Trying to build a stack

Hartland Brown

Hartland Brown

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Feb 3, 2016
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#1
So up until recently I was using a combo amp and wanted to get something with better sound. After a few series of circumstances I've ended up with an Ashdown 410t deep 4x10 cabinet at 450 watts (8ohms) and a Ampeg svt3 450 watts (4ohms) 285 watts(8ohms). I was informed by someone that if I wanted to match the wattage of the two all I have to do is get another similar cab (was thinking a 1X12) at 450 watts 8ohms and this would make the Ashdown and other cabinet come in at 450 watts and 4 ohms each. Is this the correct line of thinking? I'm concerned that the wattage on each cabinet would increase when brought down to 4 ohms leaving me in essentially the same situation Im in now.
 
#2
Hartland Brown said:
So up until recently I was using a combo amp and wanted to get something with better sound. After a few series of circumstances I've ended up with an Ashdown 410t deep 4x10 cabinet at 450 watts (8ohms) and a Ampeg svt3 450 watts (4ohms) 285 watts(8ohms). I was informed by someone that if I wanted to match the wattage of the two all I have to do is get another similar cab (was thinking a 1X12) at 450 watts 8ohms and this would make the Ashdown and other cabinet come in at 450 watts and 4 ohms each. Is this the correct line of thinking? I'm concerned that the wattage on each cabinet would increase when brought down to 4 ohms leaving me in essentially the same situation Im in now.
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The wattage figure on the cabs refers to the maximum wattage that they can handle, not an ideal or target wattage or anything else. The impedance figures are the nominal impedance of each cab - that figure will not change. Two 8 ohm cabs attached to that amp will make the amp 'see' 4 ohms of nominal impedance which will see it put out a maximum of 450 watts total into those cabs - i.e. 225 watts each. So at present the maximum power going into that one cab is 285 watts (and you'll rarely be putting that much into it - it's dependent on your volume knob!), and with two, the maximum going into each cab would be 225 watts. It doesn't matter that that is a lot less than the maximum that the cab can handle, as the cab is just fine with anything up to that maximum.

Basically, there's no technical reason for adding an extra cab, in that your amp and cab are quite happy with each other at present, but if you want more volume, then adding an extra cab would be helpful. I'm not sure that I would bother adding a 112 to a 410 though, as you're not really adding much extra surface area (and hence volume). If you're happy with the volume that you're getting out of the 410, then I wouldn't be too concerned with adding an extra cab.
 
#3
So the main problem is that the peak light comes on when I start to turn my amp up to the volume I need with the 410 at the moment, should I just get a different cab at this point so as to avoid that? Or is the peak light not as big of a deal as I'm thinking it is? I can't turn the volume up to half without the light coming on at the moment, and I'm in a 5 piece funk group so I need to be pretty loud and I don't want to have to worry about burning out my amp.
 
#4
Adding a second can will move more air. It will be louder. I doubt you'll find a single 12 that will handle 450w. Maybe a 15 will. Folks around here will advise you to stick with more 10"'s as that's what you already are using.
The clip light is no big deal, as long as you like what you hear, it's not a problem.
 
#5
rufus.K said:
Adding a second can will move more air. It will be louder. I doubt you'll find a single 12 that will handle 450w. Maybe a 15 will. Folks around here will advise you to stick with more 10"'s as that's what you already are using.
The clip light is no big deal, as long as you like what you hear, it's not a problem.
Click to expand...
So if I'm clipping constantly, (pretty much every single note if I'm getting the tone I want) I should be okay for now until I can spring for a 4 ohm cab to take advantage of the head? I just really like the SVT 3 and don't want to burn it out before I can get a cab it'll get along with better haha
 
#6
Hartland Brown said:
So if I'm clipping constantly, (pretty much every single note if I'm getting the tone I want) I should be okay for now until I can spring for a 4 ohm cab to take advantage of the head? I just really like the SVT 3 and don't want to burn it out before I can get a cab it'll get along with better haha
Click to expand...
Stack? Or Double stack?
You can only use one cab if it is 4 ohms. (Stack)
You can use two cabs if each one is 8 ohms. (Double Stack)
You should not use a 4 ohm cab with an 8 ohm cab for an amp rated for 4 ohms.
The total impedence will be less than 4 ohms, which is not good for a 4 ohm amp.
if you are looking for a big volume increase go with another similar cab.
You'll get extra power because you are feeding the amp to a 4 ohm load AND you'll get much loader due to additional speaker surface area pushing more air.
More speaker area increases loudness at a faster rate than does a power increase.
You may find that you will be turning the amp down a lot more with more speakers.
Thinking about adding a single driver cab 1x15 or 1x12...
If both cabs are 8 ohm. Then you are dividing the total power equally between the two cabs but unequally between all five speakers. Half the amp power power goes to a 4x cab and half to a 1x cab. This means 1/8 of the amp's power is divided equally between the 4x cab speakers and 1/2 of the amps power is going to the 1x cab.
You'll not be getting good use of the 4x and may be driving the 1x harder than you want.
 
#7
Ah, I do not like the sounds I get from a single 15 or 12 compared to a 4x10, and if the 12 would overpower my 4x10 it would ruin the tone I go for, so it sounds like what I want is to either replace the 8ohm 4x10 I have with a 4ohm 4x10 or get an additional 8ohm 4x10 if I want to keep my current cab and utilize it well.... any opinions as to which would be better? a single 4 ohm 4x10 of matching wattage or 2 8ohm 4x10's each with double the wattage of what the amp will likely give them
 
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