Members mlwarriner Posted September 28, 2007 Members Share Posted September 28, 2007 ok. in an effort to downsize my gigging gear, i acquired a 2x12 bass combo, the Hughes and Kettner BassBase 400. After reading through the manual, I found that the amp puts out 260 watts at 8 ohms, and *nearly* 400 at 4 ohms. The way it's loaded now, the amp runs at 8 ohms (with the onboard speakers). But. I've got a pair of 8 ohm 12's laying around. I wonder how much difference it would make to reload the combo with the other 12's, thus dropping the amp to 4 ohms operation. I know, I know. I'd be better off (volume wise) to add another 8 ohm cabinet. But that sort of negates the idea of getting a combo in the first place, IMO. So. Could I expect a reasonable increase in output volume by doing this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitargod0dmw Posted September 28, 2007 Members Share Posted September 28, 2007 I thought you were talking engines from reading the thread title... From all that I've read, no...I don't think you'd really get an increase in volume by much more than 3 db or so. You'll be moving the same amount of air, since the speakers are the same size. Now...if you added an 8 ohm 4X10, you'd be moving a lot more air. But then again, I've never really tried this. I will say that when I use my 1X12 cab, it's loud...but not that loud. When I add my 2nd 1X12, it's much better...but I'm also moving twice as much air by adding the 2nd speaker... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members allan grossman Posted September 28, 2007 Members Share Posted September 28, 2007 Difference in power will be less than 2db but you'll pick up a couple db from the extra 12" speakers. It will be a little tricky wiring all this up though - as you choices for two 8 ohm speakers are either 4 or 16 ohms. Combined with an 8 ohm combo amp if you wire it for 4 ohms the external speakers will get 2/3 the power and the internal speakers will get 1/3 - if you wire it as 16 ohms the reverse will be true but you lose output power as it'd present a 12 ohm load to the amp. Also, combining an 8 ohm combo with an external 4 ohm load will give you a load of 2.66 ohms, not 4 ohms. Is the amp rated for 2 ohm operation? The only way to get an 4 ohm load out of two 4 ohm (combo) speakers and two 8 ohm (external) speakers is to only run one of the external speakers. That'd give you a 4 ohm load but the downside is the single external speaker would receive half the amplifier power and would likely be the limiting factor in how loud you could turn the thing up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mlwarriner Posted September 28, 2007 Author Members Share Posted September 28, 2007 Difference in power will be less than 2db but you'll pick up a couple db from the extra 12" speakers.It will be a little tricky wiring all this up though - as you choices for two 8 ohm speakers are either 4 or 16 ohms. Combined with an 8 ohm combo amp if you wire it for 4 ohms the external speakers will get 2/3 the power and the internal speakers will get 1/3 - if you wire it as 16 ohms the reverse will be true but you lose output power as it'd present a 12 ohm load to the amp.Also, combining an 8 ohm combo with an external 4 ohm load will give you a load of 2.66 ohms, not 4 ohms. Is the amp rated for 2 ohm operation?The only way to get an 4 ohm load out of two 4 ohm (combo) speakers and two 8 ohm (external) speakers is to only run one of the external speakers. That'd give you a 4 ohm load but the downside is the single external speaker would receive half the amplifier power and would likely be the limiting factor in how loud you could turn the thing up. drivers in the combo are 16 ohms, wired to result in 8 ohms operation. i've got 2 8ohm drivers, to reload the combo with, thus dropping the combo to 4 ohm operation, and negating the use of an external cab... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members allan grossman Posted September 28, 2007 Members Share Posted September 28, 2007 You did say that, didn't you? Never mind. You'd probably do a hell of a lot better pairing that amp with an 8 ohm Avatar 2x12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mlwarriner Posted September 28, 2007 Author Members Share Posted September 28, 2007 You did say that, didn't you? Never mind. You'd probably do a hell of a lot better pairing that amp with an 8 ohm Avatar 2x12 but the point is to NOT use an external cabinet. the entire reason i parted with the mesa bass 400+ was to downsize and simplify. if i reload and rewire the bag end 2x12, i can get it to 8 ohms. or i have 2 different 8 ohm 4x10s i could also use. i just don't wanna. i'm getting lazy in my old age, and would rather make 1 trip than 2... :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members allan grossman Posted September 28, 2007 Members Share Posted September 28, 2007 but the point is to NOT use an external cabinet. the entire reason i parted with the mesa bass 400+ was to downsize and simplify. if i reload and rewire the bag end 2x12, i can get it to 8 ohms. or i have 2 different 8 ohm 4x10s i could also use. i just don't wanna. i'm getting lazy in my old age, and would rather make 1 trip than 2... :D Will the extra work be worth the extra 2db? Seems to me that if you needed the headroom rewiring the Bag End and bringing it along if you needed it would be the thing to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RSBro Posted September 28, 2007 Members Share Posted September 28, 2007 Ptch, 8x8- sissy FWIW, I ran one side of my WT800B @ 440W into a Whappo Jr both @ 4 ohms and it smoked. So, your fully 400-ish should be plenty IME. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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