OK To put good head with cheap cab?

johnROSS

hey, i'm thinking of buying my first stack in the coming months, and i have a question. is it alright to put a pretty good head (Marshall, etc.) with a cheap (harley benton, etc.) cab? or should i buy the marshall cab to go with the marshall head?

Squidgy Black

It's perfectly fine, but you may not like the sound in comparison to a cab with decent speakers. If you're stuck for money, have a look at the Harley Benton cabs with V30's in it. What head are you getting btw?

johnROSS

haven't really decided yet, but possibly a marshall with fairly high wattage, second hand most likely

punchdrunk

don't get too caught up in wattage!! you don't need a marshall major to play whelans!

Squidgy Black

punchdrunk wrote: »

don't get too caught up in wattage!! you don't need a marshall major to play whelans!

You don't need one but they're god damn beautiful :pac:

If you're getting a valve head, the DSL or JCM series etc, definitely pick up a decent cab, it'll make a world of difference. As punchdrunk said, there's no need for big wattage, 50 watts tube is more than enough for most bands, you'll more than likely be told to turn it down by the sound guy.

If it's an MG series or a valvestate, well the cab doesn't really matter because they're not exactly quality sounding amps in the first place.

punchdrunk

personally I never been a big fan of the dsl's I've played through (admittedly only a couple of them though)
go for a jcm 900 or 800 if you can manage it!

Demeyes

As was mentioned you don't really need a "Big Wattage" head. Anything tube will pretty much do the job for jamming and gigs. I have heard 14watt heads go louder than a rock drummer in a jam environment, and I have a 50W that has been never been pushed higher than a third of the master volume being gigged!
If you are looking at a cheap cab I'd recommend getting a decent second hand marshall 4x12 or similar. I've seen loads go for less than 300 quid which isn't much for something you should have for years. I'd recommend the Harley benton 2x12 with the V30s if you want a smaller cab for a decent price. I've got one here and it sounds pretty decent even compared to some bigger cabs that cost a nice bit more. However, I wouldn't recommend cheaping out on a cab with no name speakers or cheap speakers. I've played through bad cabs and they are junk and it doesn't matter what you use through them it will still sound bad. It will be the weak link in your whole chain and in the end when you do upgrade you'll wonder why you ever got the useless giant doorstop that is your cheap cab!

cezet

My recommendation is low wattage amp + good quality speaker cab.
Even 18W tube amp with high sensitivity guitar speaker can do any job
Are you bedroom player or gig player ?
I personally use a 10W single ended EL34 amp with Celestion or Eminence speakers for pub's gigs in 4 men rock band and it's enough.
1x12 or 2x12 cab with good speakers for small gigs or 4x12 for really big stages is good choice.

Ravelleman

The above is truth. I'd spend my money on a lower wattage head and a higher quality cab. That way you might actually get past 1 1/2 on the volume control.

Squidgy Black

Ravelleman wrote: »

The above is truth. I'd spend my money on a lower wattage head and a higher quality cab. That way you might actually get past 1 1/2 on the volume control.

I play at roughly 2-2 1/2 on mostly 100 watt amps at home, around 4-6 for practice (loud drummer) but at most gigs it ends up that we're told to turn it down. If you're going with a lower wattage head, or any head in fact, make sure to get one with a master volume. Otherwise you'll have no dirt sounds unless you crank it. I have a 6 watt VHT running through a 1x12 cab, and it's bloody loud to try and get any kind of dirt out of it.

A 4x12 is overkill most of the time by the way, you'll rarely be pushing enough air to notice the difference between a 4x12 and a 2x12.

Demeyes

I'd just like to re-iterate that Watts don't equal volume. Different circuits will get different perceived volumes for the same wattage. Also if you do want to get twice as loud with an amp, you have to get ten times the wattage due to the non linear log relationship with decibels. Just a few things to remember because pretty much everyone at some stage thinks 20W is twice as loud as 10W when that's not the case at all.