100 watt head with less wattage speaker

[bilbal]

Is it alright to use a 100 watt head with a 1x12 speaker cab (speaker rated at 50 watts 8 ohm) as long as I am careful and watch my output volume?

Just curious. I wanted to ask before I tried doing it.

[gldtp99]

It will be ok if you keep the amp vol down----- but it is a risky set-up---- the temptation to get just-a-little-more..... then, Whoops..... there goes that speaker----- i wouldn't use an expensive speaker for this rig................gldtp99

[Riscchip]

I advise against this strongly. First of all, a 100 watt amp puts out way more than 100 watts. Second, you hit 100 watts very, very early on the volume knob. If you are distorting the power amp, you're generally past the wattage rating. It's very hard to tell when you're past the limit. You would be taking chances with a 50 watt amp into a 50 watt speaker, let alone a 100 watt amp.

If it's a 100 watt tube amp, I'll assume it's a four tube fixed bias amp and you can run it with two tubes pulled? If so, at least do that (remember to adjust the impedance setting on your amp accordingly), though you are still not 100% safe, strictly speaking, into a 50 watt speaker.