Nominal impedance?

Jazz Rock

New member
If you were to replace the speaker in your amp, with the amp and speaker working on 8 and 16 ohm. Which one would you go for and why?
 
Re: Nominal impedance?

On the Laneys I believe it's 8. I have the same problem on my VC15.

If in doubt, check the speaker's impedance and use that.
 
Re: Nominal impedance?

It's not about the laney. It is about amps that have a switch so you could use both. And the fact that most 12" I have seen so far come in both impedance. So which one to go for when you the choice? It is for the Valvestate 80W.
 
Re: Nominal impedance?

Oh if it has a switch, then it just allows you more choice in cabs to use. Just select the right impedance and that's it. There's nothing else to it.
 
Re: Nominal impedance?

16 ohms = less volume but some people will claim the tone is better because you are using all the windings in the transformer.
 
Re: Nominal impedance?

Actually there should be no drop in volume between 8 and 16 ohms, provided we are talking about an amp with an impedance switch set to match the speaker. (With a solid-state amp with 8-ohm output, using a 16-ohm speaker will cause a drop in power).

All else being equal, you'll probably find the 8-ohm combination a bit brighter, and the 16-ohm maybe a bit fatter. Gerald Weber has a good explanation of this in his latest book, Tube Guitar Amplifier Essentials.
 
Re: Nominal impedance?

i think the tonal differences will be pretty negligible. IMO, the best way to do it is to plan for the future if you plan on adding any more cabinets to your rig. remember that multiple cabnets connect in parallel, which will lower the total impedence. i've seen a lot of people who run 4 ohm cabinets that want to add another cabinet, but can't because they would no longer be able to match up the impedence properly.

so that means in your case, i would go for 16 ohms, simply because that would leave you the option of running an additional 16 ohm cabinet (which will give you 8 ohms all together) if you ever choose to do so.
 
Re: Nominal impedance?

What about 4 ohms, my AOR has a switch for 4, 8, 16. My Marshall 4X12 has option 4 and 16 ohms, and I am using a MassLite Webbermass attenuator, for high gain metal stuff which is best?
 
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