BeZo
Well-known member
I play doom. Full stacks. Loud.
I've been thinking of getting a 6x12 cab and just rocking that instead of the Mesa cabs. I have a utility trailer, so lugging around gear is not the issue. I think it would be cool. The details are what have me hung up.
A 6x12 cab would need to have different impedance speakers to make a correct impedance load. So, if you put four 16 ohm speakers and two 8 ohm speakers, and wired the 16 ohm speakers series parallel (16 ohms), wired the two 8 ohm speakers in series (16 ohms), and ran everything in in parallel, you would get an 8 ohm cab. This issue, assuming all of the speakers were the same type, would be that the 8 ohm speakers would be louder than the 16 ohm speakers. On the flip side, if you use four 8 ohm speakers series parallel (8 ohms), and two 16 ohm speakers in parallel (8 ohms), you would have one 4 ohm cab with the four 8 ohm speakers being louder than the other two. Either way, you end up with some of the speakers louder that the others.
Are you going to notice this in the room or on stage? Probably not. However, Mr. or Mrs. Sound Technician only mics one speaker anyways. What would be the advantages or disadvantages of having the mic'ed up speaker at a different volume than the rest of the speakers? Then there is the difference of where my head would be at practice or on stage vs where the audience would hear the cab from the stage. Do you lay it out with the louder speakers on top or on the bottom?
Then, if you get into mixing speakers, you can essentially neutralize this difference by using different speaker efficiencies. The problem there is that your sound engineer will only mic one speaker and you don't get a true picture of what the cab sounds like through the FOH system. You pick one or the other, even though you dialed your amp in to sound good through both. Do you even mess with mixing speakers, and how do you go about matching that up?
I've been thinking of getting a 6x12 cab and just rocking that instead of the Mesa cabs. I have a utility trailer, so lugging around gear is not the issue. I think it would be cool. The details are what have me hung up.
A 6x12 cab would need to have different impedance speakers to make a correct impedance load. So, if you put four 16 ohm speakers and two 8 ohm speakers, and wired the 16 ohm speakers series parallel (16 ohms), wired the two 8 ohm speakers in series (16 ohms), and ran everything in in parallel, you would get an 8 ohm cab. This issue, assuming all of the speakers were the same type, would be that the 8 ohm speakers would be louder than the 16 ohm speakers. On the flip side, if you use four 8 ohm speakers series parallel (8 ohms), and two 16 ohm speakers in parallel (8 ohms), you would have one 4 ohm cab with the four 8 ohm speakers being louder than the other two. Either way, you end up with some of the speakers louder that the others.
Are you going to notice this in the room or on stage? Probably not. However, Mr. or Mrs. Sound Technician only mics one speaker anyways. What would be the advantages or disadvantages of having the mic'ed up speaker at a different volume than the rest of the speakers? Then there is the difference of where my head would be at practice or on stage vs where the audience would hear the cab from the stage. Do you lay it out with the louder speakers on top or on the bottom?
Then, if you get into mixing speakers, you can essentially neutralize this difference by using different speaker efficiencies. The problem there is that your sound engineer will only mic one speaker and you don't get a true picture of what the cab sounds like through the FOH system. You pick one or the other, even though you dialed your amp in to sound good through both. Do you even mess with mixing speakers, and how do you go about matching that up?
