Cabinets Ohm match

[Rkorn]

Hey!!
i just bought one of the old 212 cabs. Its 4 Ohm.
How do i connect a 4 ohm cab and an 8 ohm cab?? So that I can have both my 212s connected??
The manual doesn't say when you have 1 4 ohm and 1 8ohm cab...

 

[LPJunky]

You can't plug the cabs as is. A 8ohms and a 4 ohms in parrallel gives you only an overal load of 2.66 ohms which is to low to run safely. You could make yourself a special cable to serialize them it would give you 12 ohms which is safe to run in the 8 ohms output. In this case, if you have a cab with a much different sensitivity they will sound at different volume. But in the end, the only way to be sure it sounds alright is to make the cable and test it.

 

[MrMarkIII]

The 4 ohm cab has two 8 ohm speakers wired in parallel for 4 ohms.
Re-wire the cab in series for 16 ohms.
That will get you 8 + 16 ohms in parallel for 5.33 ohms, a safe mismatch.
The 8 ohm cab will be a bit louder; there's no way around it, but if you place it on the bottom of the 16 ohm cab, it may balance out.

 

[domct203]

Rewire the cab to 16 Ohms as posted.

Plug the 8 Ohm cabinet into the amp's 4 Ohm jack, and plug the rewired 16 Ohm cab into the amps's 8 Ohm jack.

This will help balance the cabs volume, and this hookup is mentioned in the manual.

Dom

 

[LPJunky]

Dom! I was told once by Mesa that you cannot use both type simultaneously. That was not supported. That only the scenario described in the manual was allowed (with some variation of course for different speaker's loads).

I found the reply to an inquiry I made describing exactly the use of both outputs the 4 and the 8 ohms... basically

-----Message d'origine-----
De : Michael Taylor [mailto:[email protected]] Envoyé : mai 04 2010 20:52 À : [email protected] Objet : RE: Mark V question

Hello there,
thanks for your email.
You want to run it the way the manual says to do (series box) Running them the other way will result in damage to your Power tubes & your transformer, which will not be covered under warranty.

Hope this helps.
If you have any further questions, please call us here at the factory at
707-778-6565 Monday - Thursday 9-5 PST.

Thanks for your interest in MESA!



michael taylor :: product specialist

M E S A E N G I N E E R I N G

7 0 7 . 7 7 8 . 6 5 6 5 x. 3 3 2

 

[domct203]

This is cropped out of Pg. 56 of the Mark V Manual, see hookup #7:

Every Mesa amp I've owned supported this safe mis-match.

Your e-mail clip was not specific on what "the other way" to hook up your speaker load was.

Dom

Dom! I was told once by Mesa that you cannot use both type simultaneously. That was not supported. That only the scenario described in the manual was allowed (with some variation of course for different speaker's loads).

I found the reply to an inquiry I made describing exactly the use of both outputs the 4 and the 8 ohms... basically

-----Message d'origine-----
De : Michael Taylor [mailto:[email protected]] Envoyé : mai 04 2010 20:52 À : [email protected] Objet : RE: Mark V question

Hello there,
thanks for your email.
You want to run it the way the manual says to do (series box) Running them the other way will result in damage to your Power tubes & your transformer, which will not be covered under warranty.

Hope this helps.
If you have any further questions, please call us here at the factory at
707-778-6565 Monday - Thursday 9-5 PST.

Thanks for your interest in MESA!



michael taylor :: product specialist

M E S A E N G I N E E R I N G

7 0 7 . 7 7 8 . 6 5 6 5 x. 3 3 2

 

[LPJunky]

You're absolutlety right! What I was planning to connect were loads that were higher than those but still safe mismatched if taken individually. My memory tricked me thanks for clarifying.

 

[Rkorn]

Hi!
What a piece of crap... rewiring the speakers is something that is out of my league... The cab is great! But working with the other 212 would be great also!
So many holes in the back and being unable to use them like someone would think they would work. ( use 2 8ohm cabs plus 2 4ohm cabs) all at the same time is hard to understand. I'm taking the cab for someone to rewire it for me!!!

Thanks to all of you guys!