Is this a safe impedance match?

Swampy

New member
Yesteday I bought this 2X12 cab loaded with 16ohm Carvin G12-16's. It being an 8ohm cab, I'm thinking I'm good running this and my 15" 8ohm Eminence Big Ben cab out of my OR15's (2) 8ohm outs.

Am I correct?



This pic was taken with my Eminence Legend 12" 16ohm hooked up.

 
Re: Is this a safe impedance match?

No, if you are running both cabs, in parallel, you need to hook it up to a 4 ohm jack, which you don't have on that amp. Unless hooking them both up hooks to a 4 ohm winding in the output transformer...(it doesn't) This should be covered in the owners manual.

EDIT: https://www.muziekhuisdacapo.nl/Files/ProductInformation/Manual/OrangeOR15ManualV12.pdf

Page 9 states:

1. Connect the amplifier to a speaker cabinet of the correct impedance.
Connect 1 x 16ohm cabinet to the 16ohm speaker output jack socket.
Connect 1 x 8ohm cabinet to either of the 8ohm speaker output jack socket.
Connect 2 x 16ohm cabinets to both of the 8ohm speaker output jack sockets
 
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Re: Is this a safe impedance match?

No. Those two 8 ohm outputs are in parallel, so plug one 8 ohm cabinet into one 8 ohm output, and plug the other 8 ohm cabinet into the other 8 ohm output.
 
Re: Is this a safe impedance match?

No. Those two 8 ohm outputs are in parallel, so plug one 8 ohm cabinet into one 8 ohm output, and plug the other 8 ohm cabinet into the other 8 ohm output.

That's my intention/question. I wasn't going to run them out of the 16ohm jack.

This pic was taken with my Eminence Legend 12" 16ohm hooked up.


The pic was just to show the outs that I had.
 
Re: Is this a safe impedance match?

Thanks for the link Trevorus! I had this saved somewhere. Cant find it at the moment.
 
Re: Is this a safe impedance match?

Alright. New question. I can wire this cab in series to get a 16ohm load, and then run both it and my Emi Legend 1x12 16ohm out of the (2) 8ohm outs. Right?
 
Re: Is this a safe impedance match?

Alright. New question. I can wire this cab in series to get a 16ohm load, and then run both it and my Emi Legend 1x12 16ohm out of the (2) 8ohm outs. Right?

No, there's only two ways a 212 cab can end up as 8 ohms. 2x16 ohm speakers in parallel (giving 8 ohms), or 2x4 ohm drivers in series (also giving 8 ohms). You would need to have 2 8ohm drivers in series to get 16 ohms in that 212, which would require a speaker change.
 
Re: Is this a safe impedance match?

It'd be safe to run them out of my Mesa Express then.




I'll have to figure something out for the Orange to give it a bigger sound.That's what I play through the most. At home I'll blend the two with an ABY quite a bit, but its a hassle taking both to buddies houses for jams.
 
Re: Is this a safe impedance match?

You need to make a box or cable that puts the two 8 Ohm cab's in series, and then connect them to the 16 Ohm output socket on the amp.
 
Re: Is this a safe impedance match?

That's my intention/question. I wasn't going to run them out of the 16ohm jack.



The pic was just to show the outs that I had.

And my bad, I misread the question and had a brain fart at the same time. Trevorus is right.
 
Re: Is this a safe impedance match?

If it were my amp, I wouldn't worry about the mismatch unless I was running it flat out or close to it. Any decently engineered tube amp should handle a mismatch of a factor of two in either direction.
 
Re: Is this a safe impedance match?

I know Mesa actually encourages experimenting with impedance combinations for different tonal flavors, but I still feel funny about doing it.
 
Re: Is this a safe impedance match?

Get an Orange PPC412. They did all of the math for you all ready. Your head will sound awesome through that cab.
 
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