Cabinet Matching...

[Keven]

Simple question really.

i'm looking at a 50w all tube head of X brand. a 2x12 cabinet of X brand caught my fancy. said cabinet is 2x12 50w 8ohms (loaded with greenbacks)

is the rating too close for a good match? this is for playing heavy metal of course so more preamp gain than power tube distortion.

thanks for any insight!

[Twinfan]

It all depends on how loud you play and the amp you have.  If you have the master of a 50w EL34 Marshall head at 11  ;) then you're likely to blow the speakers.

However, if you're running a KT-66 JTM45 at 60% you'll be fine.  The Greenbacks will take a bit more power than exactly 50w, so you don't need an exact match, but ratings of amps are usually specifed when they're clean - not dirty and cranked.

[Keven]

to be more exact i'm looking at the randall lynchbox 50 head. possibly going to strike a good deal. it's a 50w built around E34L's...

[Twinfan]

Depends how loud you play then!  if yo're going to have it pretty wound up, you may find the 2x12 can't take it...

[Keven]

i had a 100w head that i pulled two tubes out of. i recall the volume was set at around 3/4. i used an overdrive to kick up the preamp.... I play loud but just loud enough to get the powertubes flowing and remove some fizz from the preamp.

[Twinfan]

The only way you'll know for sure is to try it!  I personally would want a bit more room to move, especially if you're gigging.  The last thing you want live is for the speakers to blow and then your amp to go pop...

[dave_mc]

what speakers are in it, too? some speakers are rated more conservatively than others. as dave said, celestion has the rep of being pretty conservative, and i know when i emailed them they said 50w of speakers would be fine with a 50w tube amp... but then again, so did eminence, and they have the rep of being a bit less conservatively-rated. :lol:

[Keven]

looking at this particular cab for a 50watt head.
http://traynoramps.com/products.asp?type=2&cat=18&id=434

[ericsabbath]

I got my 90w mesa black shadow blown with my 50w zambelli amp after only a couple hours of live playing
the speaker died in the third band
the amp was loud for such a small bar room, but that means output volume around 1, and preamp around 3-6 tops, which is not THAT loud
I had a 100w framus cobra with the matching 100w cab with greenbacks, but I think a bunch of speakers are safer than a lone 1x12 speaker, despite of the power rating
I'm not sure I'd pick a 50w 2x12 cab, although I never had a problem with the framus cab

unless you have something against v30's, nothing can beat the price of the harley benton 2x12 sold by thomann
if you're decided on the greenback tone, you could buy an empty cabinet and order some higher powered webers , like silver bells
I have a pair of scumback h75's, which are g12h clones made by weber
they sound pretty close to a production celestion, but are kinda thicker sounding with a slightly smoother top
got these used for quite cheap, but if I had the cash, I'd order M75's, which are the greenback clones

[dave_mc]

looking at this particular cab for a 50watt head.
http://traynoramps.com/products.asp?type=2&cat=18&id=434

i was considering that cab ages ago. I haven't tried it, but one person (!) on UG had tried it and said it didn't sound very good.

I don't like only going by only one person's word, but at the same time, the bad review put me off :lol:

[damnedyankee]

We don't mess around when it comes to matching speakers up with our amps... in fact we purposely put our speakers through a fair bit of abuse to see what they can handle...

I can tell you now that the best sounding speaker for any kind of amp is the Tayden High Brit... if you use two of them with a 50W valve amp you will be in good hands... we have also used a Tayden ACE50/High Brit combination on a number of occasions and it is a popular solution... you will also be supporting a truly British manufacturer and not be handing your dough over to a Chinese company (Celestion are now Chinese owned!!)...