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Post by Hohn on Mar 6, 2017 14:02:34 GMT -7
So I happened to have an "extra" blue sitting on a shelf and thought I'd swap it into my cheapo AC4 1x12 combo.
If you aren't familiar with this model amp, it comes factory with perhaps the worst sounding speaker ever mass produced. The baffle is some kind of hardboard (like Masonite) in this amp, so that wasn't helping, but the speaker was terrible, and swapping different speakers confirmed that it was mostly the speaker and not the cheap cab.
As much as I was sort of rolling my eyes at putting a $300 speaker in a $300 amp, I did it because why not? Well, one reason is that Vox very clear says use only a 16 ohm speaker. My Blue is 8 ohms. Well, reading on other fora, guys are saying that the trannies in the amp can handle the extra load of 8 ohms. It also ups the power to more like 6-7 watts.
The result?
WHOA! *THIS* is a cheap Chinese Ac4?
No longer sounds like a BOX but like a VOX. The AC4 can actually push a Blue hard enough to get speaker break-up. I never would have guessed.
So I now have a cheap amp that is more than loud enough for practice but still let's me ride the dirt via volume.
who knew?
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Post by 2Cents on Mar 6, 2017 21:09:31 GMT -7
If, “Vox very clear [sic] says use only a 16 ohm speaker. [and] My Blue is 8 ohms.’ You have a harmful mismatch. I’m not sure you got reliable info from the guys on other forums. A 16 Ohm amp should not be mismatched with a speaker less than 16 Ohms. On the other hand, a 4 Ohm amp into an 8 or a 16 Ohm speaker, or an 8 Ohm amp into a 16 Ohm speaker is a safe mismatch. Follow the link below for additional insight, from a respected source, with illustrations. www.mesaboogie.com/media/Amplitudes/2013/June/Speaker%20Impedance%20Matching%20and%20Hookup.pdf
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Post by mudman on Mar 6, 2017 21:51:27 GMT -7
If, “Vox very clear [sic] says use only a 16 ohm speaker. [and] My Blue is 8 ohms.’ You have a harmful mismatch. I’m not sure you got reliable info from the guys on other forums. A 16 Ohm amp should not be mismatched with a speaker less than 16 Ohms. On the other hand, a 4 Ohm amp into an 8 or a 16 Ohm speaker, or an 8 Ohm amp into a 16 Ohm speaker is a safe mismatch. Follow the link below for additional insight, from a respected source, with illustrations. www.mesaboogie.com/media/Amplitudes/2013/June/Speaker%20Impedance%20Matching%20and%20Hookup.pdf That's true for solid state amps. It's the opposite for tube amps. Also 16 into 8 is fine, I wouldn't go 16 to 4 or 4 to 16 on a tube amp. With a solid state amp 4 to 16 is fine, you just lose wattage. But never go below the stated ohm on a solid state amp.
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Post by Hohn on Mar 7, 2017 19:03:44 GMT -7
I'll live with the risk, thanks. I've been playing impedance mismatches with tube amps long enough now to be comfy with it.
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