Please remember, like with car amplifiers, your head will not be sending a constant power of 800W to your cabinet at all times. This is simply how much power will be sent when operating at full volume (assuming the power ratings of your head and cabinet are the same). So if you are at only 20% volume, your head is definitely not outputting 800W to your cabinet, but instead much less (ex. ~200W). So like mentioned in the video, it is alright to have a head with a bit more power than a cabinet can handle, you just have to make sure to not drive it too hard and make sure to match the impedance.
I finally understood the 8/4 ohm cabs difference. I've watched several videos in a row from different creators and this one is only one that made sense. Thank you Clay!
Bro where the hell were you when I burned up my SWR head running it to a 2 ohm cabinet! Lived in a 4 plex and knocked the power out in the entire building! Damn!
I use a Mark Bass Jeff Berlin Combo 15 and a Mark Bass 2X10 as an extension cabinet. I can also just use the 15" combo solo. I bought a Mark Bass amp to power the 2x10 cab for gigs that it'll handle. That way for the big gigs, I stack the 2x10 on the 15 combo but use the other head on the 2x10 giving me 300 watts per cabinet. I run a line out from the 2X10 head to the balanced line in on the combo amp so each cabinet can have it's own unique sound . That configuration gives me the ability to dial in super lows, crisp highs and punchy midrange because each cabinet has it's own amp and eq etc.
Is your amp head a little mark ii ? What ohms do have your 2x10 and 1x15 set at when stacking to give you the 300 watts per cab ? (Just curious , didn't know it was possible)
@@yeewhiz Little Mark III and the 2x10 is 8 ohm. I only get 250 per cab when stacking but I often use two amps with Little Mark III powering the 2x10 cab and the Mark combo powering the 15, that's how I get 300 per cab. I use a separate amp for each cab and run a line out from one amp to the XLR in on the other. Each amp is 300 @ 8 ohms. Really cool with my Rickenbacker in stereo giving me one pickup per cabinet. Using 2 amps gives me the ability to have two totally different EQ settings for each cabinet too.
@@yeewhiz I use a Mark III with the 2X10 and the Mark combo amp with the 15. They both put out 300 @ 8 ohms. When I'm running both cabs off the combo head it's only 250 per cab. Using two amps gives me the option to use a different EQ for each cab too. Pretty cool. I just run a line out from one amp to the input on the other and then balance the volume as needed. Really cool with my Rickenbacker in stereo mode too. I have one cab and amp per pickup on the axe.
@@hermonbluesmaclin-theboogi6830 Thanks for the insight. I recently got the 2x10 because I like the clarity with the higher tones. I've had the 1x15 cab for a while and decided to get a 2x10. They both sound good for the purpose they serve. I was just curious to try my little mark III on both amps. Having an amp for each for different EQs makes perfect sense.
@@yeewhiz They definitely do sound great either way. And you’re right, the clarity of that 2x10 is better than the 15. I like the 15 for my reggae gigs.
Great explanation of how things work. It's something I had explained to me years ago and I did the physics whenever I wanted to try something new. It helped me learn things. If this video existed back then, would have saved me time and effort. LOL! Great job! I run an Ampeg SVT-3 Pro through a Trace Elliot 1048 (4x10 cab - 8 ohms) and Trace Elliot 1518 (1x15 cab - 8 ohms). The cabs have "Input" and "Link" inputs. Use "Input" direct from the amp and "Link" for a stack. Great tone and volume no matter how I run this setup.
You would need to check the specification sheet for your amp. But, with combos, generally, if it has an "external speaker" port, then it runs at about half power. Add an external cab and you will get full power.
I dont know why people buy combos unless you live in a apartment. Save a little longer and get a 4x10 or 2x12 and a head. Then save more money and buy a 2x10 if you want portable. Combos in my humble opinion are a waste of money for bass players. My 4x10 sounds luxious even at low volumes. My drummer works cement all day so I don't bitch about lugging a 4x10 to a gig. Its worth it. The Heavy good shit is harder to steal too lol.
I have a MESA 8 10’s Bass cab that has the parallel out that you mentioned and I would usually put workingman’s 410s behind the Drummer . What a great thing that MESA has included in those old cabinets, I wonder if they still do.
This was great. When I was a kid playing bass back in the 70s, I used to beat my head against the wall after blowing up bass cabs. I now have EV’s an old SWR basic 350. Burgundy face. It’s good down to two ohms, has a tube pre for warm sound, and you can find them for about 300 bucks all over the place. It’s a steal, grab one if you can. 450 watts at two ohms.
I'm pretty sure all bass cabinets are wired in parallel which means if you daisy chain 2 8ohm cabs, it becomes a 4 ohm load. if they were in series, it would be a 16ohm load. Maybe I'm wrong as I'm not a rocket scientist, but that makes sense to me. The rest of this video is spot on.
this is what the guitar tech explained to me when i came into the store looking for a new bass head 30 years ago, great video i wish i had information on hand like this back then .
Thanks for this Clay. I sort of knew what goes on with impedances etc but your brilliant explanation has filled in or the gaps. As a guitarist & bass player there is one question I have never had an answer to. This is as follows....WHY does a 100 Watt VALVE amp sound so much louder than an equivalently powered SOLID STATE amplifier? I use both kinds of amps & there is definitely a huge difference audibly. In other words why is a valve watt seemingly louder than a solid state watt? By the way I use a Mark Bass 800w amp head with a tiny pre-amp valve that can be dialed into the mix. I also use a Mark Bass 4x10" which is rated 4ohms. I believe this is similar to your rig in one of its configurations. I would like to add a 15" cabinet & bi-amp the 2nd system to keep the impedances correct but carrying this gear will be ridiculous at my senior age. The speaker magnet technology has improved massively & Neodinium ceramics have lightened cabinets somewhat. However the cab size situation has not inproved that much so I would still need a truck to carry this gear :)
Good question, I saw that tubes are louder than solid state(on a guitar amp vid), smaller tubes powering the big tubes, but I don't remember the exact reason. What I do know is that tube amps are a helleva lot heavier, haha, ugg.
