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Re: 8 ohms and 4 ohms in an amp

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Posted by Harvey (from: ) on September 04, 2004 at 23:53:07:

In Reply to: Re: 8 ohms and 4 ohms in an amp posted by Russ on August 11, 2004 at 19:41:55:

: :Back in the mid 90's (around 10 years ago) amps started to come out on the market with multiple ohms/watt capabillities. Most of these amps had a switch to change the output from an 8 to a 4 ohm load through a "matching" transformer, and the watts respectivly. Amps of today have matching transformers built in them that can do this automaticly. If connected to an 8 ohm load it switches it's self to handle it. If the load is 4 ohms, it will changes back to that. The amount of power, "watts", will increase as the ohms get lower. The ohms or "load" of the power section of an amp can range from 8 ohms all the way down to 2 ohms, depending upon the amp. For example: 570 watts @ 2 ohms, 400 watts @ 4 ohms, 260 watts @ 8 ohms in stereo and 800 watts @ 8 ohms in bridged mono. Note: When an amp is used in the "bridged" mode, the ohms are set to one value and should not be lower than the specs. This leaves the end user, the consumer, to decide on the speaker configuration and ohms, based upon the needs of the individual. Going to low can cause some real problems. Most musicians (even some of the pros I've met) are unaware of the potential damage that can be done to thier equipment by running to small of a load when hooking up speakers. A good sound tech (24 years doin' it now) knows that it is possible to blow a 500 watt speaker with a 50 watt amp, if the amp clips from the ohms being to low. I hear a lot of people say, "Those speakers suck, I can't belive they blew so quick like that." And then look at the volume on the amp to find it all the way up, leaving no headroom. As stated before, check your equipment and see what it is set up to handle. Remember to leave enough headroom for the peaks. If you are running the volume control over 3/4 of the way up (8 or more on a dial that goes to 10) at 8 ohms AND your amp will handle a 4 ohm load, you should change the speaker. Or if you have an EXTERNAL speaker jack, abide to the specs of it and hook up another speaker. If your amp has a LINE/DIRRECT out, you could hook up another power amp and speaker, to give more volume in the room while lowering the volume on your amp. If none of this is possible, then you need a bigger amp. There are many ways to wire mutiple speakers in an external cab together and still maitain the load of your amp. If you, or anyone else, would like more info on this or just need friendly advice and help, feel free to contact me.

: whats the diff between 8 ohms and 4 ohms in a guitar amp?

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: : :Back in the mid 90's (around 10 years ago) amps started to come out on the market with multiple ohms/watt capabillities. Most of these amps had a switch to change the output from an 8 to a 4 ohm load through a "matching" transformer, and the watts respectivly. Amps of today have matching transformers built in them that can do this automaticly. If connected to an 8 ohm load it switches it's self to handle it. If the load is 4 ohms, it will changes back to that. The amount of power, "watts", will increase as the ohms get lower. The ohms or "load" of the power section of an amp can range from 8 ohms all the way down to 2 ohms, depending upon the amp. For example: 570 watts @ 2 ohms, 400 watts @ 4 ohms, 260 watts @ 8 ohms in stereo and 800 watts @ 8 ohms in bridged mono. Note: When an amp is used in the "bridged" mode, the ohms are set to one value and should not be lower than the specs. This leaves the end user, the consumer, to decide on the speaker configuration and ohms, based upon the needs of the individual. Going to low can cause some real problems. Most musicians (even some of the pros I've met) are unaware of the potential damage that can be done to thier equipment by running to small of a load when hooking up speakers. A good sound tech (24 years doin' it now) knows that it is possible to blow a 500 watt speaker with a 50 watt amp, if the amp clips from the ohms being to low. I hear a lot of people say, "Those speakers suck, I can't belive they blew so quick like that." And then look at the volume on the amp to find it all the way up, leaving no headroom. As stated before, check your equipment and see what it is set up to handle. Remember to leave enough headroom for the peaks. If you are running the volume control over 3/4 of the way up (8 or more on a dial that goes to 10) at 8 ohms AND your amp will handle a 4 ohm load, you should change the speaker. Or if you have an EXTERNAL speaker jack, abide to the specs of it and hook up another speaker. If your amp has a LINE/DIRRECT out, you could hook up another power amp and speaker, to give more volume in the room while lowering the volume on your amp. If none of this is possible, then you need a bigger amp. There are many ways to wire mutiple speakers in an external cab together and still maitain the load of your amp. If you, or anyone else, would like more info on this or just need friendly advice and help, feel free to contact me. : : : : whats the diff between 8 ohms and 4 ohms in a guitar amp?

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