Speaker Wires Reversed on 1x12, my bad?

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soundchaser59

Reluctant Commander
I was exchanging the stock Celestion 70/80 out of my Vox AD50VT, and replacing it with a Weber Silver Bell. But I forgot to pay attention to which wire was connected to the positive terminal - white or black. I think it was the white......

Will this make any difference in the sound? I wonder if maybe it won't matter since it's a 1x12? Wouldn't the phase factor matter only if there is more than one speaker??

I dont think it will hurt the amp.......but what about the sound? And how can I tell for sure? There are no AD50 schematics available on the web, nothing in the manual, no block diagram, etc.... Is there some way to use a voltmeter to tell which is +?

Thanks....
 
That was my suspicion.......Thanks for the feedback! - SC
 
It will make a difference if the amp is closed back. The bass responce would be less.
 
I just checked about the amp. Since it's closed back there will be a drop in bass responce due to the way the speaker will move. I'd say you won't have to even worry about it unless you turn the amp up loud. I've got a feeling that there are going to be people that dissagree with me on this. Just think about a subwoofer in a car. If you reverse the polarity on the subwoofer you will have less bass and the speaker will not perform efficient enough to get the full volume out of the speaker as will. This will most likely not damage the speaker, especially a guitar speaker, but the efficiency rating for the speaker will no longer be relavent, and the frequency responce won't be the same as it is rated.
 
billyshuler said:
I just checked about the amp. Since it's closed back there will be a drop in bass responce due to the way the speaker will move. I'd say you won't have to even worry about it unless you turn the amp up loud. I've got a feeling that there are going to be people that dissagree with me on this. Just think about a subwoofer in a car. If you reverse the polarity on the subwoofer you will have less bass and the speaker will not perform efficient enough to get the full volume out of the speaker as will. This will most likely not damage the speaker, especially a guitar speaker, but the efficiency rating for the speaker will no longer be relavent, and the frequency responce won't be the same as it is rated.
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Sorry, but that is just not so. If in your car one side of the bass is reversed from the other, you will get less bass response due to cancellation effects, and if both wires are reversed from where the rest of the speakers are set, it may sound as if the bass response is less, since there may be some crossover slop and the bass speakers may be fighting with the rest in that range.

But with a single speaker (or an array where the polarity of all component speakers is the same), closed back or no, the bass response will be the same regardless of the absolute polarity of the connection. The excursion of the voice coil(s) is/are symmetrical.
 
billyshuler said:
It will make a difference if the amp is closed back. The bass responce would be less.
Click to expand...
This is not correct. The speaker, for the most part, moves just as much backwards as forwards. You will never be able to tell the difference with just one speaker.
 
It'll make no difference.

Unless you ever run another amp along side it, hook up an external cab, or run a DI line, etc.
 
tarnationsauce2 said:
It'll make no difference.

Unless you ever run another amp along side it, hook up an external cab, or run a DI line, etc.
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I, too, am unable to figure how it could make any difference with just one amp driving just one speaker, closed back or not.

On this amp, connecting an external speaker automagically disables the internal speaker......so that part wont matter.

I dont ever run two amps simultaneously.

And I mic the guitar, I never do DI with electric guitar.....

Good things to debate though, really irons out the wrinkles in my insecurities on this question. Thanks again for the replies!
 
soundchaser59 said:
I, too, am unable to figure how it could make any difference with just one amp driving just one speaker, closed back or not.
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It won't. Every time your signal passes through a gain stage (stomp box, preamp, power amp, something in the effects loop), it may be inverted, so who knows if it ends up in the "correct" absolute phase or not? It makes no diff.
 
Ditto on "it does not matter with a single speaker."
 
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