tube amp and speaker wiring/ohm questions

[Thor Von Clemson]

I have a few questions about speaker wiring and ohm questions. First off are there any advantages in terms of sound when wiring in series vs parallel? I doubt there is but I want to ask anyways. I am assuming the main difference comes in the resistance load and where you need to set it. For example if I have a 2x12 with 2 eight ohm speakers wired in series, I would set the amp's expected load at 16 ohms whereas if the same setup was wired in parallel I would set it at 4 ohms... at least I think that is correct

Secondly, if I have 2 2x12 cabs with 8 ohm drivers wired in parallel would I want to set the amp's ohm level at 8? With one 2x12 it would be four so I am assuming I just add the two together.

I know I need to match the ohm load as close as possible to what the tube amp is expecting otherwise it can hurt the amp..


Finally, is there a resource or forum dedicated to tube amps and the cabs that love them? I am still pretty new to this tube amp phenomon and I'd like to learn more about it.

Anyone?

[Thor Von Clemson]

anyone?

[Racerx2k]

Let me get this right: You have 2 - 2x12 cabinets. Each one has 2 - 8 ohm speakers, wired in parallel. That would net you 4 ohms, out of that cab. Now, if you plug in those 2 cabs, into 2 independent jacks in the back of your amp, those jacks would be in parallel of each other, dropping your effective resistance down to a total of 2 ohms. That's what you would set your amp to, which most tube guitar amps only go to 4 ohms. You could re-wire ech cab in series, making each cab 16 ohms, thus changing your overall resistance to 8 ohms.

[Thor Von Clemson]

And if I did so, would I change the switch on the amp to 8 ohms?

The reason I am asking is because I am looking to get another 2x12 built. I am not sure what my current 2x12 is wired in or what it is rated at but I will look tonight.

[toejam]

Check out the manuals on Mesa's website. That will give you an idea of wiring cabs and what a proper match or mismatch will be. I had an F-30 combo, and the manual was very useful in that regard.
http://www.mesaboogie.com/manuals/user_manuals.htm

[Thor Von Clemson]

I checked out my 2x12. It has two 16 ohm sheffield 1230's and it appears to be wired in series. The wires are coming from the jack to one speaker and from that speaker to the other speaker... that is series right?

Also, that gives me a 32 ohm cab. I'm thinking I should re-wire the cab in parallel which would give me 8 ohms. It may need new speakers soon anyways and this would give me a good chance to learn about speaker wiring and stuff. If I had another 8 ohm cab and I plugged them directly into to separate speaker jacks, that would give me 4 ohms which is what I would want to set my amp at..right?