connecting amp head with the cabinet

[warhead]

I am a little confused with different opinions I get regarding this matter.
One very skilled electrican has said that the tube amps MUST run with 2 cables. It`s because it is necessary to load all 2 channels....?
But I run my amp head and cab on 8 ohms(that`s a mono mode) and usually connect it with only one cable. Some people say it`s OK that way, and if I want to use 2 cables, I`d need to switch to 16 ohms. Others say it`s not important if it`s on 8 or 16 ohms, that I have to use 2 cables anyways......I am confused.....

[SlasZ]

I think its the other way around, mono is 16 ohm and stereo would be 8 ohm (or 8 mono & 4 stereo).
Only connect 2 cables if you want stereo, one cable for mono.
16 or 8 ohm doesn't matter as long as your cab matches the head.

[warhead]

I think its the other way around, mono is 16 ohm and stereo would be 8 ohm (or 8 mono & 4 stereo).
Only connect 2 cables if you want stereo, one cable for mono.
16 or 8 ohm doesn't matter as long as your cab matches the head.

Thanx for reply!! But on the cab it says 8 mono, 16 stereo...

[Dreamland_Rebel]

with one cab run 1 cable from mono operation and 2 for stereo operation.

for 1 cab operation match the head with the cabinet impedence. i.e. 16 head with 16 cab or 8 head with 8 cab. if matching is not possible run the cab higher than the head. for example 16 cab into 8 head. or 8 cab into 4 head. to keep it safe.

for 2 cab operation (or 1 cab in stereo) run the head at half the cab rating. i.e. two 8 ohm cabs should plug into the 4 ohm speaker out of the head. two 16 ohm cabs should be run at 8 ohms on the head. or with a standard marshall cab in stereo which is two 8 ohm loads - run the head at 4 ohms.

on page 31 starts examples of safe mismatching

[SlasZ]

Thanx for reply!! But on the cab it says 8 mono, 16 stereo...

I can't check on mine but with what Dreamland says I suppose I'm wrong

[Dreamland_Rebel]

your head sees stereo as 2 seperate cabs.

[Spivonious]

To the original question, I have never heard anyone say that you must have 2 cables to run a mono cab. If the amp actually had stereo outputs instead of just two mono outputs, then I could maybe understand it, but since it doesn't the amp should care how many jacks are filled as long as it has the proper load.

[åron]

The two jacks on most amps are generally just wired up parallel. Running 2 cables from a mono amp to a stereo cab is redundant and unnecessary. The wiring inside your cab is already properly sharing the load. If he's as skilled as you claim, he must assume that this is a stereo amp (which means he may be skilled, but he's not well informed).

[Racerx2k]

Your "very skilled electrican" has been rolling too many doobies. If you are running a mono amp, a single cable is what you want. Besides, he's an electrician, not a guitar tech.

[zeegler]

Your "very skilled electrican" has been rolling too many doobies. If you are running a mono amp, a single cable is what you want. Besides, he's an electrician, not a guitar tech.

Yeah, the thing is, there's a big difference between an electrician, and an electronics technician. I know several professional electricians, and I would let any of them within 10 feet of any of my gear.

[JACKSONFREAK]

Unless your head is stereo. Has a right and left labeled output to speakers. And not just two jacks. If its a tube head aka marshall. with a marshall cab. Run one cable from the 1st jack, if labeled as such. And make sure both head and cab are set to 16 ohms. Usung 2 speaker cables into one stereo cabinet. Is 16ohms anyway. So why confuse yourself. Just run one cable and set everything to 16ohms. If you run 2 cabs off of same head. Then run 2 cables and set impedance to 8 ohms on the head.

[warhead]

It is Framus Cobra head and a matching cabinet I am specifficaly asking about...
Thanx for all the info!! Now all is clear to me. It was really frustrating to hear all the different opinionions. All the time I had this amp, I was connecting it with one cable, 8 ohms on the head, 8 ohms mono on the cab. And it worked quite fine...

[thetroy]

It will continue to work quite fine. Very few tube guitar amps (if any...) require stereo operation.