I’m thinking about buying ZMACS, and I came acrros the following questions and didn’t find a post about this topic yet.
What is the deal with speaker wattage when using the ZMACS?
Should I always have higher speaker wattage then the amp wattage?
How about if I’m using 2 cabinets at the same time? For instance two 80 Watt cabinets on 120 Watt Orange amp. Is this the same as using one 160 Watt cabinet?
When using the Power station in the loop, is ti enough to have the cabinet match Power Station wattage (I have the 50W PS-2)?
Let’s try to answer this question. I tend to make sure my speakers can handle the wattage the amplifier can “actually” put out. If I we’re running a 120 watt head, the cabinet I choose will be able to handle a quite a bit more than that. An example would be the Deliverance 120… pairing it with the cabinet that is made for that head, it handles 280 watts (4x 70 watt speakers).
If you are using two 80 watt cabinets, then yes, you have a 160 watts to play with. I would tend to go above what the amp can put out. I’m not a fan of speakers “breaking up” or speaker distortion. I’ll let the amplifier do that instead of the cabinet.
I look at the power ratings of guitar speakers since the 60’s until now and realize how power handling has changed over the years. Now, we’re trying to cram as much as we can into smaller cabinets because of space constraints on stage and weight constraints in travel. just a little bit ago, back in the 80’s and 90’s, a guitarist could have three heads and six cabinets on stage without an issue. Now we’re dealing with silent “amp-less” stages even though there’s a mic’d up kit on stage with us. Guitarists everywhere are being told “you’re just too darn loud”.
I hope that helps. Let me know if I can help further.
This helps a lot! Thank you for such a quick response.
Could you also touch on the subject of speaker wattage when using a power station? Should I consider my 50w power station as amplifier and provide speaker that can handle 50w? Or should I look at the wattage of the actual amp and provide appropriate speaker for the actual amp?
A lot of this is going to be preference. Like I said in the last post, I like having more than what my amp can put out available in my cabinets. Some people like it to be exactly what is listed for output, still others like it just a little above or a little below. It really comes down to what sounds right for you. You are the person that matters the most when you are looking for the sound you want.
Sure, but (for example) if I have Orange 120 w amp and have 200 w cab I should be fine, but will I also be fine if I use Orange 120 going into zmacs with PS-2 in the loop and only have 80w cab?
If I consider PS-2 is 50w amp I should be fine, but is this correct also when going through zmacs?
