AmpTalk.com

[guest]

Well, to start off I was going to buy a 30W Marshall DFX combo...but I then realized that for the same money I could buy a cheapie Behringer 400W slant cab. Now I can't speak from experience, but I get the feeling that going straight into that beast is going to sound like *Poop*. Which leads to another of my questions...what is an amp head? Ridiculous as it may sound, I can't find a single goddamned website that explains this stuff to me.

However, if i used a modeller such as a V-Amp 2, would it matter if the tone on the cab was sub-par considering I can, to some extent, replicate other cabs?

The only reason I'm considering the cab over a customary small practice amp to begin with is because I'm considering using the power for other things, i.e. pissing off the neighbors, siblings, even using it in my car. For the same price, it's looking pretty good, so if someone could advise me or link me to a site that can it'd be much appreciated.

[TimC]

I did a search on that Behringer 400W cab. It looks like a pretty good deal with Jensen speakers and all. To answer your head question. The early amps had the speakers and amplifiers all in one enclosure. These are now called "combos". Then Fender I think had the idea to "piggy-back" the amplifier in a separate cab, on top of the speaker cabinet. Marshall I believe was the first to build "stacks" of two 4 speaker cabinets on top of each other with the amp or "head" on top of that. Of course they don't have to be stacked up like that. I always thought it was better to put the head on a separate stand, to isolate it from any vibration.
If you buy that cab, you can use just about any head you can find with it, as long as the output is 8 ohms. Guitar cabinets don't usually work well for other audio applications. The speakers and cabs are more designed to work with the range of a guitar.

[Guest]

that berringer is a good deal, but if you are starting out it is ridiculouse to have that big of an amp. Dont think about how loud it can get to piss off the neighbors, or what your guitar buddy's will think about it. Really all you need to start out is a 150$ amp. I played two years before upgrading into a big *Horse's Patoot* Marshall. I just played on small 15 watt practice amps, i even played in church with that and it got the job done, and that was with a bass, guitar is much more easily heard and easier to make louder so to start out with i would go with a small practice "combo" another problem you would run into with the 4x10 is the price of the actual "amp" the 4x10 cabinet is only 4 ten inch speakers connected to work together in a box. So if you buy the cabinet you would esily put out another 200$ for a head and even that wouldnt buy you a very good head, and plus no starting musician wants to haul around all that stuff.