4ohm head to a 6ohm cab

Precision345 · #1 03-19-2013, 08:12 PM

Hi,

I know this has been thread'd to death and I'm sorry but can I run a 6ohm cabinet with a 4ohm head or will it damage the cab?

basscooker · #2 03-19-2013, 08:16 PM

your cab wouldn't care. most solid state amps wouldn't care either. a tube amp might care alot. more details, please. the biggest concern is with dropping the amp below its minimum. but a tube amp wants you to set it for the matching ohms, so i can't say what a tube amp set at 4 ohms would think. probably not recommended.

B-string · #3 03-19-2013, 08:17 PM

Yes you can and no it won't damage either by load impedance alone.

B-string · #4 03-19-2013, 08:19 PM

BTW the cab "loads" the amp.

basscooker · #5 03-19-2013, 08:22 PM

what amp and cab? just for posterity.

hey, b-string, what about a tube amp set for 4 ohm? i'm curious about that.
btw are there 6 ohm cabs around?

Precision345 · #6 03-19-2013, 08:29 PM

thanks for the input guys

Quote:

Originally Posted by basscooker

your cab wouldn't care. most solid state amps wouldn't care either. a tube amp might care alot. more details, please. the biggest concern is with dropping the amp below its minimum. but a tube amp wants you to set it for the matching ohms, so i can't say what a tube amp set at 4 ohms would think. probably not recommended.

The cabinet is a Sunn 610L cabinet and the head is a Traynor Dynabass 400h

B-string · #7 03-19-2013, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by basscooker

what amp and cab? just for posterity.

hey, b-string, what about a tube amp set for 4 ohm? i'm curious about that.
btw are there 6 ohm cabs around?

First understand a speaker's impedance is not a fixed value. The impedance should be preceded by "nominal".
While I would not recommend running a 8 ohm nominal load on a 4 ohm tap, the 6 ohm nominal is not that far off on the plate load curve and is probably actually less than a 6 ohm nominal unless some very special winding driver's were spec'd for that one cab line.

Precision345 · #8 03-20-2013, 09:02 AM

Ok, I get what your saying. Thanks for your wisdom B-string!

Son of Bovril · #9 03-21-2013, 01:33 AM

4 ohm minimum head with a 6 ohm cab = Perfectly fine

Munjibunga · #10 03-21-2013, 01:41 AM

As long as we're talking solid state or hybrid, no problem.

Precision345 · #11 03-21-2013, 08:23 AM

Yes, the traynor dynabass head is hybrid so should be just fine?

Muttleybass · #12 03-21-2013, 09:28 AM

No issues, except you might lose just a little wattage. Probably not enough to notice.

DiabolusInMusic · #13 03-21-2013, 09:34 AM

SS head will run it just fine. A tube power amp will run it just fine but it will eventually blow a power tube, not an if but a when.

And yes, there are 6 ohm cabs around, I have only seen 610's in 6 ohm but I imagine there are more. My old Markbass 610 was 6 ohm and I used to run it with an SVT-CL.

OP the dynabass is SS, so it will be fine. The dynabass might have pre-amp tubes but it is definitely not a tube amp.