Help needed connecting hartke lh500 to 2x hydrive 112

[dannyt144]

As per title I have a hartke lh 500 that goes with 2x hydrive 112.

At present I'm taking a jack from the output into cab 1 then from cab 1 into cab 2.
Both cabs have been switched to 8ohm.

Would I be better switching the cabs into 4 ohm and using output 1 to cab 1 and output to cab 2.

What would be the benefits to either or. I'm finding that its not super loud but thinking something might be a miss.

P.s I always have limiter engaged and have my eq fairly flat.

Regards
Danny

[Truckstop]

Switching the cabs to 4ohms (and using both of the them) will force the head to providing a 2ohm load which is not good. I don't think the LH500 goes down to 2ohms.

You could use one cab at 4ohms or you can use both of them at 8ohms. Both of these configurations will get all of the 500w the head provides.

Using one of the cabs at 8ohms will use maybe 300w from the head.

To reiterate:

1 x 8ohm cab is safe and will use about half of the heads power
2 x 8ohm cabs is safe and will use all of the heads power
1 x 4ohm cab is safe and will use all of the wads power
2 x 4ohm cabs is not safe and should not be tried.

So, with the configuration you're currently using you are already using the head to it's maximum potential. Switching the cabs to 4ohms will do nothing and will probably break your head or the cabs.

Truckstop

[xgsjx]

^ like he says, boom!

If you've not got the volume, check where your input gain & output volume are both set to. If this isn't the issue, then try using your other amp & see if there's still an issue (& try your 4x10 with the 500).

[dannyt144]

Hi Guys, Thanks for your replies. I've to a quick sketch up in photo shop.
Just to make it a bit clear. I've noticed that it says 8ohm on the back of the lh500, is that minimum or ideal?

I didnt mean to link the two cabs together in 4 ohm, maybe from the 2 outputs of the amp (so the cabs have own output each rather than being together)

[Musky]

I makes no difference whether you use the two outputs on the amp or daisy chain the cabs - both the amp's outputs and the cab sockets are wired in parallel, so both will result in a 4 ohm load when using two cabs.

I don't understand why the amp is labelled as 8 ohm by the outputs though - as far as I know the LH500 has a 4 ohm minimum load.

[Truckstop]

Ah, I see!

Linking them in parallel (option 2) is better than series (option 1) purely for the reason that if one of your cabs were to break or one of your leads were to fail, you'd still have some noise coming out of the other cab.

Won't offer any other benefits in terms of volume or sound.

Truckstop

[mokkat]

the LH500 is 350w at 8 ohm, 500w at 4 ohm. Most solid state amps must be run at 4 ohm to achieve their maximum output, hence you connect two 8 ohm cabs in parallel

With the cabs in 8 ohm mode, either of the two pictures are the right approach.
The only difference is that the load is split in parallel at the first cab in pic 1, instead of splitting it at the amp as in pic 2.

I can see the confusing factor though, as Hartke apparently didn't consider daisy-chaining cabs when they wrote the 8 ohm labels. Maybe labeling would help on the true split signal / bridging LH1000, but on the LH500 it's not really helping

Edited April 27, 2013 by mokkat

[dannyt144]

thanks guys,
that's really helped me out, i did think i was doing it correct ( i always do option 1). But truckstop you make a great point, so as a failsafe i will no start doing option 2.
Cheers Guys, thats awesome!!
Regards
Danny