> WHY does a 100 Watt VALVE amp sound so much louder than an equivalently powered SOLID STATE amplifier? Because Watts are not really a great way to measure volume.
thanks for explaining I am an electrical engineer and missed the math my rig includes a 2/12 and a 2/10, both with a tweeter two heads and a passive mixer to drive both amps and control the balance between the two combined rigs for sound changes after setup only the onboard EQ on my bass is used some more combinations possible first rig I built contained 19" gear: Rack Tuner, 19" dual compressor, active crossover five band parametric EQ stero power amp the two mentioned cabinets too heavy and less versatile compared to my current setup thanks for your good work
Solid State amps can usually run at 4 ohms (the old Sunn Coliseum could run at 2 ohms, which will blow most amps out, but Sunn went out of business some years ago and they are hard to find now). I run a Mark Bass head that puts out probably 500 watts at 8 ohm, but I run another cabinet out of the second output. I have a 4x10 cab at 8 ohms, and a 1x15 cab at 8 ohms, so that running in parallel, total 4 ohms, which allows my amp to run at 4 ohms and puts out 800 watts. Tube amps with an output transformer may be able to handle a little more variance in the output impedance, but if I ran my Solid State amp into 2 ohms, I would likely toast my output transistors. I have yet to use 800 watts, as this would be very loud. My 4x10 is the same Mark Bass cabinet in your video, and my 1x15 is meant to handle 350 watts, so I could possibly blow it out if I went full throttle. And when you're pushing a cabinet to it's rated wattage, you may still overheat and blow out a speaker. If your speaker is making scratchy distortion, you can gently push on the speaker cone. If you hear scraping, you have blown your speaker. If it won't move at all, you've sent the speaker into total meltdown. If I so blow my 15, which is unlikely saying I have only played small venues and have more than enough power. I will probably replace it with a Neo 2X12 cabinet.
hey i have a question, you probably just answered it but i wanna be 100% sure, my combo amp is 2ohm which alone puts out 350w…but can achieve 500w with an external cab….how many ohms does the external cab need to achieve 500w ??
If you want to achieve the maximum power from your amp you need to have two 4 ohm cabs this will give you the best performance for your amp and make your amp see a 2 ohm load and nice headroom
Hugely helpful. I've heard a lot of bad things about Markbass gear dying in the middle of gigs, which has made me reluctant to drop the $ on the stuff. Now, I'm wondering if it was self inflicted by the owners improperly pairing their rigs. I'm def bookmarking this video for my next equipment upgrade, likely to be Markbass...
Well, I'm very sorry to say that it happened to me after 6+ years of reliable operation playing at some pretty loud club gigs, MB Little Mark III combo with 2 x 10s connected to a MB 1x15 extension cabinet except during practice. Thankfully it died at home during practice - blew a fuse, which blew again after replacement within minutes. I spent a few hundred to have it repaired and the same thing happened again, within minutes. After having it repaired again I brought it to GC (where I bought it) and traded it for a couple of other amps. They have a great look and good sound and I love the lean back option for the 2 x 10 combo. Maybe I should be happy to have gotten 6+ years out of it?
Just so everyone knows, the section about impedance is incorrect in relation to series/parallel. Impedance is always lowered with adding more cabs. There is no brand that has "series" connections to tap into externally. E.g: 8+8 ohm =4ohm *I guess that's why it has a disclaimer saying "check your manual"
I have a TC Electronic BG250 combo which I found to be more than adequate for pretty much any bar gig. Anything larger, I “DI” it into the PA which you would likely be doing regardless! Got rid of my big GK rig and never looked back.
Man, this stuff can do ya head in. Hope that helped you guys out if you were really struggling to understand Cabinet and Ohms. I will add here that on more research it seems that MOST cabs tend to have Parallel connectors and just don't state it on the back but not ALL! So if you aren't sure if they are or not always connect each cab to the Amp Head individually to play it safe. Only Daisy chain if you amp head only has one output and you have to.
It really would help if he were speaking American English. In addition to the subject matter being a little confusing, and fast talking, there is a language barrier. However, I do appreciate the attempt to explain.
@@terrimac7993 It really would help if Americans spoke English and not that abortion called American English and leant how to spell socks. And pulled their head out there own arse and started to use the metric system Fix that up for us will you mate?
I just went to a live performance and the guy was running eight tens with a Aguilar head and you could not hear anything as far as definition it sounded muddy and horrible the next performance the guy ran a 410 and a small compact rig and you can hear almost everything he was doing and it sounded incredible
ive been playing mark bass gear for ten years i have a 800 tube head plus two 8ohmn cabs always have daisy chained cabs,even mark bass suggest this in there manual,cheers
Why not just use the 410 for the small venue with the volume backed off, the 410 for the medium venue with more volume, and two 410’s for larger venues. FWIW, I acquired this 410 recently. The amp is 1000 W and is on back order till December ‘24. Hopefully that’s just a placeholder. I think the head you’re using is the 800W tube head. I’m not so sure on the tubes. Have you done a discussion on tube vs. solid state?
Hey man, nice vid. Was trying to explain this concept to my guitarist last week. Dusting off the old physics formulas, good fun. I have a Mo'Mark 500W head with the HE tube preamp, and a 104HF cab. Saving up for a 151 cab to put underneath for the monster rig. With my Sansamp it sounds mega!
good video! If I need more power for a gig I’m entertaining the idea of adding a fender rumble 115 v3 extension cab (600 watt 300 rms 8hm) to my ampeg ba 210 v2 ( 283 watt @ 4ohm, 450 @ 8) via the extension out jack. Other than offending other bass players do you think this is an advisable pairing spec wise? My thought process is to add a 15 for more low end thump where I already have 2 10’s handling the punchy sound. I’d love to get some feed back! Thanks
I've done that, but splitting the difference, like he explained here, I found that I wasn't getting the best out of either. I always ran with 1 15, but I wanted to add a 2×10 so that I might actually hear myself over the obnoxiously loud guitarist I've played with. I dabbled with a 4×10, but I like the heavy hitting of a 15. That being said, the best bass cabinet I played was an old 2×12 offset.
