Combining head and cabintet...

  • Thread starter Thread starter David McCrea
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David McCrea

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I'm really kinda confused about guitar heads and cabinets, and which ones will work with each other.

So my question: Is it possible to combine the Valve Junior Head and say for instance a Hayden Amplifiers Peacemaker 412 Cabinet.

Or would this be completely pointless?

Ta!
 
There's no problem, as long as you can match the impedance (the Valve Jr. has 4, 8, and 16 ohm outputs, so that should be no problem,) and the cab has adequate power (wattage) rating, which for the VJ would be anything over 5 watts. :D

Depending on the efficiency of the cab, you can get better or worse volume levels.

So the Hayden cab is 100 watts at 16 ohms - no problem.
 
Excellent.

Thanks for the speedy reply.

Even though they function together fine, is it worth it? Or would I be better to buy a better head and therefore have reverb, distortion etc, or perhaps pedals would do the job?

It just seems that that head is super cheap for a valve/tube sound...for what, only £200 altogether!?
 
I'm not a gigging electric guitarist, but I imagine its lack of power (volume) would not make it practical in most venues. Most people (2nd hand info on my part) use it for recording overdriven guitar in the studio.
 
the epiphone valve juniors are surprisingly loud. if you combine it with an efficient speaker or speakers, you could probably get by in a small club type gig depending on your style of music.
 
But they can't be surprisingly loud. Lt. Bob assured me they weren't.

:D

But seriously, my question to the op is, do you already have one or the other of those two? If not, then it probably wouldn't be worth buying both, each for the other, but then again, maybe it would. Stranger things have happened. You may just luck onto the greatest unknown combination ever. Or the worst.

Will they work together? Yes. Will they sound good together? Who knows? the only way to know that is to try it and see, as ultimately, what sounds good is subjective, and only you can say anyway. If they're both at the same store, try them together and see, (using your guitar and effects).

And yes, the VJ is primarily for home recording and solo or small scale practice. It's not meant to be a club amp or a Marshall or Twin replacement, though I'm sure there are small (read tiny) club situations where you could get away with using it. Just remember, it's really meant to be a one trick pony, not a multipurpose gigging amp.

Let us know what you decide to do, and how it works out. That's how we all learn here - from each other.

I, myself, just bought a used Johnson 12-string acoustic (alright, quit laughing dammit) for a hundred bucks including gig bag. It plays and sounds surprisingly good, and definfitely good enough for my purposes at this point.
 
Thanks for the info guys.

The only problem would be actually finding a shop that has both of these products on show. Darn.

Would the case not be, if the Valve Junior Head was connected to a big enough speaker - perhaps the Hayden I was talking about (which is 100W or whatever), then could it not be made loud enough for most gigging situations?

Anyhoo, the only places I play in public are in my local church. So the guitar amp would need to be loud enough for 600 people to sing and the lead guitar still be heard.

But yes, I will keep you posted =]
 
Ever consider something like... VJ head into a 2X10 cab then mic it to the PA? Bigger speakers and more volume are NOT interchangable terms. Bigger (more) speakers can really suck the tone right out of low wattage amps.
 
Dani Pace said:
Ever consider something like... VJ head into a 2X10 cab then mic it to the PA? Bigger speakers and more volume are NOT interchangable terms. Bigger (more) speakers can really suck the tone right out of low wattage amps.
Click to expand...

I totally agree with this, rather put a mic in front of it and send it through the FOH.
 
Outcome.

Hey guys.

Firstly, thanks for all the advice. I've decided to buy a combo instead. It suits my needs much better. Not just any combo, buying a second hand Traynor YCV40 for £250, from a friend of a friend. Excellent condition. It's such a gorgeous amp, couple it with an 8ohm cabinet and bam, perfect set up =]

David.
 
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