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Post by swampcooler on Oct 23, 2005 12:41:45 GMT -7
Hi,
Does anyone know what the tonal differences between the 8 and 16 ohm outs are? Is there a power difference as well?
I'm up for a new speaker and I'm not sure what ohmage I'll get.
Thanks for your comments,
swampcooler
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Post by billyguitar on Oct 23, 2005 12:50:44 GMT -7
I'd get an 8 ohm so you could use it with other amps if you don't like it in this amp. Theoretically the 16 ohm tap uses all of the transformer and is supposed to sound better but it's probably pretty subtle.
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Post by adammkoss on Oct 23, 2005 15:18:09 GMT -7
In most output transformers, the highest impedance output gives you the best tone. So if I were you, I'd go with 16 ohms. The power shouldn't be any different (as long as the speaker matches the impedance).
Also, you can mismatch most amps up to 100%, but it usually only works best (and most safely) with a higher load than output - that is, you can plug a 16 ohm speaker into an 8 ohm output. This will lower your power but give you a smoother tone and have less wear on your output tubes. Fenders are famous for the ability to exploit this mismatch, whereas other amps (using EL84's and 34's, i.e. Marshall, Vox) don't handle this quite as well. It shouldn't be a safety issue though to try it out.
FYI: The reason for improved tone at higher impedence is that the transformer is for all intense and purpose wound to that impedance and then tapped off for the lower impedances, so the full winding is used and secondary is balanced to the primary (thus, single-ended amps have smaller differences in tone between the secondary taps than push-pulls, which the Z is). But, always match the speaker for most efficiency.
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