Which ohm setting do you prefer on your amp?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Shark Diver
  • Start date Start date

What Ohm setting do you prefer?

  • 16 ohm

    Votes: 37 55.2%

  • 8 ohm

    Votes: 23 34.3%

  • 4 ohm

    Votes: 6 9.0%

  • What's an ohm?

    Votes: 1 1.5%
  • Total voters
    67
Shark Diver

Shark Diver

New member
Just wondering which ohm setting you guys prefer, or if you even hear a difference?
Do you just set to cab rating and not notice anything?
 
You usually don't want to mismatch the impedance rating from head to cab as it's the amount of resistance the amp see's from the cab. If you have a 16ohm cab and run your head at 8ohm setting you can damage the transformers and other things
 



For Marshall single 4x12 ....16 ohm.

Im down to two 1978 Marshall Blackback cabs. Each is 16 ohm.

8 ohm for stack.
 
I actually think my tones differ if I use the Torpedo Live as a load (8 Ohm) or my Cab/Rivera Rock Crusher (16 Ohm). I prefer 16 Ohm, but no idea if they should sound any different technically.
 
lessthan12":o9w051yi said:
You usually don't want to mismatch the impedance rating from head to cab as it's the amount of resistance the amp see's from the cab. If you have a 16ohm cab and run your head at 8ohm setting you can damage the transformers and other things
Click to expand...

The Mesa Boogie Rectifier owner's manual shows that a 8ohm out to a 16ohm cab is a safe mismatch. I've done this many times without a problem.
 
Shark Diver":1o9a854e said:
Just wondering which ohm setting you guys prefer, or if you even hear a difference?
Do you just set to cab rating and not notice anything?
Click to expand...

This would be an interesting A/B test if you had 2 identical amp/cab rigs to switch between, with two different ohms.
 
lessthan12":3hdq57ib said:
You usually don't want to mismatch the impedance rating from head to cab as it's the amount of resistance the amp see's from the cab. If you have a 16ohm cab and run your head at 8ohm setting you can damage the transformers and other things
Click to expand...
 
Peavey's @ 8 ohms
Marshalls @ 16 ohms
VHT @ 8 ohms
Engl @ 16 ohms
Mesa @ 8 ohms
Laney @ 8 ohms
Soldano @ 16 or 8 ohms
 
Lately I prefer the 4 ohm tap on my Mark IV into 4ohm in on my Marshall 1960B.
 
I just wired a 4x12 cab up (greenbacks on top, v30s on bottom) with a jack plate that allows me to run at 4 or 16 ohms, or 8 ohms a side in stereo. I wondered the same thing regarding the sonic difference and went back and forth between 4 and 16 with my Express head. The difference in both sound and feel was very slight and completely unnoticeable in a mix. 4 ohms seemed to be ever so slightly louder and had perhaps a bit more high end, whereas 16 seemed to be a bit warmer. Once again, the difference was so slight that for all practical purposes it was insignificant.
 
You could have a whole discussion on power efficiency, ohms and such but for 99% of us it boils down to matching impedance. I never could tell any tonal differences between 8/16 but I'm guessing I could between say 4/16. Even that would mostly be limited to overall volumn, maybe breakup? Dunno....
 
16 and 8 are preferred, I find the lesser the load the stiffer the sound/reaction/feel.
 
It's been hard to make direct apples-to-apples comparisons, but I feel like the larger the ohm, the more low/high end extension there is? Playing with a new 1960 can for a bit, it seemed like the 4 ohm setting was darker (more middy, less treble but also less bass) and felt a bit strange (stiffer, like Mo said) compared to the 16 ohm setting.

My favorite cab is 8 ohm and it sounds great with a SLO and a 2204. No desire to try to swap speakers to get the cab to 16 ohm (unless I try to run a full stack, because I wanted a fan of using 4 ohms).
 
Yeah, I am just trying to hear what others think. I haven't used 16 ohms in years because I have been using Thiele cabs with 8ohm speakers - EVM12Ls and SROs. So, 1 speaker 8 ohms, a pair 4 ohms. And with my current rig and the 2-notes it is 8ohm only. If I add a cab back in I'm down to 4 or 8 depending on if I use the 2-notes thru.

I heard some amp guys talking about this and it got me thinking if others actively try to get their speakers to be a certain ohm for tone, or just convenience. Or if the speakers themselves sound different wired for different ohms.

Rupe that was a good experiment.
 
i think it's 8. I just try to match it with the cab. I have no understanding when it comes to ohms
 
so I run 8 ohm from amp into my cabs as they are either 16 or 8 ohms that is ok right:???
 
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