Stacking Combo Amps instead of head + cabs?

[PDavis]

This is something that has come up in the family. We definitely have experienced the power of matching like cabs. That was the educational topic last year that was made very clear a few times in particular... so Thanks TB for that!

Now, we're hooked on the Ampeg BA210V2 for small situations. Man for a cheap amp its sweet... So my question now is since we have multiple(3) in the family, wouldn't it make sense to stack a couple of them for an outdoor gig the same way it makes sense to stack two of the same cabs? It literally should be the same tone, no cancelling crap, be able to reach more people, be louder... If we agree on that, I guess my question then boils down to is this: What's better 500 watt amp into a single 4x10(or 2 like 2x10s) or stacking a couple 283watt 2x10 combos? Or is it really the same thing in a a way?

 

[96tbird]

There's a lot of variables in comparing 210s to 410s: cabinet tuning, porting, drivers etc., so no it's likely not the same BECAUSE NAILING ALL THE FACTORS OF 2 210s COMBOS in a single random 410 CAB is unlikely.

Stacking your identical combos will work very nicely though. Move more air = more SPL.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

This is something that has come up in the family. We definitely have experienced the power of matching like cabs. That was the educational topic last year that was made very clear a few times in particular... so Thanks TB for that!

Now, we're hooked on the Ampeg BA210V2 for small situations. Man for a cheap amp its sweet... So my question now is since we have multiple(3) in the family, wouldn't it make sense to stack a couple of them for an outdoor gig the same way it makes sense to stack two of the same cabs? It literally should be the same tone, no cancelling crap, be able to reach more people, be louder... If we agree on that, I guess my question then boils down to is this: What's better 500 watt amp into a single 4x10 (or 2 like 2x10s) or stacking a couple 283watt 2x10 combos? Or is it really the same thing in a a way?

Popular opinion found on TB is that stacking two 2x10s, vertically, so that the four speakers are in a row top to bottom is preferable to one 4x10 that has speakers in a square arrangement of 2 on a side X 2 across. The verticle stack gets more speaker closer to ear level so you can hear yourself better. I'm sure more folks will chime in with better answers on this. I would think that combo stacking would yield pretty much similar results as the two 2x10 stack.

 

[PDavis]

Thanks guys. The speakers in these are not side by side they're in an angle so I think this sounds even better to me now with the points you guys brought up.. Anyways, we're just gonna have to break down and fire a couple up and get with the drummer haha

 

[Jim Carr]

...The speakers in these are not side by side they're in an angle so I think this sounds even better to me now with the points you guys brought up...

Even if your 210's are angled, a vertical columnar stack is better than a cubic 410. My source for this is the venerable Bill Fitzmaurice, who knows a thing or two about speaker cabinets and drivers. http://www.billfitzmaurice.com

Here is one of my old rigs that I asked Bill about:

 

[PDavis]

Thanks Jim! That's perfect. Thats exactly how the BA210's speakers look. This seems like more and more a great way to save some money and keep the tone we like.

 

[Mister_GothFrak]

@PDavis
I'm just gonna necro this. lmao. Sorry...

First of all, what did you end up doing?

Secondly, I have that amp and it's got an external speaker out.
Right now I've got a Hartke Hydrive 410 connected underneath it. Never turned the amp above 1 other than for a few seconds at the music store. Lol. It definutely sounds awesome.

If the future, I plan on using all those speakers elsewhere and attaching a 15-20" subwoofer.