Does Your Guitar Amp Sound Better At 4, 8 Or 16 Ohms? – That Pedal Show

[Applause] [Music] you [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] no feedback done hey guys what's that fella stay down here Mick here hello man that sounds amazing is what a nice sound is incredible for anyone who doesn't know that mccartey soap bar has got new pickups there was a vlog on it but it does is transform the guitar really has really nice Wow right okay what are we doing today you know that was no it was an MP dance house that isn't an imp like a small table type creature it was an impedance done Hey and oh my god is an impedance for all the people who just turned off you're missing out is all I'm saying oh man did you like that that is hang on how long have you been sitting on that one literally I was writing setting up the logic session and uh impede us yeah I actually think the logic session is called impish dance but anyway yeah better than impotence if you need to the channel and welcome this is not exactly normal but it's not exactly I did hurt my finger in that whole tone Bend on the first fret of the e-string okay yeah did it hurt no no no no no okay I've summoned some good spirits doing you have we're gonna need today because some this is a real TWiki one yeah this is a real tricky one in addition to all the stuff we talked about like pedals and pickups and pop values and cable length and amp settings and pedal settings and all of this other stuff that meshes together in this wonderful thing we call guitar tone one key consideration for while all amplifiers but in the context of today's discussion valve amplifiers tube amplifiers for those of you in the USA is impedance what is impedance the Dan what is impedance as it relates to speaker out this I really don't know any write-in valve at world we've got got out we've got our output valves and we need to bridge the distance between the power of the up valves and the speaker so we use a transformer alright so the output valves we have what we're talking about is a high voltage low current I'm going to transform that to low-voltage high-current to move the speakers so that's your transformer does yep boom-boom hopefully not boom because by matching correctly matching the output impedance of your transformer and the impedance of your speaker cabinet yes everything stays all happily balanced and no boom occurs yes just beautiful guitar tones however you will notice if you have a 8-valve guitar amplifier any guitar amplifier most guitar amplifiers you may have noticed on the back panel you've got speaker outputs that are probably labeled 4 8 and 16 ohms or they were the most common ones eight and 16 tend to be on most amps for on some for reference a Marshall for by 12 such as the one down here to my right usually as 16 ohms and they've been 16 ohms forever because Dan told me an interesting story about why they're 16 oh yeah so back in the day you think about the old Marshall paas and that they'll use like pas yeah you know so people using long cable runs for their speakers now you imagine you've got a 16 ohm output and then you've got a long you know speaker cable run let's say that's being cable has got like a 1 ohm resistance yeah right you plugged that 16 ohm speaker cable so you got two of those three cables two cabs boom and you've got a load now of like 18 ohms now 18 ohms driven by a 16 ohm load is not going to be that much of a difference however using 4 ohms right and you've got two of those speaker cables plugged in 2 ohms so for I was playing it running us pushing a 6 ohm load there's a big mismatch there I didn't know I had no idea that that speaker cables had a resistance in that way yeah but absolutely they can do which is not an issue for you and your guitar amp because their cables about that long yeah be it'll be negligible so you don't need to worry too much about that and so yeah Marshall cab will be 16 ohms or 4 by 12 usually let's see Fender Bassman supers very unusually 2 ohms yeah with the way those four tens are wired most no I'm not going to say most lots and lots of amps at 8 ohms yeah combos with single speakers because speakers tend to be rated at 8 or 16 ohms the onion speakers themselves and how you connect them up determines what the total impedance load is yeah so if you've got them yeah let's take out to dress examples we've got a 69 Marshall we got our output we got a 2 a 2 ohm basement right and let's say for example they're both using output valves that might have 6 K output impedance right from the valves themselves and you need to transform that to well in one hand 16 ohms and the other hand 2 ohms so you've got your primary right which is connected to the the 6k the $6,000 from the powerhouse right and so we have our wireless for the primary and then we need to transform that to our secondary so we have what's called a wined ratio so the 16 ohm that output transform is going to take a lot more copper right you know the - oh my so basically if you look at an Apple transform you've got the the 6 K going to have much thinner wire and the the secondary side the wires going to be much thicker to handle the current