Safe mismatch 8 ohm and 16 ohm cabs?

[sfx70]

Hi there

Got an 8 ohm and a 16 ohm cab. I've got an all tube amp with selectable impediance (4, 8 and 16) with two speaker jacks.

 

How can I hook these cabs safely to this amp and what impedance should I choose? 4ohm??

 

Thanks

[herobiscuit]

Use 4 ohm and it should be fine, although the 8ohm cab will take most of the signal.

[Lord Valve]

 

Originally posted by herobiscuit Use 4 ohm and it should be fine, although the 8ohm cab will take most of the signal.

 

 

Technically, you should use the next HIGHEST

impedance tap; one 16 and one 8 ohm load in

parallel equals 5.34 ohms. It's safer (with a

tube amplifier) to mismatch in the downward

direction, i.e., the load should be lower than the

selected tap. In this case, however, it's probably

not going to make any difference whether you use

the 8-ohm or the 4-ohm tap. Be aware that the

8 ohm cabinet will receive two-thirds of the power,

and the 16-ohm box will receive the other third.

 

Lord Valve

Expert