crumpet_tramp Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 Am i right in thinking that my head (165 watts at 4 ohms) is losing power because i use an 8 ohm cab? please may someone help me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodaxe Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 Pretty much. Your amp is effectively running at half power. What amp & cab? Pete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 Pretty much - its a resistance thing. The number of ohms refers to the level of resistance.The more ohms equals the more resistance. If your cab is 8 ohm, the amp needs to work twice as hard to power it than if is 4 ohms. Its not as simple as that, tho, because connecting speakers in parallel or unison effects the resistance (ie 2x 8 ohms in series is 16 ohm while 2x8 ohms in parallel is 4 ohms). In fact, your amp is not losing power at all, it is just using it to do more work. Go to www.bassbacke.de/hints/bass/cabproperties.htm for a fuller explanation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bass_ferret Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 There are a number of threads and stickys that explain all this. I cant be arsed to find them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnt Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 I wouldn't say the amp is [i]losing[/i] power - it's not working at full capacity. A bit like a truck with half its normal load. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crumpet_tramp Posted November 15, 2007 Author Share Posted November 15, 2007 Cheers guys hust wanted a quick answer. I'm gona research into a new cab! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacDaddy Posted November 15, 2007 Share Posted November 15, 2007 [quote name='crumpet_tramp' post='88874' date='Nov 15 2007, 11:49 AM']Cheers guys hust wanted a quick answer. I'm gona research into a new cab![/quote] or an extra 8ohm cab? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Fitzmaurice Posted November 15, 2007 Share Posted November 15, 2007 [quote name='crumpet_tramp' post='88874' date='Nov 15 2007, 06:49 AM']Cheers guys hust wanted a quick answer. I'm gona research into a new cab![/quote] Before going to extraordinary effort, consider that if your cab was 4 ohms the potential additional output would be only 3dB. In lay terms, that's about the difference between having your volume knob at seven rather than six. If your rig isn't loud enough adding a second identical cab will give you 6dB. If your rig is loud enough it ain't broke, so it don't need fixing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crumpet_tramp Posted November 16, 2007 Author Share Posted November 16, 2007 [quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='89114' date='Nov 15 2007, 08:15 PM']Before going to extraordinary effort, consider that if your cab was 4 ohms the potential additional output would be only 3dB. In lay terms, that's about the difference between having your volume knob at seven rather than six. If your rig isn't loud enough adding a second identical cab will give you 6dB. If your rig is loud enough it ain't broke, so it don't need fixing.[/quote] Cheers, I'm trying to buy waaaaaaay to much stuff as it is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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