A Question For the 4X12 Crowd:

:?: I've heard that a 4X12 cab wired for a 16 ohm load has better low end response than a 4X12 cab wired for 8 ohms. Is that true? Do 16 ohm cabs have bigger sounding bottom-end than 8 ohm cabs?

All reports say 8ohm is optimum.

First time I've heard that one.

Well that just goes to show that you can't believe everything people tell you. I've never owned a 4X12 cab so I really can't comment, but I'm glad I asked. I probably should have made the question a poll.

Somebody told me that Marshall wired their cabs for 16 ohms because a 16 ohm load has better bottom end. It sounded reasonable enough at the time. Then again, I've never owned a Marshall halfstack or any other kind of halfstack.

:idea: Anybody else care to weigh in on the subject?

mullet_king said:

Somebody told me that Marshall wired their cabs for 16 ohms because a 16 ohm load has better bottom end. It sounded reasonable enough at the time. Then again, I've never owned a Marshall halfstack or any other kind of halfstack.

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That I have heard, except it was more along the line of Marshall heads sounding better at 16ohm than at 4ohm....but I think that one has more to do with the head than the cab.

screamingdaisy said:

That I have heard, except it was more along the line of Marshall heads sounding better at 16ohm than at 4ohm....but I think that one has more to do with the head than the cab.

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i think you´re right that this has more to do with the head
because most (or all??) tube amps (only for example)
have 100W on 4 or 8ohm, but only 80W at 16ohm.
and marshall amps are known and loved for their poweramp distortion.

Matt Bruck comments about this in the March Guitar World mag. His reply was along the lines of a 16ohm speaker being able to produce the full range of highs and lows, which an 8ohm speaker can't do as well. Something about using the full power capabilities of the speaker...

That's odd. I can't see how a 16 ohm speaker would do anything differently than an 8 ohm speaker can. It's only an impedance issue.

I think if that were the case, there would be more people buying 16 ohm speakers, and there would be a lot more 16 ohm speakers being made.

I've allways preffered to go 4ohm stereo into my cabs, don't know why just allways seemed like the thing to do.

i have a 16 ohm 412 and it sounds monstrous, but never played through an 8, my guess is it will be alot louder obviously.