Herbert amp's 180W capability and speaker/cab question

[BatmansRigTalk]

So I get the Herbert can be played at even bedroom levels and still retain its tone because it has a Master volume in addition to channel volume.

What I don't quite understand is what sort of cabinet setup you need to ensure that if it is accidentally cranked you don't damage the amp.

Or even what sort of cabinet setup do you need to run the amp above 100W? Full-stack?

Let's say you use a loadbox, like Two Notes, to run the amp with cab sims. The loadbox has a limit of 100W. So how do you stop accidentally going above that limit and possibly damaging both units?

I tried reading the manual but didn't quite get these things.

Is there something about how to operate this amp so that you can't damage it this way? Or some safety features that prevents you from dialing above the threshold of what the rest of your rig can manage?

Any help in getting my head around these matters would be appreciated. I do not own a Herbert but I have it on my list of top-shelf amps to consider getting its quite high up there. I have the Diezel herbert pedal and its rules!

 

[Flintstonerocks]

I have a Herbert MkII. I use a single Friedman 4x12 100watt (two GB’s, two V30’s) when gigging for the past 12 years. Never had an issue because I only ever need to turn it up 50%.

And you won’t damage the amp if you turn it up too high…..the speakers will blow first.….

I asked Papa Diezel on another thread about using a load box and he was totally against it, and said some technical stuff I didn’t understand, so I never used one.

I have been playing about 50 gigs a year for the past 12 years with no issues, either using my Herbert or VH4 with the Friedman 4x12 cab (or Bogner 212CB cab).

 

[Steinmetzify]

I on the other hand use both a 4x12 for jamming and a Suhr RLIR for home recording using my Herbert.

The manual says for the RLIR it’s actually rated for 150 watts, but like said above there’s no reason to have this amp up any more than 50%; I barely even crack the master when recording.

No issues, been doing it this way for about a year.

 

[BatmansRigTalk]

I see. So it's basically a matter of just not putting the Master past a certain point if you want speaker longevity and 50% more than sufficient for most situations with a lot lower being more common.

I have a Two Notes Captor and a Two Notes Torpedo Live.

I was reading elsewhere that when you have amps on high settings and depending on what pedal configurations you have going on, you can drive some amps well beyond what they are rated at. That a cranked JCM800 100W can be heading upwards to 120W or 150W and some 100W amps even more. That the reason why a speaker configuration less than that can hold out is that they are designed to go a little more than what they are usually rated at so as not to start disintegrating right away. That kinda makes sense to me because if you look at the EVH5150III 100W cab recommendation the combined load of a 4x12 EVH cab is 4 x 12" Celestion® G12 EVH® 20W is 80W but the advertising says 100W. So EVH/Fender seem quite confident that the design can still handle the full power of the 100W amp.

I am wondering if a D-Moll might be enough though or if the Herbert is really where it is at if the Herbert tone and all the Herbert features are what you really want. Does the D-Moll have its tones? I know the VHX is probably a HUGE solution to everything, lol.

 

[godsmen]

The Dmoll is quite close in tone but something abt the power amp section of the Herbert that makes it unique.

 

[belensky]

I Have Herbert and run it Suhr Reactive Load for 4-5 years. No issues at all, Suhr has inside 4x50w resistors, so it can withstand 200w to total power.

Usual rule of thumb that if you dime amps all the way up(think about Plexi EVH sound), and don't want to blow speakers, you need to have twice as much wattage in cabs than amp itself rated to. so Suhr works perfectly with 100w amp turned up on max.

as far as Diezel goes, they are not Marshall plexi, so there is NO NEED AT ALL to crank them to max, to get enough gain. they sound the best anywhere between 9-12 on master, anything after 1pm(or 13 if you in Europe) just make things more compressed and saggy, as well as making unnecessary stress on power tubes.

As for Herbert and Suhr RL they will work fine, just use same settings as you would use in live band context (master anywhere between 9 to 11)

I won't recommend Two notes Captor and Torpedo though, they have different resonance in lows: much wider band, that puts transformer under more stress that real cab, or Suhr RL ever would.

I've done extensive testing and to me Suhr RL sounds EXTREMELY close to Real Cab.