Question about OHMS

[Empty Pockets]

My amp is designed for 4 ohms and my cabinet for 8 ohms and i think I'm killing my amp by running it into a missmatched cab. Is there any way to rewire the speakers to make it 4 ohms, or should i get a different cabinet?

-X

 

[Old Ghost]

Re: Question about OHMS

Running an 8 Ohms cabinet thru a 4 ohms output is just fine and won't damage anything. However, if you reverse this having the output on 8 Ohms and the cabinet is on 4 Ohms, you're in big trouble!

 

[mnbaseball91]

Re: Question about OHMS

To over-simplifiy it, less ohms means more power drawn.

 

[JacksonMIA]

Re: Question about OHMS

Running an 8 Ohms cabinet thru a 4 ohms output is just fine and won't damage anything. However, if you reverse this having the output on 8 Ohms and the cabinet is on 4 Ohms, you're in big trouble!

True, but you won't get the full output from the speakers. You'd essentially need to run the amp at twice as many watts to get the same output. It's not hurting anything, and may be better in some respects, but you're running the amp hotter and burning more electricity. I doubt you'd cook anything, but everything would be more efficient if you matched the impedance.

That said, you can rewire the cabinet. Assuming that the speakers are 2 Ohms each and are all wired in series (this may not be the case, as I haven't really studied cabs that much. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. You can always disconnect them and measure each with a multimeter.), just hook pairs up in series and then hook the sets up in parallel. Just remember, if they are in series, the impedance adds up R1 + R2 = Rtotal. If they're in parallel they add up like: 1/[(1/R1) + (1/R2)] = Rtotal. Make sure they add up to four.

 

[Old Ghost]

Re: Question about OHMS

True, but you won't get the full output from the speakers. You'd essentially need to run the amp at twice as many watts to get the same output.

That's correct. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[Jag513]

Re: Question about OHMS

How many speakers are in your cab? JacksonMIA is right about resistance in wiring, but whether or not you can use it depends on how many speakers your cab holds.

 

[JacksonMIA]

Re: Question about OHMS

How many speakers are in your cab? JacksonMIA is right about resistance in wiring, but whether or not you can use it depends on how many speakers your cab holds.

True, I assumed 4 speakers, but you know what happens when you assume.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: Question about OHMS

yeah it's a 2x12 cab and it's a breath of fresh air knowing i'm not hurting anything.

I'm gonna have to start a new thread about a new problem tho......

-X

 

[JacksonMIA]

Re: Question about OHMS

Well, if they're two ohm speakers, wire them in series. If they're 8 ohm, wire them in parallel.

 

[LesStrat]

Re: Question about OHMS

Good idea.

 

[Dills]

Re: Question about OHMS

If you run them like Jackon MIA said into less ohms Ive found i actually get a better tone alround, it just seems like its pushing the tubes harder and more power is running, But i switched my ohmage back cause apparently the power tubes ware out faster that way.