I had a semi tube (those fake tubes) 60 watt custom build (originally owned by my uncle) bass amp with a yamaha 2x15 and 2x10 hartke combination... The speaker blew and i was about 17 so i ditched the amp completly... Ran a hartke lh500 with a 450 watts 4x10 after switching that up by buying my guitar players peavey tmax, tore out the amp and used my 4x10 with a 1x15 mix. Thats still owned by me but i switched to a markbass amp with a mesa 6x10+1x15 and there i hit that sound that i want!
Me, who thought he knew enough about rigs. Also me, learned valuable information saving me from possibly blowing up a bass head. One thing to mention; you didn't mention solid state vs tubes. Other than that it was a very informative vid, thank you.
It does not matter, until have the speaker coil spat out of the speaker. In general, to get the max "watts" out of your amp, you need to MATCH impedance, 4, 8 or 16 OHMs.
Its really not complicated. Read the specs.Most amps run fine with 4 and 8 ohm ratings. Buy 8 ohm cabs and then you can run one or two as needed. 2 amp heads are more rare. Genzlers are an example of this.
Just my old timer opinion but if you're pumping the music into a PA in addition to stage volume, let the PA do the heavy lifting, i. e. the lowest bass thuds. The stage sound doesn't need that. On stage I want percussive punch, and that's going to be more like 200 hz than 50. So I don't need my own 18s or 15s when 12s or even 10s would more effectively do the job. I used 2 12s and a midrange horn built into a wedge.
I’m planning on pairing a 500w 4 ohm amp head to a 2x10 4 ohm cabinet but it’s RMS power handling is rated at 400w. Would this amp head being 100w over the power handling cause any issues? Also I’m not planning on doing gigs or shows this is just for practice.
I watched your video several times. Thank you for the good information. I did discover that my Behringir BXD 3000H Ultra Bass Amp Head is rated at a minimum 4 Ohms and 300 watts and 180 watts at 8 Ohms. My Ampeg 2x10 Portaflex Cab is rated at 8 ohms but wired in parallel so I can actually connect two 8 Ohm cabs and get the full 300 watts Does this make sense? Thank you again.
When you say that you are running the two speakers in parallel do you mean in two separate speakon sockets at the back of the amp , if you do a lot of amps only have one socket so what do you do then ? Sorry if I’m being thick lol
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:00 🎸 *Introducción al mundo de amplificadores de bajo* - Explicación de la complejidad al comprar un equipo de bajo. - Dos opciones al comprar un amplificador: combos prearmados o emparejar una cabeza y un gabinete por separado. - Pros y contras de los combos, destacando la versatilidad frente al peso. 02:49 🔊 *Potencia, vatios y ohmios en amplificadores de bajo* - Diferencia entre la potencia en el cabezal del amplificador y la potencia en el gabinete. - Explicación de los vatios y su relación con la capacidad de salida del amplificador. - Introducción a la clasificación de ohmios y su importancia en la conexión de cabezales y gabinetes. 04:11 ⚡ *Impedancia: Factor crucial en la configuración del amplificador* - Analogía de la impedancia como la resistencia en un grifo de agua. - Advertencia sobre los riesgos de operar un amplificador por debajo de 4 ohmios. - Peligros de no comprender y respetar la impedancia adecuada para el amplificador y los altavoces. 06:03 🔄 *Conexión de gabinetes en configuración paralela o en serie* - Elección entre gabinetes de 8 ohmios o 4 ohmios y su impacto en la impedancia total. - Aclaración sobre no conectar gabinetes en serie para evitar la pérdida de potencia. - Recomendación de conectar gabinetes en paralelo para mantener una impedancia segura y obtener la potencia total del amplificador. 08:36 🎛️ *Configuración personalizada del equipo de bajo* - Ejemplo personal del setup de Clay con un cabezal de 800 vatios y dos gabinetes de 8 ohmios. - Desafío al emparejar gabinetes de diferentes potencias y cómo enfrentarlo. - Solución ingeniosa con un dispositivo personalizado para equilibrar la distribución de potencia entre los gabinetes. 13:56 🎵 *Conclusiones y recomendaciones finales* - Recapitulación de los conceptos clave: potencia, impedancia y conexión de gabinetes. - Consejo sobre la importancia de elegir cuidadosamente los gabinetes según las necesidades del músico. - Invitación a plantear preguntas adicionales en los comentarios y referencia a otros videos relacionados. Made with HARPA AI
ok, that means I can safely connect a TC Electronic BQ250 amp head to the Fender BXR100 amplifier. As long as I don't push too much volume on the BQ250, the BXR100 should be fine.
What’s up brother, this is actually the first video I see from your channel and best believe I subscribed, I have a quick question for you, I’m currently running the Markbass 102p combo amp, do you think I can ass another 2 10s to it? Like will the head support that ? Thank you
If you are running a amp with front of the house support you should only need enough volume for stage volume if you push it too hard it can actually sound like crap that's what people don't understand
Hi! one thing I don’t get; markbass has only one speakon out, so when connecting two 8 ohm cabs your only option is to daisy chain, or not? Cause in the video you disadvise to do that. What am I missing here?
If you daisy chain the cab that is getting too much power would that work? I had bass rig I put together that consisted of a Peavy 18" sub cabinet, EV 15"x10" cab powered by Gallien Krueger 700rb. Ran a Fender Bassman 4x10 that I rigged to only use 2x10 and took out two speakers and the tweeter. Pretty awesome sounding but never got the chance to test the limit of the power before it was stolen. Any thoughts on the potential problems being set up this way
My Question that I have, I have the Peavey Mini Mega 1000WT Head, I'm about to purchase the Markbass MB58R 122 Energy 800wt 8 ohm and the MB58R 104 Pure 800wt 8 ohm. Can this setup work normally with the Mini Mega head?? Somebody told me it can. But not a professional, So I'm asking this question before purchasing.
