8 ohm and 4 ohm cab into Ampeg SVT-CL?

[skidder652003]

Hi folks
bit of a dilema here, If i was to put a 4 ohm and 8ohm cab together which I believe makes 2.6666 etc ohms right? So the SVT-CL has a 4 ohm or a 2 ohm option, again Im guessing you would opt for the 2 ohm option? If so what's the concensus on the stability of this bearing in mind Ive heard valve amps don't like being outside of their ohm design? Perhaps i should just go for the 2 x 8 ohm route, 2 x 4 ohm route etc!! Just interested if anyone has tried this?

[Guest monsterthompson]

i'm not going to speculate, but this sounds similar to the Barefaced 210 [url="http://barefacedbass.com/product-range/retro-two10.htm"]http://barefacedbass...retro-two10.htm[/url]
[b] 12 or 4 ohm impedance?[/b]

The 12 ohm version allows you to use up to three cabs with a solidstate amp with a 4 ohm minimum load. Many solidstate amps will run four cabs because the resulting 3 ohm load is easy enough. When using one 12 ohm cab you'll get 2/3 of the power you'd normally get into an 8 ohm cab but unlike most small 8 ohm cabs the Two10 will handle all that power without distorting so will usually play louder.

With valve/tube amps you should use the 8 ohm or 16 ohm tap with a single 12 ohm cab, 8 ohm or 4 ohm tap with two cabs, 4 ohm tap with three cabs, 2 or 4 ohm tap with four cabs, 2 ohm tap with five or six cabs.

Edited September 4, 2014 by monsterthompson

[Guest monsterthompson]

I've seen this issue come up with the Mesa Walkabout, too (combo of 4 & 8 ohm cabs). However, the solid state nature of the head means there is no "selection" of 4 or 8 ohms.

[Phil Starr]

You do like to live life on the edge Steve!

The 2ohm tap would work best though both would be OK as either way you are 33% out. The 2ohm tap on the amps output transformer is likely to be thicker wire because it is expected to carry a higher current.

Cheers

[skidder652003]

thanks Phil, just messing about really as i have the 8 ohm cab already. I think getting shot of it and just using a 4 ohm 410 is the most sensible option as lugging 2 lots of 410 to the dog and duck is frankly daft!

[dincz]

Better for a valve amp to drive a slightly low impedance than a higher one, so use the 4 ohm setting to drive a 2.7ohm load. In either case the mismatch is very slight and wouldn't be a problem - especially when you consider that a cab's impedance is just a nominal figure and in practice it varies wildly across the frequency range.