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Orange Terror Bass head Speakon/jack??

Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 7:30 pm
by gar
Hi guys, can someone who owns a terror bass head tell me whether the speakon connectors on the back are also jack in the middle of them? i've seen these hybrid connections before but i just ordered a terror bass head and i wanna find out if i need to go get a speakon to jack lead??

Re: Orange Terror Bass head Speakon/jack??

Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 9:34 pm
by Randy Bass
I had a TB500 and seem to remember that the jacks were only Speakon, which caused me to buy a Speakon cable. Maybe someone else will come along to confirm this. I'm pretty sure that a standard 1/4" tip cannot handle 500 watts of power effectively.

Re: Orange Terror Bass head Speakon/jack??

Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 3:50 am
by a.hun
gar wrote:Hi guys, can someone who owns a terror bass head tell me whether the speakon connectors on the back are also jack in the middle of them? i've seen these hybrid connections before but i just ordered a terror bass head and i wanna find out if i need to go get a speakon to jack lead??
I don't know it the TB has the hybrid output sockets or not.

I take it the cab you have has a jack input socket? Randy B has a point in that Speakon connectors give a bigger electrical contact area than jacks so are way better for high wattage situations than jacks. Though to be fair they didn't have Speakons in the old days of course... :wink:

Think you'd be best to get in Speakon to jack leads, or even have the cab connectors changed to Speakon if possible. Check out this thread too:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=41799" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Andy.

Re: Orange Terror Bass head Speakon/jack??

Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 7:16 am
by gar
The main the reason for the question is that I'll be gigging regularly in situations of using other peoples cabs so needed to know whether I need to get a speakon to jack lead or not!

Thanks for your help though, much appreciated.

Re: Orange Terror Bass head Speakon/jack??

Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 5:43 pm
by Randy Bass
gar wrote:The main the reason for the question is that I'll be gigging regularly in situations of using other peoples cabs so needed to know whether I need to get a speakon to jack lead or not!

Thanks for your help though, much appreciated.
I had a Speakon to 1/4" adapter cable made for mine and it came in handy for playing through older bass cabs. I would definitely recommend getting one if you are going to use other cabs.

Re: Orange Terror Bass head Speakon/jack??

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 8:04 am
by a.hun
Randy Bass wrote:
gar wrote:The main the reason for the question is that I'll be gigging regularly in situations of using other peoples cabs so needed to know whether I need to get a speakon to jack lead or not!

Thanks for your help though, much appreciated.
I had a Speakon to 1/4" adapter cable made for mine and it came in handy for playing through older bass cabs. I would definitely recommend getting one if you are going to use other cabs.
Yes, agreed. I made one up recently for the opposite reason. To be able to connect my old amp heads to my new (Speakon only) cab...

Make sure to switch the TBs impedance to the correct setting for whichever cab you are using.


Andy.

Re: Orange Terror Bass head Speakon/jack??

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 11:00 am
by gar
on the subject of impedence... im a bit of a novice with stuff like that...

at 4ohms through one 4 ohms cabinet... what power rating am i likely to get if the amp is 500w?

it all confuses me!!

Re: Orange Terror Bass head Speakon/jack??

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 1:10 pm
by bclaire
Neutrik makes a Speakon to 1/4" adaptor plug. I keep two in my briefcase just in case....

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/ ... sku=336313" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Image

Re: Orange Terror Bass head Speakon/jack??

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 1:51 pm
by gar
bclaire wrote:Neutrik makes a Speakon to 1/4" adaptor plug. I keep two in my briefcase just in case....

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/ ... sku=336313" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Image
i got something similar to this... it just has a lead in between the connectors rather than just being a solid adapter! thanks for all the help dudes :)

Re: Orange Terror Bass head Speakon/jack??

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 5:37 pm
by a.hun
bclaire wrote:Neutrik makes a Speakon to 1/4" adaptor plug. I keep two in my briefcase just in case....
Brilliant. I'm going to grab a couple of those for myself. Perfect! 8)
gar wrote:on the subject of impedence... im a bit of a novice with stuff like that...

at 4ohms through one 4 ohms cabinet... what power rating am i likely to get if the amp is 500w?

it all confuses me!!
Okay, first thing is that the TB is a class D amp and doesn't follow the normal conventional class AB solid state ('s.s.') amp 'rules'!

With the TB you should get the full 500W output into either 4 or 8 ohms as long as you have it switched right for the cab. It actually works like a valve amp in that way, though for different reasons! :D

However with almost all conventional class AB s.s. amps (and class D is a very recent thing on the market!) you'll get different output wattages into different speaker impedance loads. S.S. amps don't have 'matching' impedances like valve amps or your TB. Instead they will have a specified minimum impedance load, usually 4 ohms, sometimes 8, exceptionally (usually in really high quality high power amps!) 2 ohms. Whatever the particular rating for any amp, this is the lowest impedance it is safe to run the amp into, and the amp will develop its maximum rated power into that impedance. You'll usually find the rating on the back panel near the speaker outputs. If not check the manual.

