Speaker wattage rating/ Amp wattage

[Gonzo]

I read this on Scumback's website:

"Please understand one thing. Most amps are rated for their advertised RMS wattage at clean signals. On most amps that's going to be at 3-5 on the volume knob. So your 100 watt Marshall puts out 100 watts at 4. You like to play it at 7, and if your amp is healthy, that's when it puts out 150-180 watts (or more). The guys at Marshall knew what they were doing when they put the "100" logo in the corner of the cabs, but that still meant that you needed two of them to handle a 100 watt amp that put out 180 watts at the levels you set the amp! Get your amp tested for it's real output wattage, no one likes the smell of a melted speaker, OK? Always figure you need twice your RMS wattage in speaker power handling to safely run your amp on 10.

If you get two 30 watt speakers to run with your 50 watt amp, and dime it, they'll be good to go for awhile. I don't know what timeframe "awhile" is. I've safely done it for 2 hours straight, without issues. I have not done that for extended periods, so you want to take that into consideration with all the OD pedals, clean boosts, and so forth that push speakers to raise your level for solos. Use your good old common sense here. Sure, your old small block sounded great and was running awesome at 8000 rpm for "awhile", then the crank, piston, or connecting rod broke, and you weren't mobile anymore. Use the same common sense judgment with choosing your speaker wattage."


WOAH! If this is accurate why would the 2266c come with 2 g12c 25 watt greenbacks????? Maybe you aren't supposed to ever turn it up? C'mon-somebody's got to have an answer to this one. The only reason I'm worried is because I'm using a 2266 thru a 2x12 with 25 watt Greenbacks now. Very interesting. I know Steve has confirmed that this setup is fine, but Scumback's statement appears to contradict it, no? However-I'm sure all the combo users here are fine with their speakers, I've never read one post about a combo owner frying his speakers. Is the VM 50 watts dimed and less that that clean??

[slowpokerhino]

Steve has explained this before. The info from Scumback is true, HOWEVER, the VM is rated at max output (ie. everything dimed). That's why so many people are surprised at how quiet (relatively) the VMs are to their wattage counterparts.

From the FAQ section:

"Q: Why is My 50/100 Watt Vintage Modern not as loud as other 50/100 watt Marshalls?
A: The 50W Vintage Modern will put out around 36W(RMS) clean and 50W(RMS) when driven, just like the old JTM45s. Other 50W Marshalls put out 50W (RMS) clean then more when driven.
The 100W VM put outs 77W (RMS) clean and 100W (RMS) when driven."

[Gonzo]

Thanks slowpoke, that explains it.

[pillagethesound]

Another factor is the rating on a speaker is the RMS rating. Speakers have two ratings, RMS and peak handling. RMS is what it can sustain, but it if your does a spike and hits a higher watttage speakers are rating to a certain peak handling before they shread or weld the driver so it doesnt work anymore. Ive had two speakers weld themselves from overpeaking, both of which being subwoofers.

-- Tue Feb 16, 2010 2:15 pm --

Another factor is the rating on a speaker is the RMS rating. Speakers have two ratings, RMS and peak handling. RMS is what it can sustain, but it if your does a spike and hits a higher watttage speakers are rating to a certain peak handling before they shread or weld the driver so it doesnt work anymore. Ive had two speakers weld themselves from overpeaking, both of which being subwoofers.

Sorry correction, a factor other than RMS rating is peak rating