help with ohms

[Bobby Damit]

Hi,
I have a 90's Laney 1x12 combo. I want to disconect the speaker and send the head out to my Marshall 1960 Vintage stereo 4x12 cabinet.
I'm not sure how to configure and plug in the ohms. the head has a switch for either 8 or 4 ohms. the cabinet has a switch for either 4 or 16 ohms. and under the inputs it says 8 ohms Right and 8 ohms Left. Does anyone know the correct way to set the ohms and plug the head into the cabinent? Thanks much for your time and reply.
Bobby

 

[fitz]

Hi,
I have a 90's Laney 1x12 combo. I want to disconect the speaker and send the head out to my Marshall 1960 Vintage stereo 4x12 cabinet.
I'm not sure how to configure and plug in the ohms. the head has a switch for either 8 or 4 ohms. the cabinet has a switch for either 4 or 16 ohms. and under the inputs it says 8 ohms Right and 8 ohms Left. Does anyone know the correct way to set the ohms and plug the head into the cabinent? Thanks much for your time and reply.
Bobby

Set the amp & cab at 4 ohm.
The 8 right / 8 left on the cab is for using only 2 of the four speakers, or stereo amps to each pair.

 

[Markedman]

It is safe to set the head to 8 and the cabinet to 16 ohms. It sounds better to me than 16 to 16 ohms. 16 to 8 would not be good.

Think of an ohm rating in terms of 1/16 = 16 ohm speaker, so a 2 ohm = 1/2 speaker. Which is larger? The 1/2 is 8 times larger so it needs more from they amp to "fill" the ohms' size of current it lets flow through. Similar to water going through a hose, you want more feeding at the source. A favorite amp maker of mine actually recommends running their amps like this to keep the amp from running to hard.

From MB Mark II manual -
"But you may also try other combinations if you want one speaker slightly louder or happen to prefer the tone caused by a slight mismatch; it will do no harm to the amplifier. With 100/60 watt models we recommend that when you run a single 8 ohm speaker you use the 60 watt position and plug into a 4 ohm jack. This will give the strongest possible output without damaging the speaker. You may get more clean power by switching to 100 watts, and still more by also plugging into the 8 ohm jack but remember to avoid lead tone distortion as it increases power dramatically (though not so much the apparent loudness) and may cause speaker damage."

 

[mickeydg5]

Hi,
I have a 90's Laney 1x12 combo. I want to disconect the speaker and send the head out to my Marshall 1960 Vintage stereo 4x12 cabinet.
I'm not sure how to configure and plug in the ohms. the head has a switch for either 8 or 4 ohms. the cabinet has a switch for either 4 or 16 ohms. and under the inputs it says 8 ohms Right and 8 ohms Left. Does anyone know the correct way to set the ohms and plug the head into the cabinent? Thanks much for your time and reply.
Bobby

It would be helpful to provide the model amplifier being used.
It could or will make a difference.

 

[Bobby Damit]

It is safe to set the head to 8 and the cabinet to 16 ohms. It sounds better to me than 16 to 16 ohms. 16 to 8 would not be good.

Think of an ohm rating in terms of 1/16 = 16 ohm speaker, so a 2 ohm = 1/2 speaker. Which is larger? The 1/2 is 8 times larger so it needs more from they amp to "fill" the ohms' size of current it lets flow through. Similar to water going through a hose, you want more feeding at the source. A favorite amp maker of mine actually recommends running their amps like this to keep the amp from running to hard.

From MB Mark II manual -
"But you may also try other combinations if you want one speaker slightly louder or happen to prefer the tone caused by a slight mismatch; it will do no harm to the amplifier. With 100/60 watt models we recommend that when you run a single 8 ohm speaker you use the 60 watt position and plug into a 4 ohm jack. This will give the strongest possible output without damaging the speaker. You may get more clean power by switching to 100 watts, and still more by also plugging into the 8 ohm jack but remember to avoid lead tone distortion as it increases power dramatically (though not so much the apparent loudness) and may cause speaker damage."

Thank you very much for your reply it was very helpful.

 

[Bobby Damit]

Set the amp & cab at 4 ohm.
The 8 right / 8 left on the cab is for using only 2 of the four speakers, or stereo amps to each pair.

Thank you for your reply I really appreciate it

 

[Len]

Hi,
I have a 90's Laney 1x12 combo. I want to disconect the speaker and send the head out to my Marshall 1960 Vintage stereo 4x12 cabinet.
I'm not sure how to configure and plug in the ohms. the head has a switch for either 8 or 4 ohms. the cabinet has a switch for either 4 or 16 ohms. and under the inputs it says 8 ohms Right and 8 ohms Left. Does anyone know the correct way to set the ohms and plug the head into the cabinent? Thanks much for your time and reply.
Bobby

I’ll be “that guy” and say, just as a side note, that it’s called impedance, not ohms. Ohms are the units. It’s like calling gas “gallons”.

 

[Gunner64]

Ohms Sweet Ohms..