connecting two 4 ohm Cabs in series

[deepbass5]

I Thought i would post my today's indoor project.

I have two beloved Acme Low B cabs both 4 ohm. One gets all the use nowadays whilst the other sits indoors for home practice. I used to gig both in a functions band using a little GK fusion head DI'ed to a Mark bass amp for the second cab.

But now for louder rock gigs I go through a TecAmp 4x10.  But have still fancied my 2x12 occasionally, so this is where I am, and not wanting to run two amps.

 

 

 

 

 

Pictured my previous old jack lead, but i have just purchased a set of Speakon's red and blue so I can colour code the right one for the amp, I keep forgetting which jack is what and have to keep testing them which is why i don't use them.

 

 

Pictured below is my new lead with Speakons Red for the amp blue for cabs.  So Positive from amp speakon heads out and to +1 of first cab speakon the negative is not cut but looped inside. It is the other end of my newly cut positive wire that goes to the -1 and will go on to the +1 of the next cab. 2nd cab -1 will then find its way back to the amp via the uncut neutral in the top speakon and be terminated in the -1 of the Red amp speakon. Putting my two 4 ohm cabs into series giving me 8 ohms.

The LAST PICTURE IS ME TESTING TO PROVE I GOT THINGS RIGHT. I am using a speakon though connector and a speakon to jack adaptor so i can use my bass lead to do a battery test. Using an old PP9 as it is down on volts, by touching positive to tip and negative to ring of the jack the speaker cones should jump forward, if connected correctly. always handy to take an old battery with you when buying second hand cabs to prove they are OK and all drivers are wired correctly.

 

 

This will of course reduce the available output power from my amplifier but doubling my cone surface area will compensate

THANKS FOR LOOKING HAPPY GIGGING FOR 2025

 

 

Edited Sunday at 11:05 by deepbass5
correct words parallel to series oops!

[tauzero]

9 hours ago, deepbass5 said:

Pictured my previous old jack lead, but i have just purchased a set of Speakon's red and blue so I can colour code the right one for the amp, I keep forgetting which jack is what and have to keep testing them which is why i don't use them.

 

You could have put some coloured heatshrink on the jack plugs. Still, speakon is better.

Edited Sunday at 00:11 by tauzero

[obbm]

Some years ago I made a similar cable, which I still have, to run a pair of Schroeder 1212L in series. Wicked.

 

If you wire all the links, 1- to 1+, you achieve the same result and don't need to differentiate between which connector goes to the amp and the cabs.