Hi there. Can you connect the bass guitar combo to a mixing table using a cable or is it better to use a microphone placed in front of the combo as you normally do with an electric guitar amplifier? Blessings from Porto, Portugal.
If your head has an XLR out or cabinet emulation out then yes you can connect direct to a desk. If your amp doesn't then it will need to Mike up your cabinet. It will sound bad if you connect direct. Also if you run your amp with no cabinet resistance from the speakers you can damage your amp due to too much current. Always have a cabinet connected to your amp, even if you are going direct!
I'm planning to connect a second 2x10 8OHMS 400W bass cabinet do my Little Mark 3 head. From their FAQ it was said that from each head speaker output i connect 1 cabinet as showed at 8:24. Or connect one of the speaker output to the first cabinet and then link it to the second cabinet again as showed 7:19. But it doesn't mention nowhere about the doubling of the impedance to 16OHMs or that will run quieter if i connect cabinet to cabinet it just says that either way you connect it you will run at 4OHMS but you say otherwise. You also have Markbass setup so please let me know what should i do. This is really weird i guess it should have worked great/same either way. Thanks
I have the little Mark 800 also with the Mark bass 210 & Mark bass 115. I’ve always Daisy chained them but now I’m wondering if I’m overworking the 115. I was also thinking of moving up to the 410. Any advice would be appreciated
I'm just learning bass. I have a G&L tribute LB100 (great bass for the $$!) but no amp. I am practicing through an old crate guitar amp model G-60. It sounds just okay, but am I at risk for damaging my amp?
You're probably ok but that's a guitar amp and will sound thin. Frankly, crate amps are very thin anyway.... nobody should own any crate amp... You need a bass amp. I recommend Fender Rumble 25.
Hey you mentioned towards the end about the impedance increaser your friend made so that each 10inch speaker would get the same power. Is this absolutely necessary or is it more of an "OCD" thing? Because the way I see it, the 210 should be ok with the 400watts, despite it being annoying that things aren't balanced with the 410 cab.
Thank's Clay this was very helpful! I have a question about 2 ohm amps, i have a Sunn 1200s bass head that runs at 2 ohms according to the manual, are there 2 ohm cabs out there or can I use 2 4ohm cabs?
thanks a lot Clay ! still , if i connect an extension cabinet to my compo amp ( it has an output for that ) , will the connection be in series or parallel ? how do i tell ? thank you
Great vid! Im confused. I check speaker cable with my muti meter with both cab connected to each other and it halfed the ohms. From there independent tested value. I MAY be wrong...lol Thanks! I use a Big Bang, new york 121 and a 210p in series and its great! ! !
My head hurts
My amp head hurts
Mine too. What answer did you get for number 2? I feel like I'm in math class again 🤣
Facts! I am still so lost lol
@@gamer10884is that a Little Mark 800 head?😆
Way to much talking
Please remember, like with car amplifiers, your head will not be sending a constant power of 800W to your cabinet at all times. This is simply how much power will be sent when operating at full volume (assuming the power ratings of your head and cabinet are the same). So if you are at only 20% volume, your head is definitely not outputting 800W to your cabinet, but instead much less (ex. ~200W). So like mentioned in the video, it is alright to have a head with a bit more power than a cabinet can handle, you just have to make sure to not drive it too hard and make sure to match the impedance.
I finally understood the 8/4 ohm cabs difference. I've watched several videos in a row from different creators and this one is only one that made sense. Thank you Clay!
I’ve been playing bass for decades and never understood this until this fantastic video! Thanks man!
I've been playing for over 40 years and never paid attention to this stuff. Thanks for enlightening me.
Bro where the hell were you when I burned up my SWR head running it to a 2 ohm cabinet! Lived in a 4 plex and knocked the power out in the entire building! Damn!
I use a Mark Bass Jeff Berlin Combo 15 and a Mark Bass 2X10 as an extension cabinet. I can also just use the 15" combo solo. I bought a Mark Bass amp to power the 2x10 cab for gigs that it'll handle. That way for the big gigs, I stack the 2x10 on the 15 combo but use the other head on the 2x10 giving me 300 watts per cabinet. I run a line out from the 2X10 head to the balanced line in on the combo amp so each cabinet can have it's own unique sound . That configuration gives me the ability to dial in super lows, crisp highs and punchy midrange because each cabinet has it's own amp and eq etc.
Is your amp head a little mark ii ? What ohms do have your 2x10 and 1x15 set at when stacking to give you the 300 watts per cab ? (Just curious , didn't know it was possible)
@@yeewhiz Little Mark III and the 2x10 is 8 ohm. I only get 250 per cab when stacking but I often use two amps with Little Mark III powering the 2x10 cab and the Mark combo powering the 15, that's how I get 300 per cab. I use a separate amp for each cab and run a line out from one amp to the XLR in on the other. Each amp is 300 @ 8 ohms. Really cool with my Rickenbacker in stereo giving me one pickup per cabinet. Using 2 amps gives me the ability to have two totally different EQ settings for each cabinet too.
@@yeewhiz I use a Mark III with the 2X10 and the Mark combo amp with the 15. They both put out 300 @ 8 ohms. When I'm running both cabs off the combo head it's only 250 per cab. Using two amps gives me the option to use a different EQ for each cab too. Pretty cool. I just run a line out from one amp to the input on the other and then balance the volume as needed. Really cool with my Rickenbacker in stereo mode too. I have one cab and amp per pickup on the axe.
@@hermonbluesmaclin-theboogi6830 Thanks for the insight. I recently got the 2x10 because I like the clarity with the higher tones. I've had the 1x15 cab for a while and decided to get a 2x10. They both sound good for the purpose they serve. I was just curious to try my little mark III on both amps. Having an amp for each for different EQs makes perfect sense.
