TX6Strings
Well-known member
Hey Guys - Does anyone make a device that changes the impedance coming out of your amp? I know I can mismatch running 16->8 or 4 or 8-> 4 but I’d really like to match impedance but my Mesa doesn’t have a 16 ohm tap.
Devin
Well-known member
Fryette Powerstation is one
Samhain
Banned
Well-known member
...
guitarbilly74
Active member
Samhain
Banned
Well-known member
ZEN Amps
Well-known member
Can vouch for that Weber box, had one for maybe 15 years and it's solid. Attenuators often have the ability as well - Fryette PS, Rivera RockCrusher and ToneKing Ironman II.
P
psychodave
Well-known member
Rewire your 4x12 for 8 ohms.
squealie
Well-known member
Unless you have 16 ohm speakers.
R
Racerxrated
Well-known member
Can you re wire a 16 ohm for 8? I thought you could only re wire a 16 ohm 4x12 for 4 ohms.
ZEN Amps
Well-known member
311boogieman
Well-known member
So you have a 16 ohm cab? Is it at 4x12? If so, chances are it has 4 - 16 ohm speakers wired in parallel-series. So as said, not much you can do there.
BUT - it says right in the Mesa manual that you can mismatch 1 way in either direction. They were built to do that.
If it really bothers you, get the Z matcher or Power soak as shown
P
psychodave
Well-known member
Mesa amps have a 4 ohm tap....
Fret-Shredder
Well-known member
I personally prefer setting my Friedman BE100 and my Marshall heads to 8ohms into any of my 16ohm cabs.
311boogieman
Well-known member
Actually Dave, most Mesa amps have both 4 and 8 ohm taps....
My Rectoverb does anyway and I'm pretty sure the Mark IV does too. Never owned a Mark IV though. I played one at GC, but didn't look at that back panel.
Edit: Yep
squealie
Well-known member
There are plenty of amp makers that argue against this.
I've done it forever without any negative $$ results.
I think it comes down to how hard you're working the amp.
311boogieman
Well-known member
I'm pretty confident that the Output Transformer in my Splawn can handle whatever. One time, I had a buddy over and we were swapping heads around and he accidentally plugged my cabinet back into my Quick Rod's effects return jack. We must have messed around for 10 or 15 minutes troubleshooting all kinds of stuff before noticing. No damage to anything including power tubes or fuses or screen grid resistors etc.
To the OP: This is off of page 13 of your user manual. Same exact words as my Rectoverb manual. Now, plugging a 2 ohm cab into the 8 ohm tap on your amp might pose an issue
"Not of great concern" in a Mesa amp or amp that has certain qualities. Bottom line - check and ask. My general advice to most people in a lot of cases is always match.
To the OP: This is off of page 13 of your user manual. Same exact words as my Rectoverb manual. Now, plugging a 2 ohm cab into the 8 ohm tap on your amp might pose an issue
"Not of great concern" in a Mesa amp or amp that has certain qualities. Bottom line - check and ask. My general advice to most people in a lot of cases is always match.
TX6Strings
Well-known member
It’s a 212 rated for 16. I know I can run 8 or 4 into it but it certainly changes the sound which depending on the set up isn’t a bad thing, but to me an amp usually sounds best with matched impedance.
311boogieman
Well-known member
OK. Good to know. If you have a 2x12 cab now that means you 'probably' have 2 - 8 ohm speakers wired in series for a 16 ohm load. You 'could' rewire that cab in parallel meaning the total load would then be 4 ohms. Wired in parallel means you divide down. Series you add up together. If tone is the most important factor, then that is what I would consider before adding in load boxes.
R
Racerxrated
Well-known member
If I remember correctly running the impedance lower i.e. 4 ohm out into a 16 ohm cab does lower the wattage some as well. Thicker lows, more compression.
TheGreatGreen
Well-known member
This is the only relevant post in the thread that actually addresses the OP’s concern.