Cabinet impedance

[ElChoad]

Here is a question I have posed on another forum, and I can't find anybody that can give me an answer, so I will ask it here:

I have a Supro Black Magick Reverb amp and the matching 2x12 cabinet. The cabinet can be ran in either series (16 ohms) or parallel (4 ohms). Is there any real benefit to running one way over the other? It seems to me that there is a little more grit coming in earlier when run in parallel. Maybe I am imagining it?

[Steiner]

16 Ohm will use the full windings of the transformer.  That's generally a fuller sound; it depends on how the amp was voiced.

[ElChoad]

That makes sense. Thank you.

[bolero]

Might be a little louder on 4 ohms, too?

It goes without saying that your amp should be set to the same impedence as the cab.

[goSteelers]

It's most important that you run the cabinet at the ohmage expected by the amp.  That's probably why they gave you the choice in the first place, not as a sound option, but as an impedance matching option (my guess).  The wiring is really easy to give you those two options, in a cabinet with two 8 ohm speakers.

I am not an expert, but I know you can damage an amp if you give it a lower ohmage than it expects in the cabinet, and perhaps if you give it too high as well.  There is a lot written about this, I would suggest doing some research.  Amps vary regarding what they will tolerate.  Some even have a switch that allows you to choose a couple different ohm settings, and they all have a limit on how low you can safely go.  Plugging a 4 ohm cabinet into an amp that expect 16 ohms -- my guess would cause a problem.  But again, I'm not an expert, you should do some research and figure out the specs on your amp as well.

 

[HANGAR18]

You can go with a higher ohm cabinet but not a lower ohm than what the amp specifies.

[ElChoad]

I have been running them both at 4 ohms.  I understand the theory of impedance matching. The head has 2x4 ohm, 2x8 ohm, and 1x16 ohm speaker outputs. Maybe running in 16 would help tame it a bit. 

[212Mavguy]

What Steiner said.   Wire the cab in series for 16, use the 16 ohm out on the amp.