Running a load and cab simultaneously?

[fearhk213]

In situations where you need/want to play loud and you have an amp that pushes more than a speaker cab can handle, have any of you all ever ran one of the amp’s speaker outputs to a load and another output to a cab so as to reduce the wattage to the cab? Any reason this wouldn’t work? Would the load still influence the sound and feel even though the amp is also connected to a cab?

 

[mnemonic]

It works fine. Assuming both the load box and speaker load are the same impedance, half the power goes to each, so a 100 watt amp would have 50 watts going to each (assuming you’re running it full-tilt).

This is only like a 3db volume cut though, so nothing major.

The load still affects the tone, since it’s parallel with a speaker cab. When I was looking for ways to turn my recto up more without blowing out my ears I tried a 16 ohm resistive load in parallel with a 16 ohm speaker cab. Big change in sound, since the resistive load really deadened the overall impedence curve the amp saw. Way duller and weaker sounding but then again I’ve found recto’s in modern mode are very susceptible to changes in the load.

If you’re using a good reactive load like the Suhr, you might not notice much difference in sound, since it does the impedance curve correctly.

Just treat the load like another speaker cabinet except it doesn’t make any sound.

 

[skullfxr]

Just treat the load like another speaker cabinet except it doesn’t make any sound.

This is the best way to look at it and simplest explanation.

 

[fearhk213]

It works fine. Assuming both the load box and speaker load are the same impedance, half the power goes to each, so a 100 watt amp would have 50 watts going to each (assuming you’re running it full-tilt).

This is only like a 3db volume cut though, so nothing major.

The load still affects the tone, since it’s parallel with a speaker cab. When I was looking for ways to turn my recto up more without blowing out my ears I tried a 16 ohm resistive load in parallel with a 16 ohm speaker cab. Big change in sound, since the resistive load really deadened the overall impedence curve the amp saw. Way duller and weaker sounding but then again I’ve found recto’s in modern mode are very susceptible to changes in the load.

If you’re using a good reactive load like the Suhr, you might not notice much difference in sound, since it does the impedance curve correctly.

Just treat the load like another speaker cabinet except it doesn’t make any sound.

Cool man. Thanks for the detailed response. It made sense on paper, so I figured it would work. It’s a bummer the load still impacts the tone. Guess you can’t win them all lol.