Shaggy Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Apologies if this has been covered before; couldn't find anything. I'll happily re-wire basses, but a total noob when it comes to amps and cabs. Just wondering if it's possible to convert a cab with a single driver from 8 ohm to 4 ohm, eg; by wiring in a dummy resistance in parallel? Cab is an Aguilar GS112 with variable tweeter. I'm guessing not! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warwickhunt Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Quick answer is No (and also yes, if you want to start messing with dummy loads ) but tbh the gain of a single 4ohm 12" over a single 8ohm 12" is negligible. You only really start to get the benefit when you double up the GS/DB1x12 cabs. I'm sure someone will come along with the maths of how much you will gain from a 4ohm load and then someone else will point out that you can't really 'hear' the difference between the two but you will find that this has been covered before and the outcome is that it isn't worth the hassle or cost (in the case of replacing the driver). Just saved you loads of hassle! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyfisher Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 It's quite possible to add an 8 ohm resistor to an 8 ohm speaker in order to present a 4 ohm load to an amp. But what would be the point? Half the amp power would be dissipated by the 8 ohm resistor as heat. So, in practice, such a thing would likely [u]reduce[/u] the sound output of the cab. As we've discussed before, an amp driving, say, 100W into 8 ohms won't drive 200W into 4 ohms, it'll be something less - let's say 180W for example. So adding an 8 ohm resistor to create a 4 ohm cab would result in the amp driving 180W into the cab, which would be split equally between the speaker and the resistor, i.e. 90W each. Thus, the proposed modification would convert an 8 ohm cab providing 100W of music power into a 4 ohm cab providing 90W of music power. Unless I'm missing something, I really can't see the point in what you're proposing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Just lie down in a darkened room until the madness passes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noisyjon Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Have a read through Alex's great page all about it: [url="http://barefacedbass.com/technical-information/mythbusters1.htm"]CLICK HERE[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goingdownslow Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 This sort of question is often asked, but FLYFISHER'S post above is the best and simplest explanation I have read, and should be easily understood by the person who asks this question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 You're not going to find a 90W 8Ω resistor. You would have to wire up a whole load of large wirewound resistors and then find a way of getting rid of the heat they produce. The easiest alternative would be to either replace the driver for a 4Ω one or add another 8Ω cab to what you already have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaggy Posted February 5, 2011 Author Share Posted February 5, 2011 Thanks to all for the info - clearly makes sense to leave as is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bumnote Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 [quote name='Shaggy' post='1116602' date='Feb 5 2011, 03:08 PM']Thanks to all for the info - clearly makes sense to leave as is.[/quote] To add to the other advice you had, I actually changed an 8 ohm driver to a 4 ohm last year and the difference was minimal, it really isnt worth the trouble and I wish I hadnt bothered Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 (edited) I`ve got two 8 ohm cabs, a 4x10 and a 2x10. The other night I couldn`t be bothered to take my 2x10 along to rehearsal, so was using however many watts into 8 ohms (prob 280ish), instead of 450 into 4 ohms. Amp wasn`t on full mind, only on 3/4, same as I use with both cabs, and the volume difference was that minimum, I didn`t notice it, neither did the band. The only thing I did notice was the "size" of the sound wasn`t as big - but that is possibly due to the height of the stack being that much less without the 2x10. I agree with the others, leave it as it is, but, if you want to obtain more performance from your amp, in case of larger venues, get another GS112 Edited February 5, 2011 by Lozz196 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noisyjon Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 [quote name='Lozz196' post='1116740' date='Feb 5 2011, 05:28 PM']... get another GS112[/quote] Would be my advice too if you want a bit more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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