Got my Mesa Mark IV , and have a cab question

[stonedkirby]

Thanks Psycle for the great transaction!
My MK IV arrived in amazing clean condition , an the B version that i wanted no less....
anyway , im Cab-Less , if anyone has a 1x12 or 2x12 for sale let me know.

i do have , a 2x10 combo sitting perfectly underneath the mk right now.
would it be possible for me to re-wire the combo into a cab...the speakers are 30 watts each...4 ohm....

and this is my first head...to connect it to my cab , can i just run a guitar cable or do i need a special cable ? im not sure. what a noob. lol. oh well.

so yeah someone please rundown how i would simply go about setting up that cab.

OBVIOUSLY id have to run the mesa in class A...
whats the lowest wattage it can get again?

tell me what to do i just got in the mail today i dont know how any of these knobs work!

 

[deny]

Ha! I just got my Mark IVA combo today and have spent plenty of time trying to get familiar with it. So much more than I'm used to, but it is SOOOO much better than any amp I've ever played through. Some say you can't just sit down and get a great tone out of it in 15 minutes like other amps, but it hasn't been hard to dial in for me. I just turn the volume down enough to bear sitting in front of it and play and tweak. Amazing amp. I'll be getting a thiele somewhere down the road to stick under it.

I know, I'm no help with your question, but I thought it funny that someone else was sitting in nearly the same boat as I am.

 

[stonedkirby]

not really , i cant even hear if it works, altho im sure it does.
but ur imagination plays tricks you know?

how much did u pay for ur's?
my head was 1200.00

 

[ToneAddictJon]

I believe hooking the 2 speakers (4ohms) in series will make 8 ohms and parallel 2ohms. I know there are a lot of diagrams around the web for doing it (I've done it a few times, but not recently).

 

[scottywompas]

First off, congratulations. The MKIV is a kick *** amp.

Second, read the manual.

You can get it here if you don't have it.

http://www.mesaboogie.com/manuals/user_manuals.htm

You need to get a proper speaker cable. Using a guitar cable could damage the amp. guitar cables are not designed to handle the output of an amp.

As for your 2x10, if you can disconnect the wires from the amp without cutting them, you should be able to solder on a 1/4 jack. You can get one at Radio Shack.

If you can't disconnect the wires from the amp, disconnect them from the speakers. Get some speaker cable from Radio Shack ( i think a spool is like $5) and a 1/4 inch jack.

Depending on the Ohms of the speakers will determine how to hook them up. If they are 8oms, you can hook one each to the 4 ohm output on the head.

Search the web for some speaker wiring diagrams,I think Celestion has some as well as other speaker manufacturers. This should help.

Hopefully you find a cab soon. If you aren't hell bent on a boogie cab, you can get a pretty decent cab from Avatar.

http://avatarspeakers.com/

Scott

 

[srf399]

I've never heard of not being able to use a regular patch cable to connect a speaker cabinet to an amp! Shessshhhh Been playing years and still learning something new everyday.

I don't understand how it could damage the ampif the patch cable is used... that doesn't make any sense to me. As long as the awg is large enough to not affect the resistance and the line drop is minimal.

Could you explain how a regular patch cable would damage an amp? I've been doing it the wrong way for over 30 years as have all of the other guitarists and bassist I know and no one I know has experienced any amp damage.

 

[twally]

A patch cord is made for low signal applications, like a guitar or bass, etc.
It is shielded and is of low wire size. Although I have no personal experince, I have heard of folks blowing their amps up from using a patch cord for speaker applications. The reason is the small wire size become hot, due to it's inability to carry the voltage and current seen by speakers and shorts out.

As far as speakers, I have a Short HEad MArk IV and use a 1/12 open cabinet and a 1/12 Thiele.

 

[ToneAddictJon]

I've seen people use regular patch cables to run to their cabs, and it's not pretty (or pretty smelling) when the cable melts and a tube or 2 blows because the load has suddenly disappeared. Run speaker cables only to speakers, unless you like saving the $15 and chance ruining the $1.2k head.

 

[eltrain858]

class A - tweed - triode supposedly gets you down around 15w

 

[fpoon]

15 watts the lowest? I thought it was 30.

 

[srf399]

I've always used heavy gauge Belden cable for my instrument cords so I guess I was lucky.... Never had a problem. I'll be buying a speaker cable pronto though

 

[stonedkirby]

ok what i ended up doing is getting the vintage mesa boogie 2x12 vert cab with the metal grille , it has the black shadow mama celeste speakers lol.
anyway , my setup is crazy right now. today i really cranked it..output was like 5 on the lead channel. my ears hurt. lol
the tones are amazing. the clean channel is gorgeous. i thought it would be like boomy or something...omg it sounds so sweet and soft with the proper settings..then just switch to lead for scorching metal...hot mama celeste!

i tried the high gain settings recently posted by someone on these boards , pretty good , but i kept like messing with knobs and sliders to see what sounds better. its a never ending cycle. this is a tweaker amp.

anyway what i spent on this setup i think is crazy.

Mark 4 head was 1200 shipped
2x12 mesa cab 200 delivered to my door.
and i guess if you count the Ernie Ball Amp Casters i ordered and installed on the cab for easy moving ( i have back problems ) and the speaker cable...it all came out to 1450.

SCORE

 

[tommyhawk13]

You got the cab I would have reccomended, second to the same cab as a 4x12. An EVM 12L in the bottom would be the best. You got a good deal, btw.