Can I Use Warwick Lwa 500 With Warwick Lightweight 1x12 Cabinet Ce

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I am looking to buy my first Amp and Cab, but I really struggle. I think I understand the physics, partially, but I am not sure if I can use this set-up:

Warwick LWA 500 watts amp (4 ohms, or 250 watts/8 ohms) with Warwick lightweight 1x12 CE (400 watts 8 ohms) cabinet.

I use sansamp gt2 for distortion for my Warwick Vampyre, however as I just found myself a band, I will need a gear for rehearsal and avenue gigs. I like deep bass with light distortion, open minded for suggestions, but I really need something light as I can’t drive. I would like to keep the whole thing under 500£, but under 600£ is still acceptable.

The main reason why I looked at those Warwick amps and cabs is as they are in discount:


https://www.thomann.de/gb/warwick_lightweight_1x12_cabinet.htm
 
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The Amp is fine, but I don't like the Warwick Cabs that much.

Why shouldn't you use this Setup?
Don't crank up the amp and listen to the cab. If it sounds higly compressed or wobbly it is too much for the cab.

Anyway, what kind of music do you wanna play? I would not be happy with this Setup as it would be too small for my taste. I likely wouldn't hear myself at all with this cab.
 
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The Amp is fine, but I don't like the Warwick Cabs that much.

Why shouldn't you use this Setup?
Don't crank up the amp and listen to the cab. If it sounds higly compressed or wobbly it is too much for the cab.

Anyway, what kind of music do you wanna play? I would not be happy with this Setup as it would be too small for my taste. I likely wouldn't hear myself at all with this cab.


Hi, thank you very much for your reply. My band plays rock/hard rock most of the time, we have slow songs but also tracks where drums and guitars are relatively loud. I think the amp would be okay for me, now I would like to match some cabinet to it with deep low bass. I read that 15'' speaker can't always keep up with very fast riffs, I don't know if it's true, and I am not 100% sure if 12'' will be deep enough for my taste.

Is it worth to buy that Warwick LWA 500 and then find a good cabinet from some different brand? Do you have any recommendations for cabinets under 300£?
Many thanks in advance.
 

DiMarco

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What you want to know about any cab you purchase is how efficient the speaker will be in amounts of decibels per watt. More decibels is of course better.
My experience with a hard rock band is that 500w is plenty, but a 1x12" will have problems if your drummer or guitarist is loud.

You could go for two 8 ohms 1x12 or one 4 ohm 2x12, or a proper 4 ohm 4x10.

If you decide to go for a 1x12 regardless, I suggest you place it on the floor, in the corner of the practice room.
By doing that you will get natural acoustic amplification of your low end frequencies from the floor and two back walls which allows you to lower the bass dial on your amp, giving it MUCH more spare watts to amplify the mids and highs more. This way you will be able to be twice as loud as when you place your cab somewhere in the middle of the room.

Cheers, Marco
 
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Hi Marco,

thank you for your explanation. I decided to buy a 300 watt 1x15 with 8 ohm resistance with that LWA 500. I hope it will work well together, as I couldn’t try it anywhere. However I should be covered by distance buy law, so I should be able to send it back as the worst scenario.

What cabinet would You guys recommend for LWA 500? Doesn’t have to be Warwick :)
 
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What cabinet would You guys recommend for LWA 500? Doesn’t have to be Warwick
I would always recommend a FMC 212, a Glockenklang Quattro and Gallien Krueger RBH410.

The GK and Glockenklang are heavey, thou
FMC has in my Opinion a very good customer service, not quiet good as Glockenklang but the cabs are far less pricy and much lighter

They are of course a lot more cabs and manufactures that are higly recommendeble but I only have some experience with these mentioned above
 
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Thank you very much for your reply. I will have a look on those and if this Warwick one won’t feel good I will send it back and replace it. As I am so new and amateur I really appreciate your help guys :)
 

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Hey guys, it's been a while. I'm thinking of getting the very same cab the OP asked about:
https://shop.warwick.de/en/amplifie...et-300-w-8-ohm-with-celestion-speakers?c=3620

The Celestion speaker is very appealing. I have a small class D TC Electronic head, 250w@4Ohms. I don't plan to gig with this combo, just home practice. Also good low end response would be welcome. Does anyone have experience with this model or other similar Warwick cabinet? What can I expect roughly? Thanks!
 
