a cab for a 4 ohm amp-HELP!

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treechrist66

treechrist66

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I just modded a Fender Champion 600.... basic sound is questionable to say the least, but I put a Jensen Mod series 6 inch and it sounds pretty crappy. thinking of putting the stock speaker back to see if there is a difference....

anyway the Fender Champion 600 has an output for an external cab and it is 4 ohm. I would like to build a cabinet with one speaker which is bigger than the 6" in the amp. I am hoping for two things
1. an improved sound
2. the ability to put this cab in an isolation box I built so I can crank it up any time of the night to record.

The problem is I can't seem to find any larger 4 ohm speakers. I keep finding numbers like 8 and 16 ohm speakers and cabs but I believe I can only use 4 ohm. I don't get this ohm stuff.

I am just looking for a simple speaker box and not something with 2 or 4 speakers.

any suggestions?

thanks.
 
weber speakers makes awesome speakers in a variety of ohm ratings (including 4). you can find a new or used 1x12 cab pretty easily. i might have one i'm looking to sell... :)
 
kojdogg said:
weber speakers makes awesome speakers in a variety of ohm ratings (including 4). you can find a new or used 1x12 cab pretty easily. i might have one i'm looking to sell... :)
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thanks for the answer. I heard weber is good. Just haven't found any of them here in Germany. Haven't found any 1 x 12 4 ohm cabs during my online searches either, but just found a Jensen 12 inch 4 ohm speaker for 60 euro new.
 
the cab doesn't need to be at a particular ohmage as long as the speaker is correct. an empty cab will just be a wood box open or closed backed with a jack plate that is connected to positive and negative wires.
 
treechrist66 said:
I keep finding numbers like 8 and 16 ohm speakers and cabs but I believe I can only use 4 ohm. I don't get this ohm stuff.
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You can use any 8 or 16 ohm speaker also. You just won't get the same power (volume) as you would with a 4 ohm load, but it will sound almost as loud to your ears.

You can use any load (speaker) on any amp, as long as the impedance (ohms) is larger than the rated output, without damaging anything (as long as the power rating -watts- of the speaker is adequate.)

Think of ohms as resistance to electrical current flowing through something. The higher the ohms, the less current will flow (the voltage - electrical pressure - being equal), so the less power will be produced.

If the resistance (aka impedance in ac circuits, also measured in ohms), is too low, the amp will try to put out too much power, resulting in possible overheating and damage.
 
cool, thanks for that. i think I gotta read that over a bunch of times to let it sink in...
 
Or get 2 8 ohm speakers, and wire em in parallel. Like a little 2x10 cab or sometihng. That'll produce a 4 ohm load and run the amp to its full potential. If you run one 8 ohm speaker, it'll make the amp work less, it'll be pushing less power, and it'll be quieter.
 
crazydoc said:
...
You can use any load (speaker) on any amp, as long as the impedance (ohms) is larger than the rated output, without damaging anything (as long as the power rating -watts- of the speaker is adequate.)
...
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Yes-- very good information, just don't do this in reverse or you can cause some damage to your amp... not that you'll probably come accross too many 3.2 ohm or 2 ohm speakers.
 
suprstar said:
Or get 2 8 ohm speakers, and wire em in parallel. Like a little 2x10 cab or sometihng. That'll produce a 4 ohm load and run the amp to its full potential. If you run one 8 ohm speaker, it'll make the amp work less, it'll be pushing less power, and it'll be quieter.
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ditto, that's exactly what I'd do. If you buy a 4 ohm speaker .... it's gonna have limited use when the day comes that you want to use a different amp. For instance, my Orange Tiny Terror isn't rated to go lower than 8 ohms so you wouldn't be able to even run it into a 4 ohm speaker.
2-8 ohm speakers, OTOH, will always be usable because you can wire them up different ways..

..... and check to be absolutely sure that a 4 ohm out is correct.
Is that in addition to the self contained speaker or do you have to disconnect the internal speaker before hooking up an external one?
If you can use it along with the internal, then that sounds too low to me .... that would give you a total load of less than 4 ohms and I just don't see guitar amps that want that low a load.
If you have to disconnect the internal to use an external speaker; then 4 ohms might be right but I actually can't think of any amps off the top of my head that require a 4 ohm load as the main desired load.
 
crazydoc said:
You can use any 8 or 16 ohm speaker also. You just won't get the same power (volume) as you would with a 4 ohm load, but it will sound almost as loud to your ears.

You can use any load (speaker) on any amp, as long as the impedance (ohms) is larger than the rated output, without damaging anything (as long as the power rating -watts- of the speaker is adequate.).
Click to expand...

There are some guys over on the TalkBass amplifier forum that will go to the mat with you on that one. It's what I think/thought as well, but I got severely beaten about the head and shoulders for voicing the same opinion over there. It turns out that it is at least not universally true; there are apparently some amplifiers that can be damaged from pushing 8 ohms when they are designed/selected for a 4 ohm load.
 
crazydoc said:
You can use any 8 or 16 ohm speaker also. You just won't get the same power (volume) as you would with a 4 ohm load, but it will sound almost as loud to your ears.

You can use any load (speaker) on any amp, as long as the impedance (ohms) is larger than the rated output, without damaging anything (as long as the power rating -watts- of the speaker is adequate.)

.
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this true ONLY for solidstae amps... it's important for tube amps to have the correct impedence on the outputs... just saying because i dont know if this device is tube or not...
 
dementedchord said:
this true ONLY for solidstae amps... it's important for tube amps to have the correct impedence on the outputs... just saying because i dont know if this device is tube or not...
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ggunn said:
There are some guys over on the TalkBass amplifier forum that will go to the mat with you on that one. It's what I think/thought as well, but I got severely beaten about the head and shoulders for voicing the same opinion over there. It turns out that it is at least not universally true; there are apparently some amplifiers that can be damaged from pushing 8 ohms when they are designed/selected for a 4 ohm load.
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There's lots of conventional "wisdom" espousing these points of view. They may even be correct. I personally have never seen this rigorously explained by an electrical engineer.

Maybe someone could point me to such a link. :)
 
Not gonna dep into the "it can/can not be X ohms" debate that is trying to form here, like a bad tornado... what I will say is, if you follow the suggestion of a 2-speaker cab, you should wire the cab so you can tap into it at either 4 ohms (both speakers) 8 ohms mono (one speaker) or 8 ohms stereo (both speakers.)
 
the op dude said in the op that he doesn't want a 2 or 4 speaker cab...
 
If you can't find a 4 ohm speaker, you will not hurt anything by using an 8 ohm speaker. You'll loose a little efficiency (i.e., volume), but it will work fine and not damage your amp.



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M.K. Gandhi
 
Well, thanks everyone for all the info. Found a Jensen 4 ohm to suit the purpose .
 
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