I'm learning way more than I want to (bass amps)

[lomky]

Recently my bass cabinet (8ohm 15" 500 Watt Carvin) crapped out. I use a Hartke 3500 bass head that has served me well for over 7 years (knock on wood). The amp says it runs 200W @ 8 ohm and 350W @ 4 ohm. My questions. Lets say I buy something like a SWR Triad which is rated 400W @ 4 ohm. Is the cabinet I buy going to draw the correct wattage from my amp? I have 2 speaker outputs on my amp. If I plug two cabinets in is it splitting the power between the two outputs?

Ah crap I think I just confused myself more. Bottom line, can I plug a SWR Triad into my Hartke 3500 and be loud and not blow anything up?

Thanks for info.

[Farview]

You can plug one of them in. If you get two 4 ohm cabinets, you will be running at 2 ohms and you will blow the amp.

[Halion]

Yes you can. You will be putting the full load on your cab, which is good (you are getting the max from your hartke). However, do not connect a second cabinet or your load will get too low and you might damage stuff. If you still need more power, you will need to buy a bigger amp first.

[ermghoti]

If I may interject, that is not a terribly powerful bass amp; bass frequencies require a ton of power to get to volume. If you are playing at rock band volumes, I'd guess you are pretty much turned all the way up. Solid state amps, turned all the way up, clip. Clipping kills speakers. Regardless of ohmage, you may find yourself going through some speakers.

BTW, have you called Carvin? I wouldn't be surprised if they would re-build your cab, and I know for a fact they will offer a discount on new gear. The BRX, or whatever they call their new line of bass stuff, looks awesome.

[lomky]

Originally Posted by ermghoti

If I may interject, that is not a terribly powerful bass amp; bass frequencies require a ton of power to get to volume. If you are playing at rock band volumes, I'd guess you are pretty much turned all the way up. Solid state amps, turned all the way up, clip. Clipping kills speakers. Regardless of ohmage, you may find yourself going through some speakers.

BTW, have you called Carvin? I wouldn't be surprised if they would re-build your cab, and I know for a fact they will offer a discount on new gear. The BRX, or whatever they call their new line of bass stuff, looks awesome.

hmmm, I dunno, but the amp has served me well in many rock bands. I play in a pretty loud metal/punk band right now and the amp never even gets close to half volume.

As far as the Carvin, the tinsel (sp?) wire to the speaker cone broke, and as far as I can tell from those that I have spoke to it is a bitch to fix and will probably break again. And I bought it used almost a decade ago.

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by lomky

hmmm, I dunno, but the amp has served me well in many rock bands. I play in a pretty loud metal/punk band right now and the amp never even gets close to half volume.

As far as the Carvin, the tinsel (sp?) wire to the speaker cone broke, and as far as I can tell from those that I have spoke to it is a bitch to fix and will probably break again. And I bought it used almost a decade ago.

That speaker can be reconed and be as good as new. Replacing the tensor (I think that's what they call it) wire is part of the job, and it's probably a lot cheaper than a new cab.

[lomky]

Originally Posted by ggunn

That speaker can be reconed and be as good as new. Replacing the tensor (I think that's what they call it) wire is part of the job, and it's probably a lot cheaper than a new cab.

Cool, thanks for that. At least I have options, I kinda got the itch to buy new gear now though

I'll have to check into someone in my town that can recone speakers.

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by lomky

Cool, thanks for that. At least I have options, I kinda got the itch to buy new gear now though

I'll have to check into someone in my town that can recone speakers.

There's a place in Oklahoma City that I've used who did a really good job on an old Altec monitor speaker for me. I just boxed up the speaker and UPS'ed it to them and they had it back to me in about a week. Charged my credit card over the phone. Pretty painless. I have their particulars at home; if you want I can send them to you.

Altec themselves recommended this shop, so that's a pretty good reference.

[lomky]

Originally Posted by ggunn

There's a place in Oklahoma City that I've used who did a really good job on an old Altec monitor speaker for me. I just boxed up the speaker and UPS'ed it to them and they had it back to me in about a week. Charged my credit card over the phone. Pretty painless. I have their particulars at home; if you want I can send them to you.

Altec themselves recommended this shop, so that's a pretty good reference.

Sounds good, you can message me with it or post it.

Thanks

[PsychoBandito]

man some of those carvins look tempting but damn I need a job first

the funny thing is my friend who is a bassist like myself, has a carvin 100 watt. It is extremely good and I have seen that first hand

a lot of folks hate carvin cause of the sound

this is confusing

[ermghoti]

Originally Posted by lomky

hmmm, I dunno, but the amp has served me well in many rock bands. I play in a pretty loud metal/punk band right now and the amp never even gets close to half volume.

As far as the Carvin, the tinsel (sp?) wire to the speaker cone broke, and as far as I can tell from those that I have spoke to it is a bitch to fix and will probably break again. And I bought it used almost a decade ago.

Odd. I would generally look to 500w as a comfortable rating for a rock bass amp [shrugs]

Yeah, recone that bad boy, it's your easiest way out. Carvin would do it, or just replace it, cheap, but the shipping would negate any benefit. Give them a call anyway, they may make some rediculous offer, and it only costs you a few minutes on the 800 number.