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Post by cvogue on Nov 7, 2020 11:23:25 GMT -5
Forum has been really slow lately... thought I'd share. So, a couple of band practices ago I noticed that the tone was different (Streetrod) sounded kind of anemic and lost some volume. I adjusted things with my MXR 10 band in the loop but was bummed, wondering if a tube was going or something. Fast forward to band practice this last week, was setting up and noticed that the impedance was set wrong! Should have been 8 but was on 16. I don't think that would damage the amp but it definitely affected the tone. Set it to 8 and all the rich Splawn goodness was back! Turned off the 10 band, didn't really need it. It was a subtle change in sound, I noticed it but I pinged the other band members and they didn't notice anything (I'm the only guitarist... bah civilians!). We guitarists are just true tone aficionados right? Of course, that's why we play Splawns!  |
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Post by gtrjunior on Nov 7, 2020 11:27:41 GMT -5
Nice that you figured it out.
I run my QR at 8ohms too. But afaik I’ve never accidentally switched the impedance.
Yes the forum has been really slow.
I am going to post a tone thread soon. I’ve been experimenting with a few basic things I think would be helpful for Splawn owners. And I’m hoping others will share their finding with their rigs as well.
Later today I’m going to try one more thing and see what happens. But right now I have the most glorious tone I think I’ve ever had in all of my guitar playing life (30+ years)!!
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Post by cvogue on Nov 7, 2020 11:34:23 GMT -5
Nice that you figured it out. I run my QR at 8ohms too. But afaik I’ve never accidentally switched the impedance. Yes the forum has been really slow. I am going to post a tone thread soon. I’ve been experimenting with a few basic things I think would be helpful for Splawn owners. And I’m hoping others will share their finding with their rigs as well. Later today I’m going to try one more thing and see what happens. But right now I have the most glorious tone I think I’ve ever had in all of my guitar playing life (30+ years)!! Cool! Looking forward to the thread, I'll definitely chime in. It's a funny thing, with most of the amps I've used I've liked them but always thought "That's a bit harsh" especially when turning up or "Hmm... just a bit thin". I've never played an amp (in my, egad almost 40 years) of guitar playing where I just hit a chord and a smile just spreads across my face. Although I did have seller's remorse when I was downsizing and a guy came buy and bought my old Peavey Ultra 120+, played it through a cabinet he brought and I thought "Hey it didn't sound like that for me!" Oh well, I needed to downsize anyway. |
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Post by cvogue on Nov 7, 2020 11:36:48 GMT -5
Nice that you figured it out. I run my QR at 8ohms too. But afaik I’ve never accidentally switched the impedance. Yes the forum has been really slow. I am going to post a tone thread soon. I’ve been experimenting with a few basic things I think would be helpful for Splawn owners. And I’m hoping others will share their finding with their rigs as well. Later today I’m going to try one more thing and see what happens. But right now I have the most glorious tone I think I’ve ever had in all of my guitar playing life (30+ years)!! Yeah the house we practice at is owned by our lead singers (married couple) and he'll move my rig from the garage to the living room where we practice each week. Really nice to do so! Sometimes the knobs will get tweaked a bit when he moves it, I just need to be more diligent about checking everything before we start. Not complaining, it's great having a "roadie"! |
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Post by briman on Nov 7, 2020 15:31:55 GMT -5
Glad you figured it out fast Cvogue! Playing your amp set on wrong impedance will blow your tranny.
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Post by splawndude on Nov 8, 2020 11:54:12 GMT -5
^ It is a correct statement to advise people that in general they could cause damage to their output transformer or more likely a resistors or tubes if they don't match. That said, I'm fairly confident the transformers Scott is using can handle it  I remember one time I had a buddy over to jam and we were swapping our amp heads around and when he put my Splawn back on the cab he accidentally plugged the cabinet into the FX Return! So I turn on the amp and start playing and of course there is no sound. I start trouble shooting all of these things including my guitar, pedals, cables, etc. I even looked behind the amp etc and didn't notice. They say you can turn on an amp head without a load (I wouldn't do that anyway on purpose) as long as you don't pass a signal through it. I was definitely pushing a signal into it. |
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Post by cvogue on Nov 9, 2020 11:05:03 GMT -5
^ It is a correct statement to advise people that in general they could cause damage to their output transformer or more likely a resistors or tubes if they don't match. That said, I'm fairly confident the transformers Scott is using can handle it I remember one time I had a buddy over to jam and we were swapping our amp heads around and when he put my Splawn back on the cab he accidentally plugged the cabinet into the FX Return! So I turn on the amp and start playing and of course there is no sound. I start trouble shooting all of these things including my guitar, pedals, cables, etc. I even looked behind the amp etc and didn't notice. They say you can turn on an amp head without a load (I wouldn't do that anyway on purpose) as long as you don't pass a signal through it. I was definitely pushing a signal into it. It depends on the amount of mismatch and which way it is mismatched. From what I've seen driving a lower impedence (speaker load is lower which is what I had) is not as bad as driving a higher one. Driving a higher speaker load can cause flyback voltages that have a greater probability of damaging the OT. An 8 ohm mismatch isn't good but it's not terrible. But... either way it'll affect the sound, poorly! |
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Post by splawndude on Nov 9, 2020 22:24:06 GMT -5
Most Mesa amps allow for a one way mismatch in either direction and those trannies are not nearly as beefy. I hear some people actually mismatch ohms on purpose for tone reasons but what do I know. I personally will always match.
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Post by cvogue on Nov 10, 2020 1:25:36 GMT -5
Most Mesa amps allow for a one way mismatch in either direction and those trannies are not nearly as beefy. I hear some people actually mismatch ohms on purpose for tone reasons but what do I know. I personally will always match. Yeah I saw a posting on TGP about some guy wanting to know how to mismatch the impedance in his rig. :/ I think he finally realized it was a bad idea! |
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