8 ohm or 16 ohm 2x12 cabs?

[Lord Toneking]

I have a 16 ohm 4x12 and Id like to run my 2x12 with it but it's got 16 ohm speakers wired at 8 ohms

This doesnt matter when I run stereo with one of my other heads, but I'd like to use my 2x12 without running stereo sometimes and have a 3/4 stack

Will (2) 8ohm speakers wired at 16 ohms have a noticable difference in tone??

What are the pros and cons?...if any

 

[JimmyDoomsday]

i'm no expert on this subject, but as far as i know, the amp will essentially be running at half power, which will affect the tone somewhat to significantly depending on various factors.

so the short answer is yes, your tone will be affected. but a bigger problem you face is that, depending on the wiring, the speakers, and the amp, it's entirely possible you could also fry your amp.

 

[Lord Toneking]

i'm no expert on this subject, but as far as i know, the amp will essentially be running at half power, which will affect the tone somewhat to significantly depending on various factors.

so the short answer is yes, your tone will be affected. but a bigger problem you face is that, depending on the wiring, the speakers, and the amp, it's entirely possible you could also fry your amp.

Not sure what you mean

If I made a cab to be 16 ohms I could just set my amp to 16 ohms...or 8 ohms depending on the cab. If i ran both cabs together (2two 16 ohm cabs) I would set impedence to 8 ohms on my amp

Problem I have is that I have an 8 ohm and a 16 ohm cab right now. I cant run the two together

I need to decide if I want to make it a 16 ohm cab with two 8 ohm speakers or just keep it an 8 ohm cab

make sense??

 

[racerevlon]

Your resultant load will be 5.333 ohms. Run your amp at 4 ohms and you'll be fine.

 

[bubbastain]

I have a 16 ohm 4x12 and Id like to run my 2x12 with it but it's got 16 ohm speakers wired at 8 ohms

This doesnt matter when I run stereo with one of my other heads, but I'd like to use my 2x12 without running stereo sometimes and have a 3/4 stack

Will (2) 8ohm speakers wired at 16 ohms have a noticable difference in tone??

What are the pros and cons?...if any

I'm kind of in the same pickle. I have a (two actually) 4x12 with V30s running at 16 ohms. I want to get a 2x12 to and have the option to run with or alone. Problem is I want a pair of Splawn Small blocks in the 2x12 and they seem to only be made in 16 ohms each. With a 16 ohm 2x12, I can run it alone or with my 16 ohm 4x12.

 

[steve_k]

You can always safely mismatch 8/16 ohm cabs with heads running at 4 ohms and not hurt anything. Will you hear a difference in tone between 16 ohms and 8 or 4? Absolutely....

 

[racerevlon]

I have a 16 ohm 4x12 and Id like to run my 2x12 with it but it's got 16 ohm speakers wired at 8 ohms

This doesnt matter when I run stereo with one of my other heads, but I'd like to use my 2x12 without running stereo sometimes and have a 3/4 stack

Will (2) 8ohm speakers wired at 16 ohms have a noticable difference in tone??

What are the pros and cons?...if any

I'm kind of in the same pickle. I have a (two actually) 4x12 with V30s running at 16 ohms. I want to get a 2x12 to and have the option to run with or alone. Problem is I want a pair of Splawn Small blocks in the 2x12 and they seem to only be made in 16 ohms each. With a 16 ohm 2x12, I can run it alone or with my 16 ohm 4x12.

I'm a little confused. Two 16-ohm Small Blocks wired in parallel would result in an 8-ohm load; wired in series you'd get a 32-ohm load. In parallel with your 16-ohm 4x12 you'd get either 5.333 ohms (run the head at 4 ohms, no problem), or 10.667 ohms (run the head at 8 ohms, no problem). Remember, implied after every ohms setting on every amp is the word, "MINIMUM."

Hope this helps,

 

[Buckeyedog]

The guys above are correct. You can run both and put your amp at 4 ohm setting. Note: the 8 ohm cab will pull twice the power of the 16 ohm cab.

