Two Notes Captor X 8 ohm & 16 ohm mismatch?

T

The Filth

New member
Hi all,

Never been on this forum. Seems like a truly great place to talk about this sort of thing. Anyways--

I just bought a Captor X 8 ohm version. It's pretty cool and I'm happy with it overall, but I mistakenly ordered the 8 ohm version instead of the 16 ohm version. It's mismatched from the single 16 ohm Vintage 30 in my Bogner Goldfinger combo. The amp does have 8 and 4 ohm speaker outs along with the 16 ohm one, so I'm able to match the amp to the Captor X, just not with the speaker.

It's only really relevant when I am using the attenuator, because that involves using the speaker, but I don't want to discover I'm doing something damaging to the amp (it seems just fine) or noticeably altering the amp's tone for the worst.

Should I really take the extra two weeks or whatever to send it back and order another one or should I be just fine as is? Another solution would be to change out the speaker. I've been considering replacing the V30 with a Creamback anyways, but I will have a better sense of whether it's worth spending the money to do that once I get a better grip on the mismatched ohm situation. Anyone have any thoughts or insights into this?

Thanks in advanced.

Max
 
D

Dilan - Two notes

Active member
Hello @The Filth
As your amp has an 8 Ohms output you will be able to match your amp with the load box in the following 2 cases:
- when your amp is connected to the Captor X and no cabinet is connected to the SPEAKER OUT of the Captor X.
- when your amp is connected to the Captor X, the cabinet is connected to the SPEAKER OUT, and the VOLUME LEVEL switch is on LOW or halway position. In these settings of the VOLUME LEVEL, the attenuator is engaged. The amp sees the impedance of the Captor X, no matter what the impedance of the cabinet is.

When your cabinet is connected to the Captor X, and the VOLUME LEVEL is on FULL, the load provided to the amp is the cabinet's. In that case you have an impedance mismatch between the amp's output and the cabinet - which is already the case in your rig prior to you receiving the Captor X.
 
T

The Filth

New member
Dilan - Two notes said:
Hello @The Filth
As your amp has an 8 Ohms output you will be able to match your amp with the load box in the following 2 cases:
- when your amp is connected to the Captor X and no cabinet is connected to the SPEAKER OUT of the Captor X.
- when your amp is connected to the Captor X, the cabinet is connected to the SPEAKER OUT, and the VOLUME LEVEL switch is on LOW or halway position. In these settings of the VOLUME LEVEL, the attenuator is engaged. The amp sees the impedance of the Captor X, no matter what the impedance of the cabinet is.

When your cabinet is connected to the Captor X, and the VOLUME LEVEL is on FULL, the load provided to the amp is the cabinet's. In that case you have an impedance mismatch between the amp's output and the cabinet - which is already the case in your rig prior to you receiving the Captor X.
Click to expand...
Thanks for getting back to me!

Interesting... So even though I have a 16 ohms speaker and am using the 8ohms Captor X with the 8 ohms output on my amp, things are matched properly? So it's kind of irrelevant whether the speaker is 8 ohms or 16 ohms at that point?

Thanks again,
Max
 
Ventura

Ventura

Well-known member
The Filth said:
Thanks for getting back to me!

Interesting... So even though I have a 16 ohms speaker and am using the 8ohms Captor X with the 8 ohms output on my amp, things are matched properly? So it's kind of irrelevant whether the speaker is 8 ohms or 16 ohms at that point?

Thanks again,
Max
Click to expand...
Providing you're engaging the attenuation switch on the back of the CaptorX, your amp section will only see the CaptorX as the impedance load - what gets fed to your cab after that is the tail end business of the CaptorX having finished up with its attenuation tasks.
 
