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resistance question

lomo

passionate hack
Supporting Member
Apr 15, 2006
14,681
15,963
Montreal
If an amp is rated at a minimum of 2 Ohms, is it feasible to hook it up to 1 4 Ohm cab and 1 8 Ohm cab? Is it bad for the amp and/or the cabs. My intuition tells me that 2/3 of the current will go through the lower resistance 4 Ohm cab, so I assume if it's rated to handle 2/3 of the amps output that would be OK. Will the volume of the 8 Ohm cab be totally drowned out by the other and therefore useless?
 
A related question=can I run 2 8 Ohm cabs in series through one output and a single 4 Ohm cab through the other?

Unless you are sure it is a stereo amp, no. The outputs are most likely in parallel. What amp is it?

And just to nitpick, the measurements for cabs/speakers are the impedance, not the resistance. Resistance is DC, impedance is AC. That is why an 8 ohm speaker never measures 8 ohms with an ohmmeter.
 
The situation is an Ampeg PB800 through a pair of Phil Jones 4 B ext cabs. 550 watts into 4 Ohms and 8, 4 inch drivers. The tone and definition are exquisite, but in order to get over a pair of reasonable guitars and a drum kit (at rehaersal in my laundry room :-), I'm cranking the input control to 9 and the main gain to 7 or 8-even with an active bass. I don't like that. The larger PJ cabs are too heavy. I'm wondering about getting hyper-modular and adding a 2x10 or 4 Ohm 12 or 15 to move the extra air. The sensitivity of the PJ cabs is 95dB. Any suggestions?