@@yeewhiz They definitely do sound great either way. And you’re right, the clarity of that 2x10 is better than the 15. I like the 15 for my reggae gigs.
The information at 7:10 is wrong. Daisy chaining is still parallel and doing so with two cabs of matched impedance (8+8) will total 4 ohms.
Super clear and concise on all the information. Very helpful and I will be referring to this again when I start making purchases. Thanks!
The smartest and cleverest video I've ever seen about amp's impedance ! Awesome, man !
Great explanation of how things work. It's something I had explained to me years ago and I did the physics whenever I wanted to try something new. It helped me learn things. If this video existed back then, would have saved me time and effort. LOL! Great job!
I run an Ampeg SVT-3 Pro through a Trace Elliot 1048 (4x10 cab - 8 ohms) and Trace Elliot 1518 (1x15 cab - 8 ohms). The cabs have "Input" and "Link" inputs. Use "Input" direct from the amp and "Link" for a stack. Great tone and volume no matter how I run this setup.
It took me 4 times to understand but I did :D Thanks man!!!!! This is the best video to explain power and resistance.
Best explanation on youtube so far, well done man!
please explain Clay , how come compos have an 8 ohm speaker in them ? do they run at half their nominated power ? thank you
You would need to check the specification sheet for your amp. But, with combos, generally, if it has an "external speaker" port, then it runs at about half power. Add an external cab and you will get full power.
Thanks! This is a good overview to follow if you use a stacked bass rig. If you don't want to deal with these issues, just use a combo amp.
I dont know why people buy combos unless you live in a apartment. Save a little longer and get a 4x10 or 2x12 and a head. Then save more money and buy a 2x10 if you want portable. Combos in my humble opinion are a waste of money for bass players. My 4x10 sounds luxious even at low volumes. My drummer works cement all day so I don't bitch about lugging a 4x10 to a gig. Its worth it. The Heavy good shit is harder to steal too lol.
I have a MESA 8 10’s Bass cab that has the parallel out that you mentioned and I would usually put workingman’s 410s behind the Drummer . What a great thing that MESA has included in those old cabinets, I wonder if they still do.
This was great. When I was a kid playing bass back in the 70s, I used to beat my head against the wall after blowing up bass cabs.
I now have EV’s an old SWR basic 350. Burgundy face. It’s good down to two ohms, has a tube pre for warm sound, and you can find them for about 300 bucks all over the place. It’s a steal, grab one if you can. 450 watts at two ohms.
I'm pretty sure all bass cabinets are wired in parallel which means if you daisy chain 2 8ohm cabs, it becomes a 4 ohm load. if they were in series, it would be a 16ohm load. Maybe I'm wrong as I'm not a rocket scientist, but that makes sense to me. The rest of this video is spot on.
That’s the way I understand it also🤔
Me too!! That is the way I run my guitar cabs,, so when he said ohms doubled,, I was really confused
this is what the guitar tech explained to me when i came into the store looking for a new bass head 30 years ago, great video i wish i had information on hand like this back then .
Brilliant and very interesting...but will have to watch it again
This genuinely was helpful! Thank you for taking the time and effort to post this. I surely do appreciate it, and I can't be the only one!
Thanks for this Clay. I sort of knew what goes on with impedances etc but your brilliant explanation has filled in or the gaps. As a guitarist & bass player there is one question I have never had an answer to. This is as follows....WHY does a 100 Watt VALVE amp sound so much louder than an equivalently powered SOLID STATE amplifier? I use both kinds of amps & there is definitely a huge difference audibly. In other words why is a valve watt seemingly louder than a solid state watt? By the way I use a Mark Bass 800w amp head with a tiny pre-amp valve that can be dialed into the mix. I also use a Mark Bass 4x10" which is rated 4ohms. I believe this is similar to your rig in one of its configurations. I would like to add a 15" cabinet & bi-amp the 2nd system to keep the impedances correct but carrying this gear will be ridiculous at my senior age. The speaker magnet technology has improved massively & Neodinium ceramics have lightened cabinets somewhat. However the cab size situation has not inproved that much so I would still need a truck to carry this gear :)
Good question, I saw that tubes are louder than solid state(on a guitar amp vid), smaller tubes powering the big tubes, but I don't remember the exact reason. What I do know is that tube amps are a helleva lot heavier, haha, ugg.
> WHY does a 100 Watt VALVE amp sound so much louder than an equivalently powered SOLID STATE amplifier?
Because Watts are not really a great way to measure volume.
Good info but... where’d you get that lamp??
thanks for explaining
I am an electrical engineer and missed the math
my rig includes a 2/12 and a 2/10, both with a tweeter
two heads and a passive mixer to drive both amps and
control the balance between the two combined rigs
for sound changes after setup only the onboard EQ on my bass is used
some more combinations possible
first rig I built contained 19" gear:
Rack Tuner,
19" dual compressor,
active crossover
five band parametric EQ
stero power amp
the two mentioned cabinets
too heavy and less versatile compared to my current setup
thanks for your good work
Solid State amps can usually run at 4 ohms (the old Sunn Coliseum could run at 2 ohms, which will blow most amps out, but Sunn went out of business some years ago and they are hard to find now). I run a Mark Bass head that puts out probably 500 watts at 8 ohm, but I run another cabinet out of the second output. I have a 4x10 cab at 8 ohms, and a 1x15 cab at 8 ohms, so that running in parallel, total 4 ohms, which allows my amp to run at 4 ohms and puts out 800 watts. Tube amps with an output transformer may be able to handle a little more variance in the output impedance, but if I ran my Solid State amp into 2 ohms, I would likely toast my output transistors. I have yet to use 800 watts, as this would be very loud. My 4x10 is the same Mark Bass cabinet in your video, and my 1x15 is meant to handle 350 watts, so I could possibly blow it out if I went full throttle. And when you're pushing a cabinet to it's rated wattage, you may still overheat and blow out a speaker. If your speaker is making scratchy distortion, you can gently push on the speaker cone. If you hear scraping, you have blown your speaker. If it won't move at all, you've sent the speaker into total meltdown. If I so blow my 15, which is unlikely saying I have only played small venues and have more than enough power. I will probably replace it with a Neo 2X12 cabinet.