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Hi,

I got non-celestion version in the end, and I am very pleased with the sound. It’s really deep and warm. I use it with that LWA 500 I originally wanted. It’s certainly loud enough for home or rehearsal practice with my drummer and 2 guitarists. We play fast, energetic rock/hard rock. Link:
 

jester

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Hi,

I got non-celestion version in the end, and I am very pleased with the sound. It’s really deep and warm. I use it with that LWA 500 I originally wanted. It’s certainly loud enough for home or rehearsal practice with my drummer and 2 guitarists. We play fast, energetic rock/hard rock. Link:

Awesome! I wish you 'd gotten the 12" version instead, to let me know what it's like. :)
 

DiMarco

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For practice both will be fine lord Jester. The smaller the speaker the more it will be sensitive to placement/acoustic coupling with back walls and floors.
 

jester

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For practice both will be fine lord Jester. The smaller the speaker the more it will be sensitive to placement/acoustic coupling with back walls and floors.

Hey Marco, nice to see you online again man.

I must confess that a prospective cabinet purchase will hopefully serve two purposes for me:

a) Have a small rig for practice at home. (I will then have to find the time and energy to practice)
b) ... enhance the low end for the music I hear through my pair of Magnat speakers. i.e. use the cab as a sub of sorts.

I was under the impression that a bass cabinet would make a good subwoofer if coupled to a subwoofer amp with a proper crossover (frequency/phase controls). It seems this is not the case. Although we name it bass cabinet and it is intended for bass, the bass tone relies a lot on a good amount of midrange frequencies. So, bass cabs/speakers are more "full-range" than "low-end" frequency.

The funny thing is I don't think I have a problem with that. I recently bought a 10" studio subwoofer for about 400e (admittedly not much for a good sub) and I never managed to hear it as "one" with my main speakers. It was the main speakers AND the sub separately going boom boom thud thud, and also zero punch. Instead, a cheapo cardboard tube car woofer on which I placed a 12" full range speaker may not have that insane low end but it blends with my speakers beaoootifully, enhancing the lows as much as I want by setting my subwoofer amp's crossover (and always having phase properly set up). If I turn down my main speakers, what is heard from the tube sub is laughable. But it works so well combined with them. Plus it punches. :)

- I'm kind of obsessed with buying something that produces lows with a 10" speaker. I recently missed a killer opportunity to get a TC Electronic RS210 upright bass cab with Eminence speakers for peanuts. I almost got depressed for a week over that, haha.

- One consideration would be the Hellborg HI cab which is sold for peanuts at the moment at Thomann. The price is peanuts for a 2x12" of that build quality but I know deep in my heart it won't be what I want. I suspect it's made to be used combined with the rest of the system, the other JH cabs and amps. So no go for that.

- So while looking at Warwick amps at Thomann I saw this "lightweight" W cab of the original post, Celestion speaker too, for a good price. 12" which is not 10" but that's not necessarily a problem. I expect more low end and also sweeter midrange, very much welcome. Thomann states the cab's resonant frequency as 45Hz which if I'm not mistaken means it has a good low end response, at least in theory.

So I was about to start a thread about it when I saw this one, and posted here for some possible first hand experience from forumers.

Another consideration would be to kind of double my budget and go for an Eich amplification 1x10 @4Ohms. I expect that thing to be just awesome, whatever it is.

End of rant, over the last year I've been having an increasing interest in audio gear of all kinds, even getting stuff just out of curiosity then letting them go. I hope you guys share some of this fascination. I know at the very least Marco does. :)

J off
 

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Hi Falerian!

