up loud enough to be heard, the speakers started to fart. I am worried about this happening again... What can I do to stop the farting?

[Matt Crooks]

Re: Question about playing live and amps

[ QUOTE ]
Inazone- We will probably be playing at club 3 degrees more than anywhere else so I should be fine there.

I am more concerned about practice. The last time I the amp up loud enough to be heard, the speakers started to fart. I am worried about this happening again... What can I do to stop the farting?

[/ QUOTE ]

Turn the bass down, and let the bass player cover the bottom end [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] ...or get a new cab.

I had this problem when I first started playing in a band. I used that really nice scooped sound (lots of bass, no mids) that sounded great by itself. With the rest of the band I had to crank it up so loud to be heard that the amp farted. So I turned down the bass, turned up the mids and I could hear myself. I also turned *down* the gain, because I didn't need it all when the amp was cranked up.

This was over 15 years ago, though, so I may not remember all the details perfectly [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Thor Von Clemson]

Re: Question about playing live and amps

I am gonna experiment with the volume. I do not have my base turned up too high, and I admit I have never tried turning the amp up very loud. I live with my parents still and I guess I just have not had the chance to do it. I will let you guys know how she does at high levels... [img]/images/graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]

[markD]

Re: Question about playing live and amps

like matt was saying, changing the EQ on your amp is pretty helpful (and important) to cut through and make your cab more efficient. for instance, the gain channel on my rivera heads is eq'd like this:

gain - 7
bass - 3.5
mid - 7.5
treble - 2
volume - 3

prescence - 0
focus - 3

the clean channel actually has a little bit of grit to it. it helps give the clean sound "body".

running my eq this way allows me to be very clear in the mix and it keeps me from stealing frequencies from the bass and drums. it also allows me to run less volume.

that should help your cab also. a big mistake is pumping the lows because it makes guitar speakers less efficient. like matt said, let the bass guitar do that job.

[Inazone]

Re: Question about playing live and amps

Hmmm...the "farting" problem could be speakers OR the amp. My band was going to play an out-of-town show and we didn't have room for our regular rigs, so we tried out some 2x12 combos. My brother's Crate GFX212 started farting turned up to 4, but my Peavey Special 212 could go to 10 and hold a good sound. Both were solid state amps, but the Peavey had Sheffields.

[tseegert]

Re: Question about playing live and amps

MD, I really like that setting as well, but with my Stealth, I need to crank the lows up a bit more to get it full. That being said, cranking the mids, (lows are subjective) and lowering the highs really makes the metal gods happy.

After dialing that in, I'm just waiting for my BBE to see what hell I can unleash when I plug that in. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[jgcable]

Re: Question about playing live and amps

Here is my take on speaker farting. It occurs for 2 reasons.
Either you have too much bass (that is what you have a bass player for)
OR
Your speakers are shot or loose.
Turn your bass down and your midrange up. Great live guitar sound is all about midrange.