Amp and Cab settings! HALF STACK HELP!

Deviate · #1 02-01-2010, 12:11 AM

I have a 100 watt Amp that has a 4ohm, 8ohm and 16ohm switch. The cabnet(4x12 16ohm, 120 watts each) is wired for either mono or stereo configerations via a toggle switch. Mono ratted at 480watts at either 4ohms or 16ohms and stereo at 240watts at 8ohms a side. SO my question is:
If I use my parallel inputs! I switch my cab to stereo but What Ohm setting do I switch to on my head?
ALSO: If im using a single jack I use mono so I set my cab at 16ohm and my amp at 16ohm correct?
Or I can also set my amp at 4ohm and my cab at 4ohm, correct?
Im just trying to figure this out so any help and elaboration on this would greatly be appreciated!
So pretty much when am I to use 4,8,16ohm

Van Noord · #2 02-01-2010, 02:43 AM

Yes, set your amp to 16 ohms and plug into the 16 ohm mono jack of the cab.

GuitarEvan07 · #3 02-01-2010, 02:59 AM

nevermind, made a seperate thread

GuitarEvan07 · #4 02-01-2010, 03:06 AM

disreguard

Deviate · #5 02-01-2010, 03:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Van Noord

Yes, set your amp to 16 ohms and plug into the 16 ohm mono jack of the cab.

thanks for the response, thats how I usually play...But if I wanted to split it and use my parallel inputs(8ohms each side)would I leave my amp at 16ohms or switch it to 8ohms?
Thanks

**jemaholic** · #6 02-02-2010, 06:44 PM

What kind of amp and cab?
It sounds like in stereo mode the cab is at 8ohms. Why would you plug 2 outputs from the amp into a single cab? Doesn't make sense when you have 16,8 & 4 ohm options.

Deviate · #7 02-02-2010, 08:27 PM

I know I can use two amps to power my one cab which would give off 16ohm per a side! but if I dont want another head, I can still power both sides form a single amp which would drop to 8ohm per side-still resulting in 16ohm total. The ending result would sound fuller because your covering more area involving all the speakers instead of two of them.
So if I do this since each side is running off of 8ohm I switch to 8ohm on my amp, correct? or do i keep it 16, this is the only confusing part for me.

Draco · #8 02-03-2010, 12:30 AM

If you run the cab in mono and match the 16 ohm output on your amp to the 16 ohm input on the cab, you are using all 4 speakers.

Deviate · #9 02-03-2010, 12:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Draco

If you run the cab in mono and match the 16 ohm output on your amp to the 16 ohm input on the cab, you are using all 4 speakers.

Well if thats the case then whats the whole point of having parallel inputs/outputs? What would be the benefit of that?

Draco · #10 02-03-2010, 01:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deviate

Well if thats the case then whats the whole point of having parallel inputs/outputs? What would be the benefit of that?

Are you talking about the stereo inputs on the cab or the parallel outputs on the amp? The stereo inputs on the cab will let you run stereo effects and such...but the mono setting is still driving all 4 speakers. Make it easy for yourself and just run 1 cable from amp to cab in mono.

Deviate · #11 02-03-2010, 02:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Draco

Are you talking about the stereo inputs on the cab or the parallel outputs on the amp? The stereo inputs on the cab will let you run stereo effects and such...but the mono setting is still driving all 4 speakers. Make it easy for yourself and just run 1 cable from amp to cab in mono.

Yes the stereo on the cab! Whats the benefit in using stereo over mono, If I use stereo which would be 8ohm per side, what setting is my amp set at, do I keep it 16ohm or set it to 8

I've played it on mono with my amp at 4ohm and cab at 4ohm, the sound was full/fatter. I played it on mono with my amp at 16ohm and my cab at 16ohm and my sound was bright/tighter! so now I want to play it under stereo because i've never done so but im unaware of what I set my amp to. Im new and experimenting at whats the best overall sound for myself

racerevlon · #12 02-03-2010, 01:04 PM

Unless you have a stereo head, you're only going to get mono output from your head. You may have two speaker outputs for a given load but that's for a scenario where you're running a full stack--two speaker cabinets.

Think about it this way--load is resistance--how hard are the speakers "pushing back" or resisting the signal that is being sent from the head. The higher the number, the more the speakers are "pushing back" against the head. That's why you get the fuller/fatter sound at 4 ohms, but brighter/tighter at 16 ohms. Historically, the theory is that solid state amps would/should drive a 4-ohm load because there's no valves involved, and tube amplifiers would/should drive a 16-ohm load because you need to crank up a tube amp to get that nice power tube distortion and having the speakers "push back" more against the head allows you to do that.

Bottom line, as long as you've got a safe match (load is not below amp tap rating) you won't fry your output transformer. If you're going with a "safe" mismatch (load is above but not equal to amp tap rating--16-ohm cab plugged into 8-ohm tap) you may shorten the live of your valves. Overall, be safe and go with what sounds best to you.

Hope this helps,

Race

Draco · #13 02-03-2010, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by racerevlon

Bottom line, as long as you've got a safe match (load is not below amp tap rating) you won't fry your output transformer. If you're going with a "safe" mismatch (load is above but not equal to amp tap rating--16-ohm cab plugged into 8-ohm tap) you may shorten the live of your valves. Overall, be safe and go with what sounds best to you.

Hope this helps,

Race

I've read on several message boards (from people who seem to know what they're talking about) that for a TUBE amp, a safer mismatch is to plug into a lower rated cab (i.e. 16 ohm output of the amp into 8 ohm cab). For solid state, the safer mismatch would be how you explained it. I'm far from an expert in these matters, but I've read people explaining this on more than one occasion.

Deviate · #14 02-03-2010, 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by racerevlon

Unless you have a stereo head, you're only going to get mono output from your head...

I completely understand the whole "load-resistance" and know exactly what your talking about. When I bought this half stack, The person who sold it to me said something among the lines of "You can run two cables out of your head into your cab if you wanted to, so you can get all of your speakers going instead of just one side with one cable"
Thats how this whole topic got brought up, I was curious to try it and was going to go buy another cable but b4 I did, I wanted to make sure what was right. Either I mis-understood this guy or he had no idea what he was talking about...

Weezel · #15 02-04-2010, 01:19 AM

Wow, you really are a moron!!(<--my younger brother) These people are telling you the same thing I did!! Just use the damn 16ohm on amp and 16ohm on cab. Nuff said lil buddy!