Adding a 2x12 on top of 4x12

[chops]

Hey fellow Splawnites, I'm thinking about adding a 2x12 cab on top of my 4x12. Actually, it'll be two 2x12's on top of both 4x12 cabs. I'm just wondering if you think this would be cool in terms of more tone and I'm thinking it'll sound killer with a couple of 2x12's up in my face, on top of the 4x12's. Obviously, 2 FULL stacks would be nice but a little overkill. It's great the way it is but I think it might be very sweet to have a 4x12 and 2x12 on top, on each side of the stage for my stereo set up. Do you folks agree or should I go all out and get 2 more 4x12's? Thanks. ;D

[guitareden]

Wow! That would kick Arse! Are those straight cabs you got there? I think that would be a nice WALL OF SOUND.

Been thinking about getting a single 2X12 Splawn (of course) to put under my Trad. Slant 4X12.

[DonaldDemon]

Unfortunately you can’t run both at once if you are using all SB-25’s. Scott can only wire the 2x12 at 8 ohms so a 16ohm + 8ohm cab is a weird ohmage and won’t work.

The pic in my avatar is just for fun but sometimes I wish I could hook them both up and melt some faces, though it’s mostly just overkill.

[SmokinPaul]

Actually, it's pretty easy to sidestep the impedance issue. If you have 2 8ohm speakers and you wire it series, the total load would be 16ohm. I don't know if they've received the 8ohm SB's yet, but last time I talked to Josh which was last week, he said that they would be available on a limited basis. Or, you could take the 16ohmers and have the cab wired series/parallel. This way, the total impedance remains the same as one speaker. That's why I love my 2-12 gflex cabs on the bottom. They have jacks for 16mono, 4 mono, 8 per side stereo, and a jack for daisy chaining. The connection options are second to none!

[nitrous12]

I know the general rule of thumb here is to match your impedance, but I thought a mismatch was ok as long as the load is still higher than what the output needs?
In other words, if you set the amp to 4ohms and attach an 8ohm speaker that is a safe mismatch. Conversely, attaching a 2ohm speaker to an amp set for 4ohms is bad and could cause mass destruction.
That said, I am thinking you probably could run the 2x12 and 4x12 together by setting the amp to 4ohms since the load is still higher than what the amp needs. I am just not sure what the actual load is if you were to daisy chain the 2 cabs together.

Also, I really don't want to sound like a d!ck, but I fear no matter how I type this I may come off this way. My intention is really just to educate and hopefully get folks speaking the correct terminology. Ohms is a unit of measurement of impedance. Similar to pounds are a unit of measurement of weight. So if I didn't know if a cab was 8ohms or 16ohms I would ask, what is the impedance of the cab. Think of it like the pounds to weight analogy and you should be set. How much do you weigh? I weigh 168 pounds. Whats your impedance? My impedance is 16ohms. I think its pretty common for non electronic/electrical geeks to not know this....I see people all over guitar forums use some form of the ohms where they should say impedance cuz all you probably have ever seen is the little horseshoe symbol on the speaker next to the impedance value and ohm.

[splatter]

Mar 8, 2010 20:35:01 GMT -5 nitrous12 said:

I know the general rule of thumb here is to match your impedance, but I thought a mismatch was ok as long as the load is still higher than what the output needs?
In other words, if you set the amp to 4ohms and attach an 8ohm speaker that is a safe mismatch. Conversely, attaching a 2ohm speaker to an amp set for 4ohms is bad and could cause mass destruction.
That said, I am thinking you probably could run the 2x12 and 4x12 together by setting the amp to 4ohms since the load is still higher than what the amp needs. I am just not sure what the actual load is if you were to daisy chain the 2 cabs together.

Also, I really don't want to sound like a d!ck, but I fear no matter how I type this I may come off this way. My intention is really just to educate and hopefully get folks speaking the correct terminology. Ohms is a unit of measurement of impedance. Similar to pounds are a unit of measurement of weight. So if I didn't know if a cab was 8ohms or 16ohms I would ask, what is the impedance of the cab. Think of it like the pounds to weight analogy and you should be set. How much do you weigh? I weigh 168 pounds. Whats your impedance? My impedance is 16ohms. I think its pretty common for non electronic/electrical geeks to not know this....I see people all over guitar forums use some form of the ohms where they should say impedance cuz all you probably have ever seen is the little horseshoe symbol on the speaker next to the impedance value and ohm.

Ok I'll say it first .......Your a d!ck JK .
and yes your right as long as the load is higher than what the head is set for your good to go . Some people claim it effects the tone but I've never noticed it .

[DonaldDemon]

Hmmm…when I spoke to Josh and Scott I got the impression that I could run both cabs but it wouldn’t make much sense because one cab is pulling more of the load than the other. Now, mind you I don’t fully understand these concepts so here is what I think is correct, or so I have been told. Using a 16 ohm and 8 ohm cab together in parallel will give you an resistance rating of 5.33 ohms. So the amp can be run at 4 ohms safely but there will be power loss and the 4x12 essentially will be like the power of a 2x12 and therefore it is kind of pointless. I may be completely wrong here though.

[chrismac]

Mar 9, 2010 14:14:38 GMT -5 DonaldDemon said:

Hmmm…when I spoke to Josh and Scott I got the impression that I could run both cabs but it wouldn’t make much sense because one cab is pulling more of the load than the other. Now, mind you I don’t fully understand these concepts so here is what I think is correct, or so I have been told. Using a 16 ohm and 8 ohm cab together in parallel will give you an resistance rating of 5.33 ohms. So the amp can be run at 4 ohms safely but there will be power loss and the 4x12 essentially will be like the power of a 2x12 and therefore it is kind of pointless. I may be completely wrong here though.

that sounds right to me too but I am dumb when it comes to impedances.

[nitrous12]

I think you guys are correct on that....the impedance mismatch of the cabs will have them not really working together at the same volume so its probably a waste.

Glad no one took me the wrong way...I was half drunk when I wrote that last night

[splatter]

Mar 9, 2010 14:14:38 GMT -5 DonaldDemon said:

Hmmm…when I spoke to Josh and Scott I got the impression that I could run both cabs but it wouldn’t make much sense because one cab is pulling more of the load than the other. Now, mind you I don’t fully understand these concepts so here is what I think is correct, or so I have been told. Using a 16 ohm and 8 ohm cab together in parallel will give you an resistance rating of 5.33 ohms. So the amp can be run at 4 ohms safely but there will be power loss and the 4x12 essentially will be like the power of a 2x12 and therefore it is kind of pointless. I may be completely wrong here though.

I'm sure your right ,Scott definately knows what hes taking about . I really didn't think about that . I was just saying it wouldn't hurt the head .

[DonaldDemon]

Yeah I looked into it last night to double check my notion and it looks like I was right. Essentially, the 2x12 will get most of the power. One way around it is if you have a 4x12 with a stereo jack but then you are using only two speakers in the 4x12 and may as well just stick with just the 4x12 and no 2x12! I guess it would look cool but that’s about it.

[chops]

Wow! You guys are awesome for finding out all this stuff. I will stay where I'm at. I need to keep the GREED in check. Thanks for the input.

[SmokinPaul]

well....ah...forget it....I typed the same message too many times.. my ad..........