4 ohm Head into 8 ohm cab

[Ironderby]

same deal really. Can i rig up an 8ohm cab to a 4ohm ashdown head?

[walterw]

yes.

[HertzWhenIPlay]

Running an 8 ohm cab and a 4 ohm cab into a single channel will create a load on the amp of 2.6 ohms.
If your amp is only rated down to 4 ohms - DO NOT DO THIS.

If your amp is stable down to 2 ohms, you will be fine.
otherwise, you should use 2 x 8 ohm cabs.

[Munjibunga]

Originally Posted by Mr Grady

so...what would happen if you ran a 100w 4Ohm amp through 300w 8Ohm speakers?

i understand that the speakers would be limited by the amps output, i just want to make sure no damage can happen

as i understand it, as long as you didnt crank the amp up too high it wouldnt be a problem.......(each speaker is connected by a jack to seperate outputs) makes sense?

cheers

You'll be fine. Your amp's output will be reduced to about 60 watts, so you won't get a lot of volume out of the cab. Don't try to get more from this minimal setup than it can put out. If you start to hear distortion, you're going to have to turn it down. If you need loud, this rig won't produce it.

[WaywardSon]

I have got a question that should fit in here:

Let's say I want to buy a bass head with 300W at 4 ohm and 180W at 8 ohm. I want to connect two 8 ohm cabinets, which will result into a total impedance of 4 ohm meaning 300W of power. Do the cabinets need to be able to handle 300W each or do they "share" the power and only have to handle 150W?

In other words: is it safe to use 2 cabinets that say 200W at 8 ohm with a head that says 300W at 4 ohm?

[Delolo]

so far i have only read about a 4ohm head being used with two 8ohm cabs. does it also work with just one 8 ohm cab?

[tjhabsman]

I have a question... I'm buying a Traynor DynaBass 800H that runs at 800watts for 4 ohms, but the cab im buying with it runs at 300 watts for 4 ohms. Would this work and would it be loud enough to play a good-sized gig at? Would I have to worry about blowing a speaker?

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by tjhabsman

I have a question... I'm buying a Traynor DynaBass 800H that runs at 800watts for 4 ohms, but the cab im buying with it runs at 300 watts for 4 ohms. Would this work and would it be loud enough to play a good-sized gig at? Would I have to worry about blowing a speaker?

If you run a head rated at 800W at 4 ohms into a 4 ohm 300W cabinet and you turn it all the way up, then yes, you can blow up the cab.

[walterw]

Originally Posted by WaywardSon

I have got a question that should fit in here:

Let's say I want to buy a bass head with 300W at 4 ohm and 180W at 8 ohm. I want to connect two 8 ohm cabinets, which will result into a total impedance of 4 ohm meaning 300W of power. Do the cabinets need to be able to handle 300W each or do they "share" the power and only have to handle 150W?

In other words: is it safe to use 2 cabinets that say 200W at 8 ohm with a head that says 300W at 4 ohm?

they do indeed "split" the power between them, so yes, that would be safe.

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by walterw

they do indeed "split" the power between them, so yes, that would be safe.

With the caveat that sometimes unscrupulous marketing departments overstate their companies' equipment specs.

[WaywardSon]

Thanks a lot for the answers!

[jeffgnr90]

so if i were to run my 2ohm 600w head into 2 2 svt210av's and an acoustic b115neo, I would be running at 2.67 ohms right? Would all my speakers be putting forth the same volume? And how could I get this potential rig down to 2ohms??

[Big Brother]

Originally Posted by jeffgnr90

so if i were to run my 2ohm 600w head into 2 2 svt210av's and an acoustic b115neo, I would be running at 2.67 ohms right? Would all my speakers be putting forth the same volume? And how could I get this potential rig down to 2ohms??

Holy 9 Lives thread.

Some cabs are more efficient than others at turning power into sound (higher sensitivity ratings) so different cabs will not have the same volume at the same power level.

If you want to get your load to 2 Ohms, get a pair of 4 Ohm cabs but there is no requirement to run your amp at maximum load.

[walterw]

Originally Posted by Big Brother

Holy 9 Lives thread.

Some cabs are more efficient than others at turning power into sound (higher sensitivity ratings) so different cabs will not have the same volume at the same power level.

If you want to get your load to 2 Ohms, get a pair of 4 Ohm cabs but there is no requirement to run your amp at maximum load.

hey, at least he's not starting new threads with the same old topic!

+1 to this answer.

if all 3 are 8Ω, it'll work; how well it works, mixing two little sealed 2x10s and one ported 1x15 is anybody's guess. he'd be better off with a 3rd 210AV.

[walterw]

also, just because you can run your amp at 2Ω doesn't always mean you should.

you're pushing the amp to the wall when you do that, which can spell long-term trouble for cheaper amps.