In my case amp is 2 ohm stable and I have two 4ohm cabinets, which allows me to have more headroom and very huge sound on the stage, it's awesome
hey i have a question, you probably just answered it but i wanna be 100% sure, my combo amp is 2ohm which alone puts out 350w…but can achieve 500w with an external cab….how many ohms does the external cab need to achieve 500w ??
If you want to achieve the maximum power from your amp you need to have two 4 ohm cabs this will give you the best performance for your amp and make your amp see a 2 ohm load and nice headroom
So surprised so many guys don’t get this. Playing in bands I was always explaining ohms / watts to guys. Crazy.
you must be a very clever little sausage then. Give yourself a pat on the back.
thanks man that helps a lot
Hugely helpful. I've heard a lot of bad things about Markbass gear dying in the middle of gigs, which has made me reluctant to drop the $ on the stuff. Now, I'm wondering if it was self inflicted by the owners improperly pairing their rigs. I'm def bookmarking this video for my next equipment upgrade, likely to be Markbass...
Well, I'm very sorry to say that it happened to me after 6+ years of reliable operation playing at some pretty loud club gigs, MB Little Mark III combo with 2 x 10s connected to a MB 1x15 extension cabinet except during practice. Thankfully it died at home during practice - blew a fuse, which blew again after replacement within minutes. I spent a few hundred to have it repaired and the same thing happened again, within minutes. After having it repaired again I brought it to GC (where I bought it) and traded it for a couple of other amps. They have a great look and good sound and I love the lean back option for the 2 x 10 combo. Maybe I should be happy to have gotten 6+ years out of it?
Just so everyone knows, the section about impedance is incorrect in relation to series/parallel. Impedance is always lowered with adding more cabs. There is no brand that has "series" connections to tap into externally. E.g: 8+8 ohm =4ohm
*I guess that's why it has a disclaimer saying "check your manual"
I have a TC Electronic BG250 combo which I found to be more than adequate for pretty much any bar gig. Anything larger, I “DI” it into the PA which you would likely be doing regardless! Got rid of my big GK rig and never looked back.
Man, this stuff can do ya head in. Hope that helped you guys out if you were really struggling to understand Cabinet and Ohms. I will add here that on more research it seems that MOST cabs tend to have Parallel connectors and just don't state it on the back but not ALL! So if you aren't sure if they are or not always connect each cab to the Amp Head individually to play it safe. Only Daisy chain if you amp head only has one output and you have to.
It really would help if he were speaking American English. In addition to the subject matter being a little confusing, and fast talking, there is a language barrier. However, I do appreciate the attempt to explain.
@@terrimac7993 It really would help if Americans spoke English and not that abortion called American English and leant how to spell socks. And pulled their head out there own arse and started to use the metric system
Fix that up for us will you mate?
Just stumbled across this! Nice one bro, great stuff!
I just went to a live performance and the guy was running eight tens with a Aguilar head and you could not hear anything as far as definition it sounded muddy and horrible the next performance the guy ran a 410 and a small compact rig and you can hear almost everything he was doing and it sounded incredible
so for your 2x10 cab you basically "daisy chained" an attenuator of some sort to increase the resistance to that cab? can you explain in more detail?
Thanks Clay! Good/useful info!
ive been playing mark bass gear for ten years i have a 800 tube head plus two 8ohmn cabs always have daisy chained cabs,even mark bass suggest this in there manual,cheers
Why not just use the 410 for the small venue with the volume backed off, the 410 for the medium venue with more volume, and two 410’s for larger venues. FWIW, I acquired this 410 recently. The amp is 1000 W and is on back order till December ‘24. Hopefully that’s just a placeholder. I think the head you’re using is the 800W tube head. I’m not so sure on the tubes. Have you done a discussion on tube vs. solid state?
Hey man, nice vid. Was trying to explain this concept to my guitarist last week. Dusting off the old physics formulas, good fun.
I have a Mo'Mark 500W head with the HE tube preamp, and a 104HF cab. Saving up for a 151 cab to put underneath for the monster rig. With my Sansamp it sounds mega!
Good explanation. But why do you shout it? It’s really hurting my ears.
Great explanation! Thanks
This video is awesome, I've learned alot
good video!
If I need more power for a gig I’m entertaining the idea of adding a fender rumble 115 v3 extension cab (600 watt 300 rms 8hm) to my ampeg ba 210 v2 ( 283 watt @ 4ohm, 450 @ 8) via the extension out jack.
Other than offending other bass players do you think this is an advisable pairing spec wise?
My thought process is to add a 15 for more low end thump where I already have 2 10’s handling the punchy sound.
I’d love to get some feed back!
Thanks
I've done that, but splitting the difference, like he explained here, I found that I wasn't getting the best out of either. I always ran with 1 15, but I wanted to add a 2×10 so that I might actually hear myself over the obnoxiously loud guitarist I've played with. I dabbled with a 4×10, but I like the heavy hitting of a 15. That being said, the best bass cabinet I played was an old 2×12 offset.
Gonna stick with combos.. :'D
Bad idea, learn as much as you can and get a good head and cab
I feel that energy so bad, but shit man I know this is gonna be worth it.
I'm trying to get Jason newsteads and justice for all tone for bass
@@jonnypena9334 that's easy! Just dial the volume to zero!
I got a 1967 Gibson Thor 50 watt all tube combo
Great explanation, I needed this thanks
Yes!!! Thank you!!! !Nation4Life
Impedance increaser is just a resistor lol
Its a secret technology for consumers )
Thanks for the info. This stuff is hard.
I had a semi tube (those fake tubes) 60 watt custom build (originally owned by my uncle) bass amp with a yamaha 2x15 and 2x10 hartke combination...
The speaker blew and i was about 17 so i ditched the amp completly...
