Ohms and Flextones

[Boo Radley]

This might not be the proper forum…but it’ll get the attention of those of you who know.

So, this weekend I got a Line 6 Flextone II Plus. It has a 50 watt output designed for pushing an extension cabinet. I have a Peavey 5150 16 ohm 4X12 cabinet that I would like to use for this purpose.

I’m not an impedance expert, and would like to know if the cabinet will be compatible with the amp. Would I be better off to unplug two of the speakers in the 4x12 cab?

Thanks,

Boo

 

[Light]

You can get away with using a higher ohm rated speaker, but you will loose some volume, tone, and effeciency.


But then, with a Line 666 amp, you don't have much tone to begin with.



Ooops, sorry, I'm letting my opinions slip through, again.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[Boo Radley]

Thanks for the reply. I was reading a bit last night and the literature said to use it only with an 8 ohm cabinet. Will unplugging two of the speakers in a 16 ohm 4 x 12 cab get me down to 8 ohms?

 

[Light]

Thanks for the reply. I was reading a bit last night and the literature said to use it only with an 8 ohm cabinet. Will unplugging two of the speakers in a 16 ohm 4 x 12 cab get me down to 8 ohms?

Do a google search for "Ohm's Law for musicians", and it should come up with some reading for you.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[-=¤willhaven¤=-]

Thanks for the reply. I was reading a bit last night and the literature said to use it only with an 8 ohm cabinet. Will unplugging two of the speakers in a 16 ohm 4 x 12 cab get me down to 8 ohms?

It depends if they are hooked up in series or parallel.

Two cabinets in series adds (two 8 ohm cabs would become 16 ohms), two cabinets in parallel halves (two 8 ohm cabs would become 4 ohms).

AFAIK, most dual cabinet hookups work in parallel.

You can also re-wire your speakers so you can get the proper ohm load you want at the end.

 

[ggunn]

Thanks for the reply. I was reading a bit last night and the literature said to use it only with an 8 ohm cabinet. Will unplugging two of the speakers in a 16 ohm 4 x 12 cab get me down to 8 ohms?

A 16 ohm 4X12 cab is typically made up of 4 16 ohm speakers in two parallel banks of series wired speaker pairs. If that is the case, and if you randomly disconnect two speakers it will either convert it to a 32 ohm cabinet (2 ways to do that) or make it not work at all (4 ways to do that).

You can make it an 8 ohm cab by disconnecting all 4 speakers and then rewiring a pair of them in parallel. An easier way would be to simply short out two speakers (one from each series pair), but you must be SURE that the cab wired as two series banks in parallel. You don't want to short the amplifier output.

 

[reshp1]

R series = R1+R2+....Rx

R parallel = (R1*R2*...Rx)/(R1+R2+....Rx)

Series means from the positive terminal of the amp to the positive terminal of speaker1, the negative terminal of speaker1 to the positive terminal of speaker2, the negative terminal of speaker2 to.... the positive terminal of speakerX, the negative terminal of speakerX to the negative terminal of the negative terminal of the amp.

Parallel means from the positive terminal of the amp connected to all the positive terminals of each speaker, the negative terminals of the speakers all connected the negative terminal of the amp. (It can be a little confusing because most parallel connections still daisy chain the speakers, i.e, wire connecting amp + to speaker 1 + and wire connecting speaker 1 + to speaker 2 + etc, and some people confuse this as series)

 

[Halion]

Either way, you won't gain much power. Lower than 8 ohm is bad, and 16 ohms will take away so much signal I'd probably leave the thing at home (it must be a heavy sucker, right?)

 

[ggunn]

R series = R1+R2+....Rx

R parallel = (R1*R2*...Rx)/(R1+R2+....Rx)

Series means from the positive terminal of the amp to the positive terminal of speaker1, the negative terminal of speaker1 to the positive terminal of speaker2, the negative terminal of speaker2 to.... the positive terminal of speakerX, the negative terminal of speakerX to the negative terminal of the negative terminal of the amp.

Parallel means from the positive terminal of the amp connected to all the positive terminals of each speaker, the negative terminals of the speakers all connected the negative terminal of the amp. (It can be a little confusing because most parallel connections still daisy chain the speakers, i.e, wire connecting amp + to speaker 1 + and wire connecting speaker 1 + to speaker 2 + etc, and some people confuse this as series)

Very good, but a 16 ohm 4X12 cab is usually neither of these configurations. It's usually two pairs of 16 ohm speakers in series (making 32 ohms each), and the series pairs wired in parallel (taking it back to 16 ohms). Two parallel pairs wired in series would give you the same result,

 

[Boo Radley]

Thanks for the responses guys...dare I complete the surgery myself? How difficult is this to do? I really don't have any experience internally wiring speakers. Also, how hard is it to wire the cabinet 8 ohms stereo? I was reading where someone took his amp and ran it this way (I'm assuming by disconnecting the speaker in the combo). He said it rocked.

Just trying to figure out my options now. I hate to shell out for an another cab when I already have this one.

 

[ggunn]

Thanks for the responses guys...dare I complete the surgery myself? How difficult is this to do? I really don't have any experience internally wiring speakers. Also, how hard is it to wire the cabinet 8 ohms stereo? I was reading where someone took his amp and ran it this way (I'm assuming by disconnecting the speaker in the combo). He said it rocked.

Just trying to figure out my options now. I hate to shell out for an another cab when I already have this one.

To wire stereo, you'll want to have two vertical parallel pairs, each with its own input jack. Watch your polarity; you'll want all speakers to be the same.

I can't say how much of a challenge it would be for you, but a tech could do it very easily.

 

[Boo Radley]

To wire stereo, you'll want to have two vertical parallel pairs, each with its own input jack.

This will give me two 8 ohm inputs, correct?

 

[ggunn]

To wire stereo, you'll want to have two vertical parallel pairs, each with its own input jack.

This will give me two 8 ohm inputs, correct?

By George, he's got it!