JCM2000.. difference in running 4ohm vs 16 ohm load?

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sixstringking713

sixstringking713

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This has been much debated on the internet and a lot of false information is out there. I'm an EE but I dont know enough about tube amps specifically to know an answer for this. Lets say you have a DSL100 or TSL100 with the capability of running 4, 8, or 16 ohms as well as a 4x12 with the capability to run 4 or 16 ohms. Is there a difference in TONE vs running it at 4 ohm or 16ohm? From doing an A/B test in the past I thought I heard a difference in response but who knows.. It wasnt a blindfold test or anything

What I DO KNOW is the power delivered to the cab will always be 100W(as far as doesnt change with impedance), thats how tube amps work with the impedance matching tapped transformer.. Also, using the 16 ohm tap on the output transformer would use the whole secondary compared to the 4ohm being tapped somewhere in the middle of the secondary.

I would guess there would be a tonal difference based on the fact of how the load is tapped in the secondary of the output transformer but I'm not exactly sure.

comments on this?


EDIT: what i said about higher voltages and lower currents isn't exactly true the more i think about it so i removed it
 
4-ohm should be perceptibly louder at lower volumes due to the decreased resistance. 16-ohm, well, resists more and allows you to drive your power section harder, getting your amp into the region of both pre AND power amp distortion, which will affect the tone. Given the same volume setting, running at 4-ohm will yield more volume with less power amp breakup, while running at 16-ohm will yield less volume with more power amp breakup. Make sense (AND jive mathematically)?

Cheers,
 
I have been playing Marshalls my entire life and I can not tell a difference between 4 or 16 ohm tone or volume wise.
 
Wow--we were working with one of my amps the other day and I was demonstrating the difference using a Marshall 1960B and the difference between the two was definitely noticeable. As noted, the 16-ohm tap sounded better because we were able to drive the power section harder.
 
I ran my modded JCM2000 into different 4x12 cabs that had the choice of 4ohm wired parallel or 16 ohms wired s/p. I thought the 4 ohms/parallel was tighter.

...but maybe it's just me.
 
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