yep right and so you know when you're talking that that that sort of wire and you the ratios being much higher actually much cheaper to wind I know that that a 2 ohm alpha transformer then it's the 1 to 16 ohm output transformer huh yeah so that all that stuff comes into play you know doesn't there's no you know there's no commentary there whatsoever on differences on equality no but it's definitely a manufacturing process and partlet 6 and and things is carried on from the tradition of Marshalls back in the day things I had yes it is it looks that looking into it it's fascinating um where it becomes relevant to your guitar amp is you end up with say 3 speaker outputs yes and if you've got a 50 watt guitar amplifier and it's got 4 8 and 16 ohms if speaker outputs and you have a 4 8 or 16 ohm cab three different cabs the idea is you plug into any of those cabs using the correct output on the amp and you get 50 Watts exactly because you're matching the impedance from the output of those valve so in theory for example we're going to kick off today with Dan's matchless C 30 head on the matchless ESD 212 cab now a standard this cab comes wide at 4 ohms dan has rewired it for 16 ohms yep so what we're gonna hear is some playing through the matchless using its 16 ohm output into a 16 ohm cabinet we're then going to rewire the cabinet so we're using the 4 ohm output of the matchless into the 4 own exactly so at 16 ohms we're using all of them winding on the secondary all right a diode am should be using but basically half and therefore us are using a quarter it's that right that's that's exactly right so we're tapping it off at different different parts of the the winding yeah it's it's amazing so yeah we're using at 69 we're using the whole range of the secondary okay so the question is how is it going to sound different does it sound different the same am same speaker cab same speakers same settings same guitar same amp same pedal same everything we're not miss matching anything everything's matching pieces are gonna matched the only thing we're changing is the impedance of the speaker cab and the output we use on the amp yep totally okay so this is the matchless by itself if you can turn me on thank you [Music] and [Music] [Applause] [Music] that's glorious sound this such a reason let me have a quick quick trang trang grill our own map [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] killer yeah sounds really cool so I've got one key I was in um I'm not on access with the amp okay so I guess I'm hearing a bunch of different stuff but it sounds pretty sweet from I'm sir okay yeah no it's amazing so what I do I'm gonna set up a quick loop yep we'll leave everything all this every setting exactly as it is I'm gonna take it in there Murray why for four ohms come back use the foreign output and then play the loop again the graphics on screen you tell the story all right [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] wow that's really interesting so I'm hearing more thump in the bottom end I can't remember about 20 minutes has passed since it was playing okay and then you just hear it again so it won't be till we hear it back that we can really tell but you think you can do more thumb I think I can hear more thump emeliza might just bit my ears I've had a break and I come back it's gone and that's that first note it came back in and just went umph I thought I think it sounds more together yes okay I'd know exactly what you made a decision harmonic complexity okay all the things I didn't like about it will pick up it they'll bridge pick up in this right like a confusion of yeah it feels like it's cleaner I know yeah I'm not you mean I don't know if that's how interesting okay let's ever play them yep so that's just the app [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] any observations it definitely feels that there's more more bottom-end in this really it's like a sub thing guy on that are not you me it doesn't there's there's more clarity is more yeah there's less confusion it's really not for me always confuses anything ever but yeah there definitely there's definitely a difference there okay the you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] it's hard to remember and sure to remember what was happening before yeah ie my observation remains though it sounds more together to me yeah I think that's the best way of describing it be fascinated hear the audio back ok but I prefer that that's the way I'm gonna leave that like that yeah you think on that listen you think four is better than six yeah do yeah yeah always come from the factory you know failure yeah I haven't to be honest there is obviously a reason they do that and one would assume it's because it's what they think works the best shop I've read any forums on it lately all right let's go through exactly the same process with the Marshall okay because you know we found this to be the case for the maths lesson to be honest without hearing the audio back whether we'll hear any difference at all in the recorded audio is yet to be sure yet to be discerned alright Marshall 1987 exits a 50 watt plexi reissue from either mid-2