It is fine to run any normal s.s. amp into any higher impedance than the rated minimum. All that happens is it'll develop less power, the amp itself will be totally safe. Check the amps specs and you'll see something like...
Power Amp: Solid-State
RMS Power Output: 2500-Watts @ 2 ohms
RMS Power Output: 1300-Watts @ 4 ohms
RMS Power Output: 800-Watts @ 8 ohms
(Okay thats an Ampeg SVT-8 Pro. You'll not usually see numbers quite as big, but you get the idea!) :wink:

If you try to run the amp into an impedance lower than the safe minimum it'll 'try to' put out too much power and can overheat and burn the output transistors. Basically if you crank it up too hard that can happen almost instantly.

Apart from some class D amps like yours the only exceptions are the very few (usually extremely expensive high end ultra high performance) s.s. amps fitted with actual output transformers. There the rules are as with valve amp: match output and speaker impedances for safe reliable running.

Hope that helps. Any other questions, fire away! :D


Andy.

Re: Orange Terror Bass head Speakon/jack??

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 6:59 pm
by gar
a.hun wrote:
bclaire wrote:Neutrik makes a Speakon to 1/4" adaptor plug. I keep two in my briefcase just in case....
Brilliant. I'm going to grab a couple of those for myself. Perfect! 8)
gar wrote:on the subject of impedence... im a bit of a novice with stuff like that...

at 4ohms through one 4 ohms cabinet... what power rating am i likely to get if the amp is 500w?

it all confuses me!!
Okay, first thing is that the TB is a class D amp and doesn't follow the normal conventional class AB solid state ('s.s.') amp 'rules'!

With the TB you should get the full 500W output into either 4 or 8 ohms as long as you have it switched right for the cab. It actually works like a valve amp in that way, though for different reasons! :D

However with almost all conventional class AB s.s. amps (and class D is a very recent thing on the market!) you'll get different output wattages into different speaker impedance loads. S.S. amps don't have 'matching' impedances like valve amps or your TB. Instead they will have a specified minimum impedance load, usually 4 ohms, sometimes 8, exceptionally (usually in really high quality high power amps!) 2 ohms. Whatever the particular rating for any amp, this is the lowest impedance it is safe to run the amp into, and the amp will develop its maximum rated power into that impedance. You'll usually find the rating on the back panel near the speaker outputs. If not check the manual.

It is fine to run any normal s.s. amp into any higher impedance than the rated minimum. All that happens is it'll develop less power, the amp itself will be totally safe. Check the amps specs and you'll see something like...
Power Amp: Solid-State
RMS Power Output: 2500-Watts @ 2 ohms
RMS Power Output: 1300-Watts @ 4 ohms
RMS Power Output: 800-Watts @ 8 ohms
(Okay thats an Ampeg SVT-8 Pro. You'll not usually see numbers quite as big, but you get the idea!) :wink:

If you try to run the amp into an impedance lower than the safe minimum it'll 'try to' put out too much power and can overheat and burn the output transistors. Basically if you crank it up too hard that can happen almost instantly.

Apart from some class D amps like yours the only exceptions are the very few (usually extremely expensive high end ultra high performance) s.s. amps fitted with actual output transformers. There the rules are as with valve amp: match output and speaker impedances for safe reliable running.

Hope that helps. Any other questions, fire away! :D


Andy.
you my friend, are something of a legend.

I know fully understand what i can and can't do :)

Re: Orange Terror Bass head Speakon/jack??

Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2010 8:36 am
by a.hun
Happy to help! Thats what its all about, right...?

Enjoy the new amp!


Andy.

Re: Orange Terror Bass head Speakon/jack??

Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2010 2:20 pm
by gar
yeah defo, trying it out in a few hours! can't wait!!

Re: Orange Terror Bass head Speakon/jack??

Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2010 3:20 pm
by TheOrangeJuicer
The Terror Bass 500 that we have here on display has Speakon only jacks, two of them. Oddly, the matching SP212 bass cab has a pair of the dual connection, Speakon / 1/4" jacks on it. I made up some orange Speakon cables for our customers to use.

Re: Orange Terror Bass head Speakon/jack??

Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2010 6:36 am
by gar
Something really odd happened to this last night...

Was playing for around an hour with no problems and then the electricity suddenly went off...

turns it out it was the terror that had caused the electricity to trip out. The amp now doesn't turn on at all even with a different kettle lead.

I didn't even have it past 2 on both volume and gain.

surely this shouldn't happen????

the amp is F**ked now so i'm gonna contact who i bought it off and ask for a new one.

NOT COOL