Ran a hartke lh500 with a 450 watts 4x10 after switching that up by buying my guitar players peavey tmax, tore out the amp and used my 4x10 with a 1x15 mix.
Thats still owned by me but i switched to a markbass amp with a mesa 6x10+1x15 and there i hit that sound that i want!
Note that most EBS amp run 2, 4 or 8 Ohm cabs.
My Bergantino Forte goes down to 2 ohms
Me, who thought he knew enough about rigs.
Also me, learned valuable information saving me from possibly blowing up a bass head.
One thing to mention; you didn't mention solid state vs tubes. Other than that it was a very informative vid, thank you.
I'm so confused, but this helped a lot.
FINALY!!! Thanks man.
It does not matter, until have the speaker coil spat out of the speaker. In general, to get the max "watts" out of your amp, you need to MATCH impedance, 4, 8 or 16 OHMs.
What is the difference from a bass amp to a guitar amp? Can you use one for both, or are they really different?
Guitar into bass amp? Yes
Bass into guitar amp? No
Thanks bro!!! 🙏
Its really not complicated. Read the specs.Most amps run fine with 4 and 8 ohm ratings. Buy 8 ohm cabs and then you can run one or two as needed. 2 amp heads are more rare. Genzlers are an example of this.
Just my old timer opinion but if you're pumping the music into a PA in addition to stage volume, let the PA do the heavy lifting, i. e. the lowest bass thuds. The stage sound doesn't need that. On stage I want percussive punch, and that's going to be more like 200 hz than 50. So I don't need my own 18s or 15s when 12s or even 10s would more effectively do the job. I used 2 12s and a midrange horn built into a wedge.
Sooooo please explain how to rumble a block. Some shows I’ve been to the bass would almost take my breath away.
this video has helped me to look for an amp combo cuz I'm too stupid to figure this stuff out
I’m planning on pairing a 500w 4 ohm amp head to a 2x10 4 ohm cabinet but it’s RMS power handling is rated at 400w. Would this amp head being 100w over the power handling cause any issues? Also I’m not planning on doing gigs or shows this is just for practice.
From my research, you should be fine. Just don’t push it hard and pay attention to your sound. Don’t let the cabinet complain and overheat for long
I watched your video several times. Thank you for the good information. I did discover that my Behringir BXD 3000H Ultra Bass Amp Head is rated at a minimum 4 Ohms and 300 watts and 180 watts at 8 Ohms. My Ampeg 2x10 Portaflex Cab is rated at 8 ohms but wired in parallel so I can actually connect two 8 Ohm cabs and get the full 300 watts Does this make sense? Thank you again.
Great name, my friend.
When you say that you are running the two speakers in parallel do you mean in two separate speakon sockets at the back of the amp , if you do a lot of amps only have one socket so what do you do then ? Sorry if I’m being thick lol
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation:
00:00 🎸 *Introducción al mundo de amplificadores de bajo*
- Explicación de la complejidad al comprar un equipo de bajo.
- Dos opciones al comprar un amplificador: combos prearmados o emparejar una cabeza y un gabinete por separado.
- Pros y contras de los combos, destacando la versatilidad frente al peso.
02:49 🔊 *Potencia, vatios y ohmios en amplificadores de bajo*
- Diferencia entre la potencia en el cabezal del amplificador y la potencia en el gabinete.
- Explicación de los vatios y su relación con la capacidad de salida del amplificador.
- Introducción a la clasificación de ohmios y su importancia en la conexión de cabezales y gabinetes.
04:11 ⚡ *Impedancia: Factor crucial en la configuración del amplificador*
- Analogía de la impedancia como la resistencia en un grifo de agua.
- Advertencia sobre los riesgos de operar un amplificador por debajo de 4 ohmios.
- Peligros de no comprender y respetar la impedancia adecuada para el amplificador y los altavoces.
06:03 🔄 *Conexión de gabinetes en configuración paralela o en serie*
- Elección entre gabinetes de 8 ohmios o 4 ohmios y su impacto en la impedancia total.
- Aclaración sobre no conectar gabinetes en serie para evitar la pérdida de potencia.
- Recomendación de conectar gabinetes en paralelo para mantener una impedancia segura y obtener la potencia total del amplificador.
08:36 🎛️ *Configuración personalizada del equipo de bajo*
- Ejemplo personal del setup de Clay con un cabezal de 800 vatios y dos gabinetes de 8 ohmios.
- Desafío al emparejar gabinetes de diferentes potencias y cómo enfrentarlo.
- Solución ingeniosa con un dispositivo personalizado para equilibrar la distribución de potencia entre los gabinetes.
13:56 🎵 *Conclusiones y recomendaciones finales*
- Recapitulación de los conceptos clave: potencia, impedancia y conexión de gabinetes.
- Consejo sobre la importancia de elegir cuidadosamente los gabinetes según las necesidades del músico.
- Invitación a plantear preguntas adicionales en los comentarios y referencia a otros videos relacionados.
Made with HARPA AI
ok, that means I can safely connect a TC Electronic BQ250 amp head to the Fender BXR100 amplifier. As long as I don't push too much volume on the BQ250, the BXR100 should be fine.
It looks like you are a markbass fan :) In your opinion, which markbass combo is the ultimate one ( for practice and gig ) ? 😉
THE BIGGEST YOU CAN AFFORD..THE MARK HEADS DONT SOUND DIFFERENT ENOUGH TO EVEN WORRY ABOUT..THE MORE DRIVERS THE BETTER...
102 will have you covered for most stuff. Have a 4x10 for bigger gigs if you need it. You will be surprised just how much air the 102 combo can move!
Running an under-powered amp and clipping is way worse than running clean ac with a bit more power above the cabinet spec.
What’s up brother, this is actually the first video I see from your channel and best believe I subscribed, I have a quick question for you, I’m currently running the Markbass 102p combo amp, do you think I can ass another 2 10s to it? Like will the head support that ? Thank you
so you add this self-made impendance daisy-chained it with your speaker, what you don't wanted to do in first half of video?
