Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

4 Ohm or 8 Ohm


jay42
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hi folks

 

I have an amp with 2 x 600W power stages that can drive down to 4 Ohms each side. 

 

My question is this, would getting two 4 Ohm cabs be more advantageous connecting one each to each channel or getting two 8 Ohm cabs for better flexibility? 

 

I'd be interested to hear opinions! 

 

Jay

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went the other way around. I bought 4Ω cabinets and then looked for suitable amps to drive them. I went with a stereo power amp and built a pre-amp to drive it. All the amps I own nowadays are happy with 2Ω loads per channel so I can use as many of my four Acme boxes as I wish.

 

Using 'regular' bass amps I would stay with 8Ω speaker systems unless you switch to amps that are 2Ω capable.

Edited by BassmanPaul
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wouldn't be choosing cabs on the basis of impedance but how they sound. Ask what sort of sound you want, is weight and portability important and so on first of all.

 

The probability is that with 1200W into a pair of 4 ohm cabs or even 800w into 8 ohms you are going to be able to drown out the rest of the band and blow the whole bands eardrums/cochlea so extra volume is the last thing you want even if your 4ohm speakers could handle 600W.

 

Do you have a particular speaker in mind?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, fretmeister said:

I'm silently judging you for not getting four 8 ohm cabs to do it properly.

Damn right, straight from the 1988 Trace Elliot sales brochures. Go for the 'full professional' set up of two 4x10s and and two 2x15s, or the 'portable semi-professional' set up of two 2x10s and two 1x15s. Size, weight, practicality and back aches be damned. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey, thanks for the feedback guys :)

 

Seriously I'd love to go all out Trace-style with four cabs however I won't survive the beating I'll get from my bandmates lol Incidentally, my amp does happen to be a Trace Elliot...! 

 

That's why I asked the question; in my mind if I went for 4 Ohm cabinets I could utilise full power from the amp but with only two cabs but then at the same time I like the flexibility of the 8s in that although using only a single channel I could always add if I wanted to...

 

Still undecided! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, jay42 said:

 in my mind if I went for 4 Ohm cabinets I could utilise full power from the amp

Divest that notion. It's the rare cab that can make use of more than half its rated thermal input power before running out of the mechanical ability to use it, so the oft mentioned quest of 'getting all the watts out of my amp' is right up there with the search for the Holy Grail or an honest politician of things not worth the effort.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...