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build/buy 100 watt head?


lachupakabra361

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I'd check out craigslist for a used 100W head. Heck, I just sold an old Randall bass head that was 120W, and sounded great. You might even consider using a guitar head. As long as the speakers are rated for bass, you'll be fine.

 

Another option might be to find an old 100W combo and pull the amp section out of it. You'll most likely have to build a case to go around it, but that shouldn't be too hard.

 

100W bass heads by themselves are pretty rare these days. I'm not sure if anyone even makes a 100-120 bass head by itself anymore. (Tube maybe, but that won't be cheap) Solid State, it's just too underpowered to put in anything but a combo. Aside from that, your only other options are probalby gonna be 180-200W heads and up, which will be fine at lower volumes, or if you add another cab rated at 100W or more. (assuming that impedance doesn't drop too low with the add on). Using a head with twice the power of the cab though, you risk wearing your speakers out a lot faster, if not blowing them if you turn up too loud.

 

 

FYI, building your own electronics (amps especially) and inexpensive RARELY go together.

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Inexpensive w/o much care for quality/tone? Crate. Hell, you could buy a 100W Crate combo for probably $100 and just rip out the amp.

 

 

good point... hmm... well i do also have an ampeg BA-115combo. any way i could hook this cabinet up to the combo so it runs both? it only has an one XLR out which i run to the soundboard. no second line out on the back.

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good point... hmm... well i do also have an ampeg BA-115combo. any way i could hook this cabinet up to the combo so it runs both? it only has an one XLR out which i run to the soundboard. no second line out on the back.

 

I don't believe that the XLR outputs an amplified signal, so you would need another amp in line with the extension cab in order to utilize the XLR, and that kind of defeats the purpose... ;)

 

What kind of cab did you buy? What is the impedence? How many speakers are there?

 

I suppose you could wire an external jack parallel to the BA115 speaker, but this would involve drilling out the back. You could then use this to "daisy chain" the ext. cab on. Realize that doing this will cut the impedance however. I'm not sure what the specs of the BA115 are, (or more specifically, what the minimum operating impedance is), but this could potentially overheat your amp. It will depend, again, on the impedence of both the stock speaker and the cabinet combined, as well as the minimum impedence of the BA115's amp.

 

Another option (probably the better one?) would be to install a "shorting" jack (or a switching jack) in such a way that it isolates (disengages) the existing ampeg speaker when an external cab is plugged in. Again, this involved minor modification to the amp, but it will allow you to use the ampeg amp with your cab. It also assumed that the cab has a tolerable impedence for the head (which it MOST likely does).

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You don't need to dime the mofo - just turn it up 'til the cab starts to complain.
:p

Just running it at 10 o' clock might be more than it can handle. Speakers don't always complain before they die. :idk:

 

If I were looking for something to go with a 100 watt cab, I would look for a 50 watt amp. Like a Bassman head or something.

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