Do YOU notice difference in ohm settings? I do...

[crwnedblasphemy]

Okay, for years of using 2x12s(which were all 8ohm) a few weeks back i hooked up my QR with two cables set to 8ohm/8ohm stereo. The sound was so close to my 2x12s how I remembered Splawns from years past. Tight and Bright. Man, the cut was crushing!

But playing into mono 16ohm input/16ohm imp setting, the amp is not near as bright, has some smoothness, yet gritty. I LOVE it. In hindsight, besides how heavy my 4x12 is, it is nice to have both options, but running 16ohms is liquid. Not many 2x12's give a 16ohm option unless you rewire yourself. Just an observation to my ears.

Sorry....carry on.

 

[Mr. Willy]

I've been wondering this myself. I recently picked up two Lynchbacks for a 2x12. The wiring in the cab is already parallel, so I'm running it at 4ohms. Seems choked to me, sound wise, but I can't tell if it's in my head or it's the speakers (which are on the darker side). I love my 4x12 at 16ohms.

 

[wIsEbLooD]

yes, i always leave the amp on 16.

 

[Racerxrated]

yes, i always leave the amp on 16.

Even if the cab is 8ohm? I always thought that's dangerous for the transformer. Only way I've mismatched is low into high..4 ohm out of my Mesa into the 16 of my B cab is interesting. Warmer, more compressed....

 

[metalmaniac93]

I noticed this too with my Bogner OS212 which is wired for 8 ohms. Both the V30s and Scumbacks sounded muffled compared to the all of my 16 ohm cabs. All my 4X12s are wired for 16 ohms as is my Dr Z 2X12 cab.

 

[glip22]

16 I think uses more windings of the tranny. I find going from 8 ohm's out to a 16 ohm cab the tone is darker.

 

[JamesPeters]

Series vs parallel wiring of speakers means a difference in the inductance. So you can wire four speakers in series-parallel at 16 ohms, or parallel-series at 16 ohms, and despite the fact you're using the same tap of your output transformer (and still properly matching to the load of the cab) you can still hear a difference in sound. (You can try this with a switch in your cabinet, rated for the current of course. I did, and now I wire 4x12s as parallel-series by default.) This makes more difference in the sound than anything else I can think of when talking about different impedances (when matching them properly to the amp of course).

Also if a speaker is available as a 16 ohm version or 8 ohm version, they'll sound a bit different.

 

[halebox]

Yes I've been running cornford at 8 ohms into 16 ohm cab and sounds cooler to me

 

[stephen sawall]

It depends on the amp and your taste. I have amps I like best at 4 ohms.

 

[JamesPeters]

Yes I've been running cornford at 8 ohms into 16 ohm cab and sounds cooler to me

You're running an impedance mismatch to get a difference in sound. I think the main discussion here is about matching impedance, but hearing differences when running (the amp and cab) at 4, 8 or 16 ohms.

Anyway this was discussed in another recent thread, but I'd like to mention it again:

http://aga.rru.com/FAQs/technical.html#imp-1

This (and the point below it) explains why mismatching impedance can be bad. Mismatching "one step" up or down shouldn't be horrible as long as you're not cranking the amp. If you are...you may be rolling the dice.

 

[petejt]

I've been running things mismatched for so long, that I thought it was all broken. It was bigger than just 8 into 16... Probably not a good idea.

I re-wired one cab so it was matched (16 ohms mono), and the other so it was matched 8 ohms mono- and HOLY SHITE it sounded good!
It instantly made me love guitar playing again.

I've pulled apart all my cabs now and moving the speakers around. I had enough of this X-pattern stereo & mismatch junk, and just making sure the cabs are matched and in phase.

 

[petejt]

16 I think uses more windings of the tranny. I find going from 8 ohm's out to a 16 ohm cab the tone is darker.

Also, going from 4 ohms to 16 ohms makes it even more darker. But not in a good way. The top end is still there, but the edge and roar is kinda lost and instead there's an annoying shriek. Not good.