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Bass cabinet hookup question

Steve Young

Steve Young

Nov 19, 2019
9
2
63
Katy, TX
#1
I recently bought a Little Mark Tube 800 with a 4-10" cabinet. As far as I know the two outputs on the head are 8 ohm and the cabinet is also 8 ohm. I also have an old Peavey cabinet with a 18" Black Widow speaker that says it's 4 ohm on the back. I don't think I can hook up the 410 first and then the Peavey off the back because I think that would make it series and it would be 6 ohms then and be lower than the head. Does anybody know if I can hook the 410 to one output and the Peavey to the other output? The paper work for the head says 450w RMS @ 8 ohm and 750w @ 4 ohm. The Peavey says on the back 400w RMS(program) and 250w RMS (31.6V RMS cont.) so I guess I shouldn't turn it up too much. I had a Peavey Centurion amp that went with it but I let a guy borrow it and he moved and took it. Can't get a hold of him any kind of way. It was my very first amp and I probably had it nearly 40 years. Makes me sad. That's what I get for being nice.
 
#3
Steve, you are confused about impedance, "series," and "parallel."
The speaker outputs on your amp are in parallel. If one of your cabinets has two jacks, they are also in parallel. As Stumbo correctly states, hooking up an 8-ohm cab and a 4-ohm cab in parallel presents and impedance of 2-2/3 ohms: Too low for your head.
IF you were able to connect the 8-ohm and 4-ohm in series - which would involve making special cables - the total impedance would be 12 ohms.
If your two 4-10 cabs are each 8 ohms, you can certainly connect those with each other.
 
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#4
Steve, the sockets on the back of the amp are in parallel as are the ones on the cabinet. Basically no speaker cabinet is wired in series. Connecting both cabinets to the amp or one to the amp and the other to the cabinet are the same electrical connection: parallel. Do not connect both cabinets to that amp as it will destroy it.
 
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#5
Thanks guys. That's what I was looking to learn. So I guess now, I find me another amp for the 4 ohm cabinet or sell it and get me another mark bass cab with a 15. I swear, I could choke the life out of that guy that stole my old amp. If I could find him that is.
 
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#6
Steve Young said:
Thanks guys. That's what I was looking to learn. So I guess now, I find me another amp for the 4 ohm cabinet or sell it and get me another mark bass cab with a 15. I swear, I could choke the life out of that guy that stole my old amp. If I could find him that is.
Click to expand...

A cab with a single 15 would be a poor match with your 410, avoid that combination. If you need a second cab, get a matching 410.
 
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#10
Its complicated.
Part of it is that 10s and 15s are close enough in size that differences between them caused by the size are not huge and may be swamped by other design choices. While the average15 may have a slightly lower frequency range than the average 10, specialist 10s go lower than most 15s.
Another part is that drivers in a tight group can in some ways behave like a single larger driver.
But perhaps the most crucial is that the design of the cabinet interacting with the driver is a huge part of the sound, and every full range bass cabinet designer is targeting the same instrument!
Its a TB habit to say driver size makes no difference. This isn't strictly true, obviously, because we don't see PAs with 18in mids and 8in subs. What is reasonable to say is that because of all the above, you cannot generalise that a random 15 cab will go lower than a 10 based cab.
Another issue which to my mind tends to be exaggerated, is that if you match say a 150W 1x15 with a 400W 4x10, and thrash the nuts off the rig you will blow up the 1x15 while the 410 is still comfortable. True, but easily circumvented.
A final TB habit is to state that cabs of different designs interact badly. This is certainly going to be possible of two random cabs from different suppliers, even if they are both the same config rather than different. Its a source of some irritation, though, to professional designers from high end companies who take great pains to ensure that mixed cabs from the same range do play nicely together.
 
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#17
Steve Young said:
Thanks guys. That's what I was looking to learn. So I guess now, I find me another amp for the 4 ohm cabinet or sell it and get me another mark bass cab with a 15. I swear, I could choke the life out of that guy that stole my old amp. If I could find him that is.
Click to expand...
No reason to get rid of the 4 ohm cab necessarily. You can use either cab with that amp. Just not together at the same time. And one is probably smaller, easier to move for certain situations.
Just thought I’d throw that out there.
 
#18
When using two cabs of the same impedance it's simple: the resulting impedance is half of what one cab would be. With unlike cabs the math is more complex but a simple rule applies: the resulting impedance will always be lower than that of the lowest cab. So if you mix an 8 and 4 ohm cab the resulting number will be less than 4. That's usually enough information.
 
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