LWA 500 is awesome! For modern metuhl LWA 1000 is even better, because you have two channels you can use at the same time with a distortion pedal - parallel output goes into channel one- clean, distorted output channel 2, remove lows from channel 2, boost from channel one, and do this kind of complementary EQ on all frequencies - boost the one that sounds best with the channel, and cut from the other one. For example you may want lows clean and lightly compressed, trebble distorted and compressed, and mids cleaner
If you are usually gigging with a PA, and not on big stages, you will want a smaller cab that will deliver the mids, you will have plenty of lows from the PA, and you can always ask for more bass in your monitor. Too much bass on stage, especially on smaller stages will simply mean that the sound engineer will cut you from front, and you will most likely sound worse. I would not use an 1x15 cab, more like 2x10 2x12 for small stages.
But really, I know you didn't asked about this, but IEM is by far the best option, for some reasons.
1- It is the best sound and playing tool you will have, By hearing yourself loud and clear, you will control your dynamics and tone from your hands MUCH better, with better results.
2- The stage will have way less rumble- better overall sound, singer will love you.
3- Less bass on stage- more bass on PA. That is always better.
4- I am 46, toured a lot, and I am blessed to still have a good hearing, so I started learning mixing. Tour with cabinets and no ear protection, and you will be half deaf.
5- It looks cooler and more professional. :)

But if you need a cab for rehearsals too, then I would still buy a 400-500W, small one, and use ear plugs. With ear plugs you can hear everything much better, especially kik and bass.
Don't LOOK at the price tag, LWA 1000 and 500 are insanely good amps, very musical, great compressor. When compressor is engaged, you get that "Sans Amp" kind of tone.
 
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Hi Falerian!

LWA 500 is awesome! For modern metuhl LWA 1000 is even better, because you have two channels you can use at the same time with a distortion pedal - parallel output goes into channel one- clean, distorted output channel 2, remove lows from channel 2, boost from channel one, and do this kind of complementary EQ on all frequencies - boost the one that sounds best with the channel, and cut from the other one. For example you may want lows clean and lightly compressed, trebble distorted and compressed, and mids cleaner
If you are usually gigging with a PA, and not on big stages, you will want a smaller cab that will deliver the mids, you will have plenty of lows from the PA, and you can always ask for more bass in your monitor. Too much bass on stage, especially on smaller stages will simply mean that the sound engineer will cut you from front, and you will most likely sound worse. I would not use an 1x15 cab, more like 2x10 2x12 for small stages.
But really, I know you didn't asked about this, but IEM is by far the best option, for some reasons.
1- It is the best sound and playing tool you will have, By hearing yourself loud and clear, you will control your dynamics and tone from your hands MUCH better, with better results.
2- The stage will have way less rumble- better overall sound, singer will love you.
3- Less bass on stage- more bass on PA. That is always better.
4- I am 46, toured a lot, and I am blessed to still have a good hearing, so I started learning mixing. Tour with cabinets and no ear protection, and you will be half deaf.
5- It looks cooler and more professional. :)

But if you need a cab for rehearsals too, then I would still buy a 400-500W, small one, and use ear plugs. With ear plugs you can hear everything much better, especially kik and bass.
Don't LOOK at the price tag, LWA 1000 and 500 are insanely good amps, very musical, great compressor. When compressor is engaged, you get that "Sans Amp" kind of tone.
Hey,

thank you so much for this. I am using Microtubes X7 at the moment with LWA 500 and 1x15 Warwick cab for rehearsals (with good ear plugs). My plan was to use DI on microtubes if I’ll be gigging with in-ear monitoring I got for my whole band instead of dragging the whole setup over to a venue. If my gig will be in a small pub without DI, I am hoping that my “rehearsal setup” will be enough.

would you say that it’s worth to get LWA 1000 and buy sansamp gt2 for one of those channels?

thank you in advance :)
 
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