Ventura

Ventura

Well-known member
Dilan - Two notes said:
which is already the case in your rig prior to you receiving the Captor X.
Click to expand...
Just to clarify, @The Filth has a combo amp which is indeed 16ohm out into a 16ohm speaker - so it's not mismatched - it's parity input/output. Don't wanna step on any toes here - but he did say the 16ohm jack-out is what currently connects the amp section of his combo to his single speaker which is also rated at 16ohm 😬
 
T

The Filth

New member
Ventura said:
Just to clarify, @The Filth has a combo amp which is indeed 16ohm out into a 16ohm speaker - so it's not mismatched - it's parity input/output. Don't wanna step on any toes here - but he did say the 16ohm jack-out is what currently connects the amp section of his combo to his single speaker which is also rated at 16ohm 😬
Click to expand...
Yes, you're correct here. The amp has different outputs, the standard being the16 into the 16. But the Captor is connect to the 8 Ohm output and then fed into the 16 Ohm speaker....

So, in other words, it is a mismatch? Sounds like it. Is there a notable loss of tone or addition risk then?
 
Ventura

Ventura

Well-known member
The Filth said:
Yes, you're correct here. The amp has different outputs, the standard being the16 into the 16. But the Captor is connect to the 8 Ohm output and then fed into the 16 Ohm speaker....

So, in other words, it is a mismatch? Sounds like it. Is there a notable loss of tone or addition risk then?
Click to expand...
Impedance Mismatch - I swear this is where the English language most fails us (have ya ever tried to read everyone's take on this??? It's both hilarious and exhausting, and generally, no one ever comes out the wiser - HOWEVER:) )

You are taking your 8ohm amp-OUT and plugging it into your CaptorX-8ohm-IN = this is equal / equal.
ONCE you plug your speaker cable in that's fed from your 16ohm rated speaker, IN to the back of the CaptorX - you will NEED to use the attenuation switch so the amp only sees the CaptorX (8 to 8); if you DO NOT engage the attenuation switch on the back of the CaptorX - the signal flows STRAIGHT through and then you'd have 8ohm amp-OUT to 16ohm-load-IN which is a mismatch and whilst most of the time peeps will say a couple degrees of separation is okay, I'm not one to fck with it. BUT - if the amp out is 8ohm, it feeds the 8ohm CaptorX, and then you use the attenuation to hit the speaker with whatever is coming out of the attenuated socket, it will be okay.

Christ there was even a saying about impedance mismatches - remember that thing???? Mind that was for amp-direct-to-load, but still... There was an actual little limerick/poem/saying that talked about this very thing...and obviously it didn't stick with me LOL.
 
T

The Filth

New member
Ventura said:
Impedance Mismatch - I swear this is where the English language most fails us (have ya ever tried to read everyone's take on this??? It's both hilarious and exhausting, and generally, no one ever comes out the wiser - HOWEVER:) )

You are taking your 8ohm amp-OUT and plugging it into your CaptorX-8ohm-IN = this is equal / equal.
ONCE you plug your speaker cable in that's fed from your 16ohm rated speaker, IN to the back of the CaptorX - you will NEED to use the attenuation switch so the amp only sees the CaptorX (8 to 8); if you DO NOT engage the attenuation switch on the back of the CaptorX - the signal flows STRAIGHT through and then you'd have 8ohm amp-OUT to 16ohm-load-IN which is a mismatch and whilst most of the time peeps will say a couple degrees of separation is okay, I'm not one to fck with it. BUT - if the amp out is 8ohm, it feeds the 8ohm CaptorX, and then you use the attenuation to hit the speaker with whatever is coming out of the attenuated socket, it will be okay.

Christ there was even a saying about impedance mismatches - remember that thing???? Mind that was for amp-direct-to-load, but still... There was an actual little limerick/poem/saying that talked about this very thing...and obviously it didn't stick with me LOL.
Click to expand...

I'm just seeing this. Okay, that makes sense now! I think. My understanding of what impedance is was clearly limiting my ability to understand. I didn't pay enough attention in physics class... lol
 
vityafx

vityafx

New member
i have an amp with 16 ohm output and captor x 16. Can I connect it to a cabinet of 8 ohm with the attenuation without damaging the speaker? I just wonder how it works with the speakers in this case - shouldn’t those also damage due to the impedance mismatch (expect 8ohm input) but receive (? How many from captor z when attenuated?) I don’t know how much. I am just worried about the cabinet then.
 
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