 

[LoganD89]

he's talking about rewiring his 212 with 2 8 ohm speakers in series so that his total ohms is 16 ohms. then he'll have two 16 ohm cabinets and then he runs his head at 8 ohms. it's safe if you go that route but if you leave the 212 alone you can run your amp at 4 ohms and still be safe.

 

[Lord Toneking]

I talked with Scott Splawn over the phone asking him about running both my 16 ohm 4x12 and my 8 ohm 2x12 together and he said I cannot do that, that its not a good idea

He told me I would need to replace the 16 ohm speakers in my 2x12 with 8 ohm speakers making it a 16 ohm cabinet..THEN I could use both cabs together

Now Im wondering why he didnt just tell me to set my amp at 4 ohms and go for it?



What Im really kind of wondering also is what the difference is (if any) between a 16 ohm 2x12 cab with 8 ohm speakers vs an 8 ohm cab with 16 ohm speakers

 

[steve_k]

I talked with Scott Splawn over the phone asking him about running both my 16 ohm 4x12 and my 8 ohm 2x12 together and he said I cannot do that, that its not a good idea

He told me I would need to replace the 16 ohm speakers in my 2x12 with 8 ohm speakers making it a 16 ohm cabinet..THEN I could use both cabs together

Now Im wondering why he didnt just tell me to set my amp at 4 ohms and go for it?

Does your Splawn have an impedance selector and jacks, or individual jacks (2x4, 2x8, 1x16)?

 

[thiswaythatway]

I talked with Scott Splawn over the phone asking him about running both my 16 ohm 4x12 and my 8 ohm 2x12 together and he said I cannot do that, that its not a good idea

He told me I would need to replace the 16 ohm speakers in my 2x12 with 8 ohm speakers making it a 16 ohm cabinet..THEN I could use both cabs together

Now Im wondering why he didnt just tell me to set my amp at 4 ohms and go for it?



What Im really kind of wondering also is what the difference is (if any) between a 16 ohm 2x12 cab with 8 ohm speakers vs an 8 ohm cab with 16 ohm speakers

He probably told you the safest most sure way of hooking things up. If someone calls him up asking how to do something and that guy goes and screws it up guess who gets blamed and get trashed on various forums and or media outlets?

 

[Buckeyedog]

I talked with Scott Splawn over the phone asking him about running both my 16 ohm 4x12 and my 8 ohm 2x12 together and he said I cannot do that, that its not a good idea

He told me I would need to replace the 16 ohm speakers in my 2x12 with 8 ohm speakers making it a 16 ohm cabinet..THEN I could use both cabs together

Now Im wondering why he didnt just tell me to set my amp at 4 ohms and go for it?



What Im really kind of wondering also is what the difference is (if any) between a 16 ohm 2x12 cab with 8 ohm speakers vs an 8 ohm cab with 16 ohm speakers

He probably told you the safest most sure way of hooking things up. If someone calls him up asking how to do something and that guy goes and screws it up guess who gets blamed and get trashed on various forums and or media outlets?

Yep, and like I said above, the 212 will be twice as loud as the 412. Take the safe route and make your 212 and make it a 16 ohm cab. I don't think there's much of a difference in parallel 8 ohm vs, series 16 ohm. Doubt if you could tell the difference.

 

[steve_k]

He should have tried to sell him a Splawn guitar too....just to be on the safe side.

 

[blackba]

I talked with Scott Splawn over the phone asking him about running both my 16 ohm 4x12 and my 8 ohm 2x12 together and he said I cannot do that, that its not a good idea

He told me I would need to replace the 16 ohm speakers in my 2x12 with 8 ohm speakers making it a 16 ohm cabinet..THEN I could use both cabs together

Now Im wondering why he didnt just tell me to set my amp at 4 ohms and go for it?



