A question about wattage and guitar speakers
Moderators: Slowy, Capt. Black
- griff
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 1746
- meble-kuchenne.warszawa.pl
- Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2017 6:57 pm
- Has liked: 499 times
- Been liked: 248 times
A question about wattage and guitar speakers
I have two 30 watt GB clone speakers I wanna try out in my cab. Will wire them in series for a 16 ohm load.
Powering them will be the Power Station that is 100 watts.
With my setup I barely get the PS master above a 9 o'clock with the speakers I currently have in the cab (100 watts each)
Will my two 30 watt speakers be safe at this volume setting despite the much lower wattage rating?
Powering them will be the Power Station that is 100 watts.
With my setup I barely get the PS master above a 9 o'clock with the speakers I currently have in the cab (100 watts each)
Will my two 30 watt speakers be safe at this volume setting despite the much lower wattage rating?
- griff
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 1746
- Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2017 6:57 pm
- Has liked: 499 times
- Been liked: 248 times
Re: A question about wattage and guitar speakers
Thanks man.
So would this statement ring true..
"Playing at levels that do not exceed the volume you get from your 1 w amp is perfectly safe for your speaker.
If a 1w head through the same speaker is louder than your 100 w head through the same speaker, the 1w head actually pumps out more power to the speaker than your 100w amp*."
With this said, I was running my Axe Fx through a 20w tube head before I got the Power Station, and it was damn loud. So I guess if I'm running the PS at the same volume as I was the 20 watt head, the wattage output would in theory be roughly the same? (Never more than 20 watts)
So would this statement ring true..
"Playing at levels that do not exceed the volume you get from your 1 w amp is perfectly safe for your speaker.
If a 1w head through the same speaker is louder than your 100 w head through the same speaker, the 1w head actually pumps out more power to the speaker than your 100w amp*."
With this said, I was running my Axe Fx through a 20w tube head before I got the Power Station, and it was damn loud. So I guess if I'm running the PS at the same volume as I was the 20 watt head, the wattage output would in theory be roughly the same? (Never more than 20 watts)
- RectifiedAmps
- Fender
- Posts: 508
- Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2014 7:05 am
- Location: Wellington
- Has liked: 201 times
- Been liked: 240 times
Re: A question about wattage and guitar speakers
If you can wire the speakers in parallel (for 4ohms I presume), then their combined rating would be 60w. In series, they’re only rated for 30W.
Nominal speaker rating is usually much lower than their maximum rating, but 30W off a 100W amp might be risky. 60W should be safer.
Nominal speaker rating is usually much lower than their maximum rating, but 30W off a 100W amp might be risky. 60W should be safer.
- sizzlingbadger
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 8258
- Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2011 7:12 am
- Location: Wire Wrapper
- Has liked: 1208 times
- Been liked: 1401 times
Re: A question about wattage and guitar speakers
Series or Parallel makes no difference to the total power handling (assuming impedance is matched correctly) which is 60W in total.
Tube amp and guitar tones straight from 1958… amazing how believable the sounds were back then, even without the modellers...
- RectifiedAmps
- Fender
- Posts: 508
- Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2014 7:05 am
- Location: Wellington
- Has liked: 201 times
- Been liked: 240 times
Re: A question about wattage and guitar speakers
My bad! Confusing power with current handling.sizzlingbadger wrote: ↑Sun Jan 24, 2021 2:11 pm Series or Parallel makes no difference to the total power handling which is 60W in total.
- griff
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 1746
- Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2017 6:57 pm
- Has liked: 499 times
- Been liked: 248 times
Re: A question about wattage and guitar speakers
I'm guessing the PS would have to be pretty damn loud to get even near 60 watts RMS?
Is wattage increase linear with volume?
I can't seem to find the sensitivity of the Speakers I'm using. If I knew that and used my phone with a decibel app, I'd probably be able to get an estimate of the power getting fed to the speakers
Is wattage increase linear with volume?
I can't seem to find the sensitivity of the Speakers I'm using. If I knew that and used my phone with a decibel app, I'd probably be able to get an estimate of the power getting fed to the speakers
- sizzlingbadger
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 8258
- Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2011 7:12 am
- Location: Wire Wrapper
- Has liked: 1208 times
- Been liked: 1401 times
Re: A question about wattage and guitar speakers
No its not, not the same scale for all speakers either due to their compression etc.
Tube amp and guitar tones straight from 1958… amazing how believable the sounds were back then, even without the modellers...
-
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 1076
- Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2019 9:13 am
- Has liked: 273 times
- Been liked: 297 times
Re: A question about wattage and guitar speakers
I thrashed a couple of GB’s for years with a 100w Jubilee. When one finally blew, it cost $60 or something to recone. Lucky the cab was wired in parallel so I could keep playing. While a bit of an inconvenience, I came to the conclusion that it was worth it for the increased toans
Interestingly, it blew when playing cleaner - clean tones causing greater cone excursion than a compressed higher gain tone.
Interestingly, it blew when playing cleaner - clean tones causing greater cone excursion than a compressed higher gain tone.
- Jay
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 7790
- Joined: Sat Sep 25, 2010 9:35 pm
- Has liked: 1633 times
- Been liked: 1297 times
Re: A question about wattage and guitar speakers
If the power station has selectable outputs, select 4 ohm and then connect your 16 ohm GB speakers. Should be 'safe' for a little while for the speakers. Not sure how the OT would handle that...
When faced with quality, I recognise it every time.
- griff
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 1746
- Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2017 6:57 pm
- Has liked: 499 times
- Been liked: 248 times
Re: A question about wattage and guitar speakers
Shit, you got away with it for a while..murky wrote: ↑Sun Jan 24, 2021 3:22 pm I thrashed a couple of GB’s for years with a 100w Jubilee. When one finally blew, it cost $60 or something to recone. Lucky the cab was wired in parallel so I could keep playing. While a bit of an inconvenience, I came to the conclusion that it was worth it for the increased toans
Interestingly, it blew when playing cleaner - clean tones causing greater cone excursion than a compressed higher gain tone.
So pretty loud most of the time Im assuming?
- griff
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 1746
- Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2017 6:57 pm
- Has liked: 499 times
- Been liked: 248 times
Re: A question about wattage and guitar speakers
Actually that gives me an idea..
I have 2 x 16 Greenback also. The clones are 8 ohm.
I could wire them all into my quad for a total load of 5.33 and select the 4 ohm out on the Power Station.. not too much of a mismatch.
I mean usually when I wire my 8's up for a total of 16 it reads around 12 or 13 on the meter anyway. Its never bang on.
I have 2 x 16 Greenback also. The clones are 8 ohm.
I could wire them all into my quad for a total load of 5.33 and select the 4 ohm out on the Power Station.. not too much of a mismatch.
I mean usually when I wire my 8's up for a total of 16 it reads around 12 or 13 on the meter anyway. Its never bang on.
- Bg
- Site Admin
- Posts: 43283
- Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2003 12:13 am
- Location: Auckland
- Has liked: 2262 times
- Been liked: 3907 times
Re: A question about wattage and guitar speakers
Not much of a mismatch, the power station is s/s anyway isn't it? Less susceptible to mismatch? Check the manual
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.
- sizzlingbadger
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 8258
- Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2011 7:12 am
- Location: Wire Wrapper
- Has liked: 1208 times
- Been liked: 1401 times
Re: A question about wattage and guitar speakers
That is because the DC resistance of the speaker is usually lower than the nominal impedance measured at1Khz.
It will be fine.
Tube amp and guitar tones straight from 1958… amazing how believable the sounds were back then, even without the modellers...