One 16 ohm 4x12 or Two 4x12s @ 8 ohm?

[SQUAREHEAD]

I have some amplifiers that sound glorious set at 8 ohm through two Bogner / old Marshall 4X12 cabinets.
I also have some amplifiers that sound much better set at 16 ohm through just one 4X12 cabinet…
What’s everybody’s experience with this? The EQ curve changes more or less depending on the amplifier when switched to 8ohm into two 4X12 cabinets…
Do you prefer one 16ohm cab it or two with amp at 8 ohm?
Which amplifiers?

 

[Racerxrated]

One 16 seems to sound best to me…while running 2 of the same 16 ohm cabs with the selector set to 8 ohms, while covering more sonic space seems to be a little less tonefull…just not as ‘present’ for lack of a better word. 1 cab just sounds a touch better.
This is with all my amps.

 

[cardinal]

IME with G12Ms and V30s, 8-ohm speakers are warmer with less top end (this is using a solid state power amp/modeler rig, so the amp impedance setting is not a factor).

I can work with either; adjusting the mid and treble knobs slightly is enough to compensate.

The amp impedance setting supposedly matters as well, which makes sense, but is hard for me to disentangle from the impact changing the speaker impedance or number of speakers.

 

[SQUAREHEAD]

One 16 seems to sound best to me…while running 2 of the same 16 ohm cabs with the selector set to 8 ohms, while covering more sonic space seems to be a little less tonefull…just not as ‘present’ for lack of a better word. 1 cab just sounds a touch better.
This is with all my amps.

Yep…
A bright amp can be smoothed out a bit, running two 16ohm cabs in my opinion.
But a 16 ohm cab on its own has more ‘life’ or snarl, bite etc etc in my experience.
2 cabs definitely have more thump, if you need it…

 

[Racerxrated]

Yep…
A bright amp can be smoothed out a bit, running two 16ohm cabs in my opinion.
But a 16 ohm cab on its own has more ‘life’ or snarl, bite etc etc in my experience.
2 cabs definitely have more thump, if you need it…

Well said...I concur. When I play the 72 Marshall, I have to run the G12 65 cab with the 72 cab with GBs for fear of frying the GBs...but I'd love to just hear the 72 cab by itself. If I did, my neighbors might see a small mushroom cloud appear above my house. And a blood curdling "NOOOO!"

 

[cardinal]

Well said...I concur. When I play the 72 Marshall, I have to run the G12 65 cab with the 72 cab with GBs for fear of frying the GBs...but I'd love to just hear the 72 cab by itself. If I did, my neighbors might see a small mushroom cloud appear above my house. And a blood curdling "NOOOO!"

I'm always so terrified when running a single 4x12 of G12Ms at volume. I know it should handle it but...