Quick Q on daisy chaining two 8 ohm cabs

[kawika5150]

Amp > 8 ohm cab > 2nd 8 ohm cab = brings down impedance to 4 ohms? Amp is a GBE1200. This of course is out of a single channel if I choose.

The GBE has dual channels, so if I hook up a cab to each one, impedance doesn't change. Just wanted to know if I use just one channel and daisy chain the cabs if the impedance changes.

Thanks.

 

[basscooker]

what you said.

 

[scottfeldstein]

Yes, it would.

 

[Bassamatic]

Yes - the impedance will be 4 Ohms if you connect them in parallel.

It's like hooking up a Y adapter for 2 hoses to your water faucet - now twice the water can flow because there is twice the place for the water to go (half the resistance to flow).

 

[BassmanPaul]

If you connect one cabinet to each channel then each will see 8Ω. If you connect both cabinets to one channel then that channel will see 4Ω.

With my own systems I run one cabinet per channel. That gets more than loud enough for what I've ever needed.

 

[kawika5150]

Thanks all for confirming what I believed to be true. My set up involves hooking up a cabinet to each channel.

Now if only I knew how to use the FX loop thingy. I've never used it and don't even know what do with it. The only pedal I use is the VT Bass.

 

[scottfeldstein]

You probably don't need to do anything with it at all. It works fine just going straight into the instrument jack, right?

 

[kawika5150]

You probably don't need to do anything with it at all. It works fine just going straight into the instrument jack, right?

Yep, works just fine for me not using the FX Loop. I was just curious as to what it did.

 

[scottfeldstein]

It puts the effect(s) in between the preamp and the power stage. Often you'd put rack mounted effects here, as they're often designed to be there. In cases like SansAmp type bass drivers, you can sometimes get away with piping them directly from the floor into the FX loop in, bypassing the amp heads own preamp. But I wouldn't bother with that.

 

[kawika5150]

It puts the effect(s) in between the preamp and the power stage. Often you'd put rack mounted effects here, as they're often designed to be there. In cases like SansAmp type bass drivers, you can sometimes get away with piping them directly from the floor into the FX loop in, bypassing the amp heads own preamp. But I wouldn't bother with that.

I think I understand. It allows one to put their effect pedal in between the two (if that's the tone they're going for). For me, it's as simple as bass > VT Bass > Amp

 

[RickenBoogie]

The amps fx loop is line level, and thus, more useful with line level fx, like rack mmounted units. Your stomp boxes run instrument level, and thus, work better directly into the amps main input.

 

[kawika5150]

The amps fx loop is line level, and thus, more useful with line level fx, like rack mmounted units. Your stomp boxes run instrument level, and thus, work better directly into the amps main input.

Thanks Rick. What does "line level" even mean? In line with the amp?

 

[beans-on-toast]

Amp > 8 ohm cab > 2nd 8 ohm cab = brings down impedance to 4 ohms? Amp is a GBE1200. This of course is out of a single channel if I choose.

The GBE has dual channels, so if I hook up a cab to each one, impedance doesn't change. Just wanted to know if I use just one channel and daisy chain the cabs if the impedance changes.

I think that the terminology is getting mixed up a bit.

The power amp just has two speakon connectors but the output of the power amp is not two channels. The speakons are wired in parallel inside the amp. This means that if you connect two 8 ohm cabinets, the amp will see a 4 ohm load. If you connect one 8 ohm cabinet and daisy chain a second 8 ohm cabinet off the first cabinet, the amp will see the same 4 ohm impedance. In both cases the two cabs are being connected in parallel. It is two ways of connecting the cabinets but the amp sees the same impedance either way. When plugging a single cabinet into the amp, you can use either speak on connector.

Now to complicate things. The amp does have two pre-amp channels. You can select one or the other or mix them before the signal is fed to the power amp stage.

 

[kawika5150]

I think that the terminology is getting mixed up a bit.

The power amp just has two speakon connectors but the output of the power amp is not two channels. The speakons are wired in parallel inside the amp. This means that if you connect two 8 ohm cabinets, the amp will see a 4 ohm load. If you connect one 8 ohm cabinet and daisy chain a second 8 ohm cabinet off the first cabinet, the amp will see the same 4 ohm impedance. In both cases the two cabs are being connected in parallel. It is two ways of connecting the cabinets but the amp sees the same impedance either way. When plugging a single cabinet into the amp, you can use either speak on connector.

Now to complicate things. The amp does have two pre-amp channels. You can select one or the other or mix them before the signal is fed to the power amp stage.

If I'm only using one 8 ohm cabinet, then the impedance is 8 ohms. If I use both outputs (one per cabinet), I'm down to 4 ohms. Didn't know about them being wired in parallel inside the amp, but I do know about the two pre amp channels. Thanks.

 

[beans-on-toast]

If I'm only using one 8 ohm cabinet, then the impedance is 8 ohms.
If I use both outputs (one per cabinet), I'm down to 4 ohms.

You've got it.

And if you daisy chain a second cabinet, connected to the first one, you are also down to 4 ohms.