bass heads and cabs wattage?

Question

so i want to buy a bass stack and im looking around and i just want to make sure i have this right, say im going to play a show and i want 800 watts i have a head that puts out 400watts if i hook up 2 400watt cabs to it i will get the 800 i want right? so im just making sure the head will send how many watts it has to each cab i hook up, so say i had a 300 watt head and i ran it to the same 2 400watt cabs id get 600watts? also i could end up blowing out my cabs if i ran say a 400 watt head to a 250 cab? can u blow out a head im thinking not? thanks i know its a lot but i think i have most of it thanks

Answer 1

Your head is 400 watts. period, hooking up two 400 watt cabs is not going to magically give you 800 watts anymore than
If I gave you 1 cup of water and told you to fill up two cups.
The speakers when the impedance is equal will share the output power so 2 cabinets would handle 200 watts a piece for the total 400 watts.
If you want 800w than you need to purchase an 800w amp.
If your using the minimum speaker impedance as suggested by the manufacturer then you should output the correct wattage.

If you had a 300 watt head to the same cabs than each cab would get 150 watts and the rest would be overhead.


Depending on whether you are talking about a tube amp or solid state can you blow the head. For a tube amp always match the speaker impedance to the output of the amp. For a solid state never go below the minimum speaker impedance rating for the amp.

better to underrate the amp to the cabinets than overrate to protect your speakers.

Answer 2

OHMS is the significant - a 4 ohm cab will draw two times as plenty potential out of your head than an 8 ohm. Your head ought to be a minimum of three hundred watts into 4 ohms additionally. A 4 -10 or 4-12 cab or 2 - 2x10's could be loud adequate.

Answer 3

Power output of any amplifier is dependent on the load. If your amp is rated at 4 ohms, then you would need to sun two 8 ohm cabs to develop full power, but you won't get any more than rated power.

Too low of a load will overheat your head and it will fail, and, if not equiped with thermal protection it will burn itself up.

If your head is rated at 400 watts, 400 watts is what you're going to get.

Answer 4

I lack the expertise to give you a real detailed answer but you need to know the resistance of your cabs and the rating of your head ( like 400 watts @4 ohms) in order to calculate what you get. and yes you can damage the head also.