Powercab 1X12 seems underpowered

[sricabla]

Powercab 1X12 seems underpowered for 250 watts. Play in a 3 piece hard rock band and for some reason the cab light turns red when I'm adjusting output. The volume is not happening with the red light. I know for sure it's not anywhere near 250 watts. I'm using a UA Lion pedal with the Powercab. I have my output at 100% on the Lion.

[rd2rk]

On 12/6/2023 at 1:51 PM, sricabla said:

Powercab 1X12 seems underpowered for 250 watts. Play in a 3 piece hard rock band and for some reason the cab light turns red when I'm adjusting output. The volume is not happening with the red light. I know for sure it's not anywhere near 250 watts. I'm using a UA Lion pedal with the Powercab. I have my output at 100% on the Lion.

 

If you're adjusting the output from the UA, you're increasing the INPUT to the PC and the clip indicator will light up. Once you have the clip indicator hitting amber you've optimized the INPUT to the PC. At that point if you're not getting enough output from the PC's speaker with the PC's Volume knob maxed, you must have a pretty loud band because lots of people use the PC112 and say it's plenty loud. There's a point where regardless of watts, one 1x12 speaker just isn't enough.

That's why God invented the 4x12!

[somebodyelse]

On 12/6/2023 at 8:51 PM, sricabla said:

Powercab 1X12 seems underpowered for 250 watts. Play in a 3 piece hard rock band and for some reason the cab light turns red when I'm adjusting output. The volume is not happening with the red light. I know for sure it's not anywhere near 250 watts. I'm using a UA Lion pedal with the Powercab. I have my output at 100% on the Lion.

Of course it isn't. Take a look at the power rating of your computer's power supply.

I'd estimate 200 of those watts are devoted to 'the computing'.

'Watts' is a unit of power consumption, not loudness.

[rd2rk]

On 12/7/2023 at 11:50 PM, somebodyelse said:

Of course it isn't. Take a look at the power rating of your computer's power supply.

I'd estimate 200 of those watts are devoted to 'the computing'.

'Watts' is a unit of power consumption, not loudness.

 

I'm pretty sure you're confusing "power consumption" and "power output".

 

250 watts is the OUTPUT wattage. That's RMS (continuous) vs PEAK, which would likely be around 500 watts.

That's split between the LF and HF drivers, probably around 200/50.

That results (per the published specs) in 125db SPL @ 1m. That's LOUD!

For comparison, a 100w Marshall full stack puts out <>131db@1m.

 

Class D amps (what's in the powercab) are (IIRC) <>90% efficient.

Class AB amps much less (50%?) and Class A less than that (25%?).

That means that the power CONSUMPTION should be around 275-300 watts.

 

Per the OP's dilemma, I suspect that if he ran the PC112 at full crank (125db) it would sound like s**t and blow the speaker quickly.

He'd also need hearing aids pretty quick.

Realistically, the PC112 should sound good at 100-110db, and that's still pretty loud.

 

Interesting discussion:

 

5W/20W/50W/100W SPL Levels For Amp Buyers | Marshall Amp Forum (marshallforum.com)

 

Peak SPL Calculator (homestead.com)