Mesa Boogie 4x10 Diesel 8 ohm wired down to 4 ohm?

Thumpking · #1 12-21-2011, 10:18 AM

Hey everyone. I searched in the different sections for an answer. I found a couple that were close, but need to be sure.

I have a chance to get a sweet deal on a Mesa 4x10 Diesel 8 ohm cab, but I want to use it with my 1979 Fender Bassman 100 W 4 ohm head. I have played this head through a 4 ohm Mesa Powerhouse 4x10 and it sounded incredible. But that was a new $1000.00 cab. Can this Diesel 8 ohm 4x10 be re-wired to 4 ohm without changing speakers? I guess at the very least I could thrown a small wattage 1x12 8 ohm underneath it to make a 4 ohm total load, but I want this to be my small gig rig.

Thanks for any help. If this is already on the forum somewhere and I missed it, call me stupid and shoot the link please.

MuzikMan · #2 12-21-2011, 10:31 AM

No, I'm afraid you can't rewire an 8 ohm 4x10 cab to get 4 ohms.

HolmeBass · #3 12-21-2011, 10:32 AM

What MuzikMan said- can't be done.

Thumpking · #4 12-21-2011, 10:35 AM

Thanks guys.

Calaverasgrande · #5 12-21-2011, 10:51 AM

I am not familiar with that exact Fender head. Does it NEED to see 4 ohms? Most tube heads are perfectly happy into 8 ohms. And they usually will put out the same power into 8 as they do into 4. Though of course there are exceptions to every general rule.
speaking of-
most 4 ohm cabinets can be rewired to 16 ohms
most 8 ohm cabinets can be rewired to 2 ohms.

Alex1984 · #6 12-21-2011, 11:11 AM

You can't get 4 ohms, but you can get 2 ohms. I'm debating rewiring mine down to 2 ohms too so I can run it with my SVT.

will33 · #7 12-21-2011, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex1984

You can't get 4 ohms, but you can get 2 ohms. I'm debating rewiring mine down to 2 ohms too so I can run it with my SVT.

You could make it 2 ohms if it uses 8ohm drivers. The old Fender heads wanted to see 4 ohms. I ran mine at 8ohms for quite a while not knowing. The sky didn't fall, they're pretty robust, but it is better to run a tube amp lower than it's tap rather than higher, the opposite of SS. Probably sound better doing it that way too.

If you do add a second small 8ohm cab to it to reach the 4ohms, set it facing sideways by your drummer as a monitor, let the 410 play the audience. Otherwise the 2 will just interfere with each other and sound worse than the one by itself. You could use most any little 8ohm cab for that. It'd only be getting 40-50 watts.