What Im really kind of wondering also is what the difference is (if any) between a 16 ohm 2x12 cab with 8 ohm speakers vs an 8 ohm cab with 16 ohm speakers

When going from an 8ohm 212 (2 16ohm speakers in parallel) to a 16ohm 212 (2 8ohm speakers in series), you note only have the differences between the 16ohm versus 8ohm speakers, you also have the differences in wiring between parallel and series, so yes there will be some tonal differences. What exactly the difference is, I can't say as I have never done a 1 to 1 comparison.

 

[Lord Toneking]

I talked with Scott Splawn over the phone asking him about running both my 16 ohm 4x12 and my 8 ohm 2x12 together and he said I cannot do that, that its not a good idea

He told me I would need to replace the 16 ohm speakers in my 2x12 with 8 ohm speakers making it a 16 ohm cabinet..THEN I could use both cabs together

Now Im wondering why he didnt just tell me to set my amp at 4 ohms and go for it?

Does your Splawn have an impedance selector and jacks, or individual jacks (2x4, 2x8, 1x16)?

just a knob with 4, 8 and 16

 

[bubbastain]

I talked with Scott Splawn over the phone asking him about running both my 16 ohm 4x12 and my 8 ohm 2x12 together and he said I cannot do that, that its not a good idea

He told me I would need to replace the 16 ohm speakers in my 2x12 with 8 ohm speakers making it a 16 ohm cabinet..THEN I could use both cabs together

Now Im wondering why he didnt just tell me to set my amp at 4 ohms and go for it?



What Im really kind of wondering also is what the difference is (if any) between a 16 ohm 2x12 cab with 8 ohm speakers vs an 8 ohm cab with 16 ohm speakers

He probably told you the safest most sure way of hooking things up. If someone calls him up asking how to do something and that guy goes and screws it up guess who gets blamed and get trashed on various forums and or media outlets?

Yep, and like I said above, the 212 will be twice as loud as the 412. Take the safe route and make your 212 and make it a 16 ohm cab. I don't think there's much of a difference in parallel 8 ohm vs, series 16 ohm. Doubt if you could tell the difference.

Being safe to run is cool but I don't think I'd be cool with having the 2x12 louder than the 4x12.

 

[Anonymous]

what does your 4x12 run at? what inputs does it have? 8 stereo 4/16 mono at series parallel operation?

if so, you could run your amp at 8 ohms, one output to each side of the cab.


i think after its all said and done, some people will tell you theres a huge tonal difference with 2 16 ohm speakers run at 8 parallel as opposed to 2 8ohm speakers run at 16ohms series in the same cabinet. you'll notice more power oooomph though. if the Hz rating is the same on both types of speakers, i would think think you'll notice little to no difference tonally. two different Hz rated speakers.....and ohms...now you're getting into a true melting pot.
im probably totally wrong!!!!!!!!

maybe scumback could help us here

 

[bubbastain]

what does your 4x12 run at? what inputs does it have? 8 stereo 4/16 mono at series parallel operation?

if so, you could run your amp at 8 ohms, one output to each side of the cab.


i think after its all said and done, some people will tell you theres a huge tonal difference with 2 16 ohm speakers run at 8 parallel as opposed to 2 8ohm speakers run at 16ohms series in the same cabinet. you'll notice more power oooomph though. if the Hz rating is the same on both types of speakers, i would think think you'll notice little to no difference tonally. two different Hz rated speakers.....and ohms...now you're getting into a true melting pot.
im probably totally wrong!!!!!!!!

maybe scumback could help us here

Both of my 4x12s are single input 16 ohm. I thought about just wiring one of them up to run mono(16) or stereo(8/side) so that I would also be able to run a 8 ohm 2x12 and have everything be equal but I didn't want to complicate things. I like the single input jack. I think I'll just get a pair of Small Blocks and run them on top and V30s on bottom in a 4x12.

 

[racerevlon]

I know where Scott is coming from on this one. Can you theoretically do it: yes. Is it ideal: no.