Cab Help - whats the ohm rating?

[DosiYanarchy]

Hey everyone,

This isnt specifically a bass amp question, however I will be using this setup for bass at home.

I just picked up an old Marquis 2x12 Cab, apparently loaded with re-branded Fane speakers. It was dirt cheap.

I bought it to use with my Epi Valve Jr head. Heres some info from the listing and some pics:

Vintage chipboard closed back speaker cabinet branded Marquis Professional Sound Equipment by David Hunt.

Loaded with 2 x 12 inch Fane 8 ohm speakers branded Marquis Powertron Heavy Duty Loudspeakers.

According to Fane these are possibly 80 watt speakers manufactured in 1968 for PA/Guitar use. I have photographed all the codes and marks - you decide! Cones are in good undamaged condition and both speakers work fine.





I'm not really knowledgeable about the wiring of speakers, and TBH neither was the guy I bought it off. He told me that he got it off a mate ages ago and had it stored in his garage. The said that he THINKS the speakers (8 ohm each) were wired in series. He said that he thinks that would need the 16ohm output on the Valve Jr but that id DEFINITELY need to check it out for myself.

I'm thinking maybe i need the 4ohm output but i really cant tell, can anyone make any sense of this before I try and plug anything in?

[Sneakypete]

They are wired in series so if they're 8 ohms each then the cab is 16 ohms which is fairly unusual. I think you'd be ok for very low volume practice at home but it looks to me exactly like a cheap pa cab from 40-odd years ago so proceed very cautiously!

[DosiYanarchy]

Cool cool, its only for home practice.

I've got 2 heads I *could* use with it:

5w Epi Valve Jr
45w 1962 Dynacord Eminent
100w 70s Simms-Watts PA head

Ill stick to the Valve Jr.

[bongomania]

Or just re-wire it in parallel for 4 ohms, easy-peasy.

[DosiYanarchy]

coolio, i'll get some advice on that (ie: how to do it). I'm pretty keen to learn. I pretty much lived in the Effects forum since I joined in 2007. Slowly im moving into Amps and starting a small collection of valve stuff and learning to do stuff myself (small stuff at least) is all part of the plan.

Cheers for the advice guys

[bongomania]

Also, get a multimeter and read the ohms resistance across the + and - of the output jack. It will read about 20%-30% lower than the actual load, e.g. if it reads about 3 ohms then it's really 4 ohms, if it reads about 6 ohms then it's really 8, etc.