Randall Amps Question

Any 4, 8, or 16 ohm cabinet will work. The most important factor in matching any speaker or speaker cab to an amplifier head like this is impedence which is resistance to current flow. Resistance is measured in ohms. The specs for this amp say it will produce 300 watts of power at 4 ohms.

Now, the higher the ohms, the more resistance to current flow. So this amp will produce maximum power with a 4 ohms load. It will produce less power at an 8 or 16 ohms load. It is kind of like driving with your foot on the brake pedal if that makes sense.

With an 8 ohms load, this amp will produce about 70% power, or approximately 210 watts. With a 16 ohms load it will produce about 70% of what it produces at 8 ohms, or approximately 140 watts power.

So, you will get the most power and volume out of this amp with a 4 ohms cab. It will work with an 8 ohms or 16 ohms cab no problem, but it will not be as loud, and may not sound quite as lively.

Very important, you do not want to go below 4 ohms. For instance you would not want to run two 4 ohms cabs in parallel off this amp, that would be a 2 ohms load. This will cause too much current to run through the amp and it will overheat and likely burn up. You don't want that! :shock:

As far as speakers, you can use any speaker as long as you don't overcrank it. You could run a speaker rated at only 25 watts handling power with this amp and it will work perfectly fine as long as you don't crank the amp up too much. That would be too much power for the speaker, it will greatly overdrive it and distort and blow the speaker. But this is something you can hear. You can tell when you are overdriving a speaker.

I would go with a 2 x 12 cab, or even better, a 4 x 12. You add up the speakers handling power. For instance, your classic Marshall 1960 cab has four Celestion G12T-75 speakers. Each speaker will handle 75 watts. So you add these up, this cab will handle 300 watts total, a good match for this head. Often these cabs have switches that allow you to operate them at different impedences. So, some cabs will operate at 4, 8, or even 16 ohms.

Do not mistake a speaker's "handling power" with your amp's power. Speakers do not have any power at all, they are pushed by the amp. The handling power tells you the power the speaker is designed to safely handle without damage. The higher rated speakers are made of heavier duty components and can handle more power. They also usually produce better low frequencies, more bass. And often they are more expensive.

But... some players like lower rated speakers because they break up earlier.

And of course, a speaker cab rated 300 watts can handle more power than one rated 150 watts without damage to the speakers. But you could safely use a 150 watt cab with this amp. You would be able to really crank it as long as you don't overdo it. But as I said, you can tell when you are overpushing a speaker, it will distort badly, and not the kind of distortion the amp or pedal produces, you can hear the speakers are being overpushed.

Hope this helped.

This would be an excellent cab for that Randall head you showed:

Randall 200 watt 4 x 12 Speaker Cabinet

This cab would be excellent for that head. It is rated 8 ohms impedence. Remember I told you that head would produce about 210 watts of power with an 8 ohms load? Well, this cab is rated 200 watts handling power. That tells you that each individual speaker in this cab is rated 50 watts handling power. So this is perfect for this head. And trust me, 210 watts of power is plenty, this combination would be deafing LOUD! :shock:

This cab is mono, don't worry about that, some folks think they need a stereo cab. What kind of stereo seperation can you get from speakers mounted only a few inches apart? So don't worry about that kind of stuff at all, stereo speaker cabs are mostly hype in my opinion.

But this was the lowest priced cab they had there, and a perfect match for the head you showed.

hey thanks alot man youve made my choice for me thanks good sir