# cabinets and ohms for the hundredth time.



## I_cant_play (Jun 26, 2006)

I realize that this question has been asked here before but I'm looking at a good deal on a head and just want to make sure it will work with a 16 ohm cab. An Ampeg V2 head is 60 watts and has 2ohm, 4ohm and 8ohm options. Can I run it through the 16 ohm cab safely? 

I _believe_ the answer is yes but that it wont sound its best but I just want to make sure before I buy it.

Thanks


----------



## bcmatt (Aug 25, 2007)

I think I've heard the answer to this a few times, but I'll leave it to someone that could inspire a bit more confidence. (I think the answer is, "Ya, you should be ok.")

What I'm wondering is this though: Is it a 2 speaker cabinet? If it is a couple of 8 ohm speakers wired in series, you could just quickly rewire it into parallel and use the 4 ohm output. If it is just one 16 ohm speaker, then I just talk too much and should shut up.


----------



## I_cant_play (Jun 26, 2006)

actually it's a 412 cab. rewiring it is not an option cause it's at the rehearsal place we rent out. It's not my cab. When I buy a cab to go with it, I can get something else so it's not a problem.


----------



## violation (Aug 20, 2006)

This thread on GuitarGeek helped me out in the past, give it a look over.


----------



## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

I_cant_play said:


> I realize that this question has been asked here before but I'm looking at a good deal on a head and just want to make sure it will work with a 16 ohm cab. An Ampeg V2 head is 60 watts and has 2ohm, 4ohm and 8ohm options. Can I run it through the 16 ohm cab safely?
> 
> I _believe_ the answer is yes but that it wont sound its best but I just want to make sure before I buy it.
> 
> Thanks


If you're worried about it, is there any chance you can get a 2nd 16 ohm cab and run both "daisy chained"? Two 16 ohm cabs in parallel give an 8 ohm load.

Or maybe a 16 ohm HOT PLATE to run with the 16 ohm cab. That would also work out to 8 ohms and you can crank the amp up a bit more, which is always a good thing for a tube amp.

:food-smiley-004:


----------



## I_cant_play (Jun 26, 2006)

thanks for the replies. According to that page it _should_ be safe to mismatch the 8ohm amp with the 16 ohm cabinet but at the end, the disclaimer says: "In some circumstances, it may not be appropriate to mismatch impedances. " and also someone afterwards posted something about ampegs specifically: "Ampegs, Fenders, etc. with "EXTENSION SPEAKER" jacks, which treat a load differently." The V2 I'm looking at has these external speaker inputs. In other words I'm still confused, the answer seems to be more yes then no but.....Wild Bill you don't seem so sure...and no I don't think that getting 2 412s will be an option as they have a limited number.

So is there any risk if I were to do this? If yes, what do I risk damaging (are we talking about slightly shorter tube life or damage to the amp itself) and how likely is this to happen?

Thanks again


----------



## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

I_cant_play said:


> ....Wild Bill you don't seem so sure...and no I don't think that getting 2 412s will be an option as they have a limited number.
> 
> So is there any risk if I were to do this? If yes, what do I risk damaging (are we talking about slightly shorter tube life or damage to the amp itself) and how likely is this to happen?
> 
> Thanks again


The risk is negligible! Most amps running a pair of 6L6's are designed to have the output transformer present a load of about 6600 ohms to the tubes. If you plug a 16 ohm cab into the 8 ohm jack, which is the highest you have available, the tubes will see 13,200 ohms. 

There is a WIDE range of load impedances for output tubes and this mismatch is not that serious. You might get a little bit less power and the tone may change but I doubt if it would be that noticeable.

You may take a few days or weeks off the life of the output tubes but that's about it.

I say go ahead and do it! 

I would in a second if it was my amp.

:food-smiley-004:


----------



## I_cant_play (Jun 26, 2006)

> The risk is negligible! Most amps running a pair of 6L6's are designed to have the output transformer present a load of about 6600 ohms to the tubes. If you plug a 16 ohm cab into the 8 ohm jack, which is the highest you have available, the tubes will see 13,200 ohms.
> 
> There is a WIDE range of load impedances for output tubes and this mismatch is not that serious. You might get a little bit less power and the tone may change but I doubt if it would be that noticeable.
> 
> ...


Thank you. Just the information I needed.


----------

