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is there a problem with running two heads into one cab?

adamaarts

adamaarts

Apr 19, 2001
2,302
3,047
Corona, CA
www.youtube.com
Disclosures
Beta tester Source Audio, demos/reviews of many others
#1
my situation is this, i want to have three separate channels. one is clean , one with distortion and effects, and another for clean with effects.

i have a Carvin R1000 head that will run the clean tone, and i want to a/b it with an ampeg V-9 (very old ampeg) and use another a/b for the distortion channel and clean channel of the amp, which i have already been sucsessful in doing. i will have my effects before the a/b for the ampeg so i can have both clean and distorted channels with effects or one separte clean channel, no effect.

kind of like this:

Invalid Link Removed

is htere a problem with running the two heads into a y splitter then into one 8x10 cab? it only has one input, and thats for all 8 speakers. will the amps be fighting eachother for the cab? are there circutry problems with this. im not going to try it until im sure it wont hurt anything. sometimes i will be using both amps (for a wet/dry mixed signal)

thankjs for any help. this just seems risky and i thought id ask.
 
#4
As has been stated you will destroy one or both of your amps if you run your rig the way you described. What you need is an a/b box between the two amps and the speaker cab. So each amp will go into one of the inputs on the a/b box and the output from the box will go to the speaker cab. You need a special a/b box made to handle the high power; if you use a normal a/b box it will cause problems.
 
#5
thats what i thought...

well i had another plan. to add two inputs on the back of the cab, one each for four drivers that will give 2 8 ohm loads, but can be switched to a 4 ohm load with a switch. is that possible. im sure it is.

but im really lazy, and poor, so i may not go that route. what would i need, just a new back plate and some wire and a little speaker knowhow?

doesnt seem too hard, but is that worth the trouble? thats what im actually asking myself, but you can help if you want.
 
#8
Originally posted by stinky634
thats what i thought...

well i had another plan. to add two inputs on the back of the cab, one each for four drivers that will give 2 8 ohm loads, but can be switched to a 4 ohm load with a switch. is that possible. im sure it is.
Click to expand...


That's not possible either. You can't add a switch to a cab to alter the impedance under a different wiring scheme.

You yourself state that you're "lazy and poor", so why the need for such an elaborate scheme?
 
#9
ok clearing two things up

1. the v-9 i mentioned is the amp, not the cab

2. the wiring i mentioned was meant to be 2 8 ohm loads, like two separate cabs, two sets of four speakers, but make it so i can daisy chain (instead of a switch) the two cabs to make one" load"



i dont know, any other ideas?
 
#10
Originally posted by stinky634

2. the wiring i mentioned was meant to be 2 8 ohm loads, like two separate cabs, two sets of four speakers, but make it so i can daisy chain (instead of a switch) the two cabs to make one" load"



i dont know, any other ideas?
Click to expand...

That will work. It'll be up to you though to make sure that you never have two amps hooked up to it when it's not in "split" mode.

You could also sell the speaker and get two 4x10s.
 
#13
The V9 is a tube head. Run it at all without a load and you'll destroy it. Get two cabs and forget this switching crap; all you're going to do is end up trashing your amps and your speaker cab. Theoretically, what you're asking CAN be done, but for practicality and safety, don't try it. None of the previously proposed solutions in this thread are workable without extensive alterations to your cab. Besides, that V9 needs a 4 ohm load. Running it at 8 ohms risks damage to it even without a messy switching system. Bottom line: is it safe? No. Don't do it. V9's are rare enough without the few that are left getting fried.
 
#15
i do have a 1x15 cab, thats 4 ohms, but its a carvin so needless to say, i cant really use it, unless it runs really quiet, which in some situations isnt possible.

and running a tube ampe without a cab is bad, but with out an instrument is fine. i didnt take the tube amp into consideration when i thought of this. i guess ill just have to get some other way of making this happen.

thanks to TBers for helping me, and saving me from two bad amps.
 

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