TC Electronic, BC208, BAM200 and Hartke LH500 - Power handling confusion!

[philthejuggler]

Hi all!

 

I recently picked up a pair of BC208's and a BAM 200 for a decent price. I wasn't hugely impressed with the output level of the BAM200 and purchased a Hartke LH500 which is a brute and sounds great!

I'm primarily using this at home and might in the future play it in small venues. I thought the BC208 was 200W but then 400W was plastered all over the outside of the boxes and I've also seen the figure 800W as peak handling per cab. I sometimes use the bass amp to play bass guitar and sometimes to provide a bit of extra low end for a drum machine.

 

The Hartke delivers 350W into 8 ohm or 500W into 4 ohm. I'll never get near maximum volume on the Hartke - is it reasonably safe to run the Hartke into one or both cabinets assuming the sound is not distorting? I guess in the future if I was playing it live I could always pick up a higher power-handling cab.

[Phil Starr]

Ignore the insane ratings. The engineers designed a 200W cab then the advertisers doubled the power on the outside of the box and then doubled it again in some of the far fetched advertising. It's sadly normal to measure the power handling then claim an extra 3db as 'music power' and an extra 6db as 'peak power' 200W is the continuous power handling. 

 

If you don't run into distortion it means the speakers are happy but would you be able to detect the distortion? It's really unlikely that you will drive the speakers too hard at home and you almost certaily are going to be fine. 500W into 400W of cab is probably going to be ok too unless you use a lot of bass boost or a lot of distortion/overdrive. This set up wouldn't worry me but just be careful if you end up with a power crazed guitarist who won't turn down or a particularly loud drummer. Four little 8" speakers might just struggle.

[BassmanPaul]

Agreed. Four eight inch drivers are not going to take you too far playing a bass through them with a 500W amp pushing them.

[Downunderwonder]

1 hour ago, BassmanPaul said:

Agreed. Four eight inch drivers are not going to take you too far playing a bass through them with a 500W amp pushing them.

Depends on the 8'' drivers though. While the TC ones are likely wildly overrated per the TC playbook a pair of Trace Elf 2x8 is reviewed as happy with 500w and more. Expensive Faital drivers make them pretty boutique buying.