matching a head with a cab

[henrod50]

I'm a gigging guitar player on a serious budget....with probably the dumbest question ever on this forum  (first post btw).  I'm considering buying a solidstate half stack amp.  I'm thinking of going with the Fender Mustang V.  this is a 150 watt head.  The cab i'm considering is a Kustom 4x12.  It is rated at 120 rms/240 max.  they are both 4 ohm (i think).  Does anyone see a problem running this set-up?  Is the wattage ok?

[joecool85]

I'm a gigging guitar player on a serious budget....with probably the dumbest question ever on this forum  (first post btw).  I'm considering buying a solidstate half stack amp.  I'm thinking of going with the Fender Mustang V.  this is a 150 watt head.  The cab i'm considering is a Kustom 4x12.  It is rated at 120 rms/240 max.  they are both 4 ohm (i think).  Does anyone see a problem running this set-up?  Is the wattage ok?

This should be fine.  Odds are the Mustang's 150w is actually PEAK not RMS.  Even if it is RMS, that's close enough that unless you are running full volume a lot it won't do any damage.

[bry melvin]

you need a stereo cabinet:  (or 2 2x12 cabs etc)  From fender manual:

"The Mustang V head amplifier provides stereo speaker
outputs that must both be connected to a stereo speaker
cabinet such as the Mustang V 412, with four 12" Celestion®
G12P Rocket 50 speakers (recommended), or two 8Ω speaker
cabinets capable of handling 75W each."


so you need TWO speaker setups or a stereo cabinet each half 75 watt.
Rocket celestions are 50 watt speakers...

so to be safe you would look at  :

two 75-100watt speakers
two 2X12 or stereo cab with a total of 4 50 Watt speakers etc

(next step down would be 30 watt speakers....not enough so you'd have to go to 50s)


The KUSTOM cab as far as I know is mono....so it would have to be modified.  Not your best solution.

[joecool85]

If the Kustom Cab is rated at 240w MAX that is the same as "Musical" meaning each speaker is good for 60w.  I'd say if he has a good price on it, get it, re-wire it so that it is stereo and be done with it.  I suppose it depends on the impedance of the speakers in the Kustom cab if it's possible or not.  It would need to be 4 ohm or 16 ohm speakers so you could wire them in series or parallel for 8 ohms each set.

[henrod50]

if i hooked the head up to a mono cab, would't that just disable some of the stereo panning effects that the head has?  or could it possibly damage the unit?  (btw, total cost head and cab $434.98 USD)  I also noticed that on the fender cab, one jack used alone = 4 ohm mono...same as kustom cab?

[joecool85]

If you hooked it up mono you would only have 75w coming out of the head.  It will have two output jacks, each one will need to be tied to separate speakers (or sets of speakers).  The Mustang cab is made to be run in stereo at 2 x 8 ohms or 1 x 4 ohms.  To get all 150w out of the Mustang head you would need to use both input jacks (2 x 8ohms). 

[henrod50]

gotcha...that's what i was afraid of....i found a stereo 4x12 cab online for 230.00 (crate flexwave) and it has good reviews....this pushes my gig rig total to 500.96.    not too bad i dont guess...hope it sounds good.

edit:  flexwave wont work either;Peak Power Handling 240 watts Mono, 120 watts Stereo...any suggestions on a cab that will work with this head, other than the obvious fender cab?  (which i might have to break down and buy)

[joecool85]

gotcha...that's what i was afraid of....i found a stereo 4x12 cab online for 230.00 (crate flexwave) and it has good reviews....this pushes my gig rig total to 500.96.    not too bad i dont guess...hope it sounds good.

edit:  flexwave wont work either;Peak Power Handling 240 watts Mono, 120 watts Stereo...any suggestions on a cab that will work with this head, other than the obvious fender cab?  (which i might have to break down and buy)

That's fine for the cab.  By 120 watts stereo it means PER channel.  And the Mustang only puts out 75w PER channel, so you're good.

[bry melvin]

no thats 120 watts total  sixty watts /side

[joecool85]

no thats 120 watts total  sixty watts /side

That is RMS watts, it should be able to take double that for PEAK watts.  I highly doubt the Mustang head is 150w RMS.  I suppose I could be wrong, but most of the times a "150w amp" is actually 75w RMS/150w PEAK.

[bry melvin]

well that amp has two power amps . one for each channel. I agree though. As long as he's careful it will work.  I use two 60 watt cabs  often with a Crate G130cxl (like the fender stereo)head which is rated at 90 watts at 4ohms 65 at 8 ohms..(cabs are 4 ohms)...

BUT I play mostly clean or slightly dirty.

If he's going to do metal or use a lot of booster pedals etc he might run into problems...Clean or blues etc those speakers and cab will probably be just fine.

[joecool85]

well that amp has two power amps . one for each channel. I agree though. As long as he's careful it will work.  I use two 60 watt cabs  often with a Crate G130cxl (like the fender stereo)head which is rated at 90 watts at 4ohms 65 at 8 ohms..(cabs are 4 ohms)...

BUT I play mostly clean or slightly dirty.

If he's going to do metal or use a lot of booster pedals etc he might run into problems...Clean or blues etc those speakers and cab will probably be just fine.

Wattage is wattage.  It doesn't matter if the signal is "dirty" or "clean."  The big thing is he wouldn't want to be running the amp wide open volume all the time.

[henrod50]

we play mostly small clubs. so i won't be pushing it to 11...  i'm thinking 5 or 6 max.  anything over that, i will probably mic to keep stage volume at a bearable level.  I still haven't made a purchase yet, but i am seriously thinking about the mustang 4 now...

[joecool85]

we play mostly small clubs. so i won't be pushing it to 11...  i'm thinking 5 or 6 max.  anything over that, i will probably mic to keep stage volume at a bearable level.  I still haven't made a purchase yet, but i am seriously thinking about the mustang 4 now...

I would get the III and save your money if I were you.  It is 100w, plenty for most any gig (anything larger than what 100w can do and you should mic or lineout anyway) and still has a 12" Celestion speaker.  Unless you need the 4 button footswitch (the III only has a 2 button), I would go that route.  It's also 11 lbs lighter.

[henrod50]

went ahead and got the mustang 4.  i like the stereo effects....