Another Clay here!
If you are running a amp with front of the house support you should only need enough volume for stage volume if you push it too hard it can actually sound like crap that's what people don't understand
Short question; Combo 400W ( 200W RMS ) min 8 ohms ouput: Can i use a 450W 4x10 bass cabinet as external?
Hi! one thing I don’t get;
markbass has only one speakon out, so when connecting two 8 ohm cabs your only option is to daisy chain, or not? Cause in the video you disadvise to do that. What am I missing here?
Dennis Monincx On my little mark vintage I have 2 speakon out and I think it s the same with the tube 800
New subscriber here! I just bought a 4x10 GK cab with a peavy headliner 1000 head. Is this ok or do I need to add a cab?
If you daisy chain the cab that is getting too much power would that work? I had bass rig I put together that consisted of a Peavy 18" sub cabinet, EV 15"x10" cab powered by Gallien Krueger 700rb. Ran a Fender Bassman 4x10 that I rigged to only use 2x10 and took out two speakers and the tweeter. Pretty awesome sounding but never got the chance to test the limit of the power before it was stolen. Any thoughts on the potential problems being set up this way
My Question that I have, I have the Peavey Mini Mega 1000WT Head, I'm about to purchase the Markbass MB58R 122 Energy 800wt 8 ohm and the MB58R 104 Pure 800wt 8 ohm. Can this setup work normally with the Mini Mega head?? Somebody told me it can. But not a professional, So I'm asking this question before purchasing.
Old Peavey heads run fine at 2 ohms. It's a great thing so you can mismatch the fuck you want and still not damage the head.
So if in got this right lol.
I Run a Peavey Minimax 500 watt. To get 500 watt max power. I could use 2 8;ohm cabs . Rated to handle 500 watts or more?
Great video 🤘😝🤘
What’s the best Mark Bass head for a Mark Bass (2) 10 cab with a Mark Bass 15 on the bottom? Both ratted at 8ohm 400w each.
So I'll be fine if my bass head is 4 ohms and my cabinet is 8 ohms? Watts for the head is far less than Watts of the cabinet btw.
Hi there. Can you connect the bass guitar combo to a mixing table using a cable or is it better to use a microphone placed in front of the combo as you normally do with an electric guitar amplifier?
Blessings from Porto, Portugal.
If your head has an XLR out or cabinet emulation out then yes you can connect direct to a desk. If your amp doesn't then it will need to Mike up your cabinet. It will sound bad if you connect direct.
Also if you run your amp with no cabinet resistance from the speakers you can damage your amp due to too much current. Always have a cabinet connected to your amp, even if you are going direct!
I'm planning to connect a second 2x10 8OHMS 400W bass cabinet do my Little Mark 3 head. From their FAQ it was said that from each head speaker output i connect 1 cabinet as showed at 8:24. Or connect one of the speaker output to the first cabinet and then link it to the second cabinet again as showed 7:19. But it doesn't mention nowhere about the doubling of the impedance to 16OHMs or that will run quieter if i connect cabinet to cabinet it just says that either way you connect it you will run at 4OHMS but you say otherwise. You also have Markbass setup so please let me know what should i do. This is really weird i guess it should have worked great/same either way. Thanks
I have the little Mark 800 also with the Mark bass 210 & Mark bass 115. I’ve always Daisy chained them but now I’m wondering if I’m overworking the 115. I was also thinking of moving up to the 410. Any advice would be appreciated
I am building a similar rig with the 102 HF and the 104 HF CABS and was wondering were i can get the “inline impedance increaser”?
I'm just learning bass. I have a G&L tribute LB100 (great bass for the $$!) but no amp. I am practicing through an old crate guitar amp model G-60. It sounds just okay, but am I at risk for damaging my amp?
You're probably ok but that's a guitar amp and will sound thin. Frankly, crate amps are very thin anyway.... nobody should own any crate amp... You need a bass amp. I recommend Fender Rumble 25.
@@MrBlahdiblahdi Thanks! I see a used Fender Rumble 100 here for $150....BTW I do love the G&L...you should check one out some time.
I am a big fan of the Asian made G&L. Much better quality than the Asian made Fenders.
Hey you mentioned towards the end about the impedance increaser your friend made so that each 10inch speaker would get the same power. Is this absolutely necessary or is it more of an "OCD" thing? Because the way I see it, the 210 should be ok with the 400watts, despite it being annoying that things aren't balanced with the 410 cab.
He wanted the applied wattage to each cabinet to be the same so the sound would be more balanced.
I still don't get it lolol
I feel you bro jaja
i have a peavy 400 series bass head. what kind of cab setup should i go for ?
Great Vid!!! New Sub here! thank you!
H**P What is the specific type of FUSE required in replacing a blown fuse for the Little Mark III?
thanks for sharinG!
I have a Dark glass head and it has a 2 ohm setting. Can I run a 2.6 load? 8 and 4 ohm cabs?
Thank's Clay this was very helpful! I have a question about 2 ohm amps, i have a Sunn 1200s bass head that runs at 2 ohms according to the manual, are there 2 ohm cabs out there or can I use 2 4ohm cabs?
I only know about Darkglass DG108, that have the 2ohm imput, but looks they discontinued this cab series
which cable should we use for the parralel connection? Because mark tube 800 just have one "speaker out"
8:14 what if you only have one speaker output on your amp head like mine. and I herd it was fine to daisy chain cabs
thanks a lot Clay ! still , if i connect an extension cabinet to my compo amp ( it has an output for that ) , will the connection be in series or parallel ? how do i tell ? thank you
Just starting out to play bass what amp would be recommended for an amp? Tube, Valve, solid state, hybrid,simulated amp? Thanks
Great vid!
Im confused.
I check speaker cable with my muti meter with both cab connected to each other and it halfed the ohms.
From there independent tested value.
I MAY be wrong...lol
Thanks!
I use a Big Bang, new york 121 and a 210p in series and its great! ! !
God bless you