Guitar Amp/Head?

[AzzR]

Im still confused on what the main difference between an amp and a head is. Is a head essentially an amp without a speaker inbuilt?

Also if a head is an amp without a built in speaker which is a good one to build to drive quad boxes

And last thing does the amp/head need individual outputs to run two quad boxes or can you just split the signal and wire the two jacks up to the same thing

[flibbergibbin]

a head is an amp that is a stand alone which is to say an amp without speakers. a combo amp is one with speakers its really that simple. wire them up to the same. no problem. 

[AzzR]

Awesome now i know the difference. Which is a DIY pre amp and amp combination powerfull enough to efficiently drive a couple of quad boxes and still give a clean sound

Thanks

Dream

[AzzR]

Another question. In terms of putting speakers into a cabinet what are my options? What is the cheapest and what is the most expensive and what is in between. I'm looking for a suitable speaker to go into a 4x12 cabinet but i haven't figured out what dimensions to use yet. I'm either going to go with the marshall or the mesa boogie, which would be better? The mesa boogie seems to be smaller, would this increase the response in any way?

Thanks

Dream

[petemoore]

  those cabs sound probably very similar, they're similarly constructed.
  the drivers put into any cab can change the basic tone of the cab alot.
  Below may seem OT, and depends on what you want 'it' to do.
  I don't know you need 4x12'' cab...but...what do you want the speakers to do?..
  Perhaps you could get interested in a slightly oversized 2x12'' cabinet...I did, it has lots of advantages. I sold the 'rediculous' 4x12''...they're not designed right at all for my purposes...they end up so loud, and I still cant hear anything...simply because they Are 'Wrong Directional'...scooting intense waves across the dance floor, and next to nothing past my ears...bar dwellers repeat 'Too Loud !", and I repeatedly 'couldn't hear Poop'...elevated 2x12''er solved these problems, plus I like speakers to be pushed to their sweet spot, pumping up 2x12'' is plenty for my purposes, and gets speaker tone more than 4x12''ers 'sleeping'.

[d95err]

And last thing does the amp/head need individual outputs to run two quad boxes or can you just split the signal and wire the two jacks up to the same thing

The speaker combination must match the impedance of the amp. In paralell, you get half the impedance, in series you get twice the impedance. If an amp has two output jacks, they could be either in series or paralell, you have to consult the documentation of the amp. Most amps can tolerate a 2-1 impedance mismatch. If the mismatch is too big, you could blow the output transformer on the amp.

This is a stompbox forum, so if you are interested in buidling amps, you should check out the following forums: www.ax84.com, www.18watt.com, www.ampage.org.