Newbie head and cab question

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chedwerks
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Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2010 8:49 pm
Location: Johnson City, TN

Newbie head and cab question

Post by chedwerks »

I'm sorry if this is stupid, but I don't know the answer to my simple question so I thought I could post it here and find out. I have a fifteen watt egnater head that runs into the matching cab (celestion g12h-30 loaded). My buddy has a Mesa mini rectifier that I was wanting to run into the egnater cab just to gets some different tones. The Mesa is a 25 watt head and I assume the 30 in the "g12h-30" is referring to it's wattage so does this mean that the speaker is capable of taking up to 30 watts meaning it would be fine to run the 25 watt head into it? Thanks again guys, and sorry for being electronically challenged.
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blargfromouterspace
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Re: Newbie head and cab question

Post by blargfromouterspace »

That's right. It's a 30W speaker so the Mesa won't kill it. BUT!!! What you do have to be mindful of is the impedance. Before you plug the Mesa into the cab be sure to check that the load of the speaker matches the load the amp expects - ie. if the cabinet is rated 16 ohms make sure the Mesa is set to/can handle a 16 ohm load. If you don't then at best you'll wear the tubes out and at worst you'll kill the amp.
-Jamie
chedwerks
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Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2010 8:49 pm
Location: Johnson City, TN

Re: Newbie head and cab question

Post by chedwerks »

Cool thanks blarg, I thought by logic I was correct but sometimes things don't always follow logic so I figured to ask instead of ruin either of the two..and I am aware of the impedance (I think because I asked a related question here :happy0007: )
chedwerks
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Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2010 8:49 pm
Location: Johnson City, TN

Re: Newbie head and cab question

Post by chedwerks »

After checking the mesa matching cab is 8ohm whereas my Egnater runs at 16 so I'm not sure if I can do it.
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blargfromouterspace
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Re: Newbie head and cab question

Post by blargfromouterspace »

Just had a look at the Mesa web-page for the mini Rectifier. It has speaker outs for 8 ohm or 4 ohm (4 ohm being two 8 ohm cabinets in parallel). Don't hook the MR up to your cab unless you want to lose friends!
-Jamie
louis cyfer
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Re: Newbie head and cab question

Post by louis cyfer »

with tube guitar amps, usually you want the speaker to be able to handle at least 2x the wattage than the amp is capable of putting out. it is a general rule, there are exceptions, but usually that is a good rule to follow. you can plug an 8ohm amp into a 16 amp cab, more problem the other way, but it won't be an ideal match. these are only issues if you are pushing the amp hard. if you are playing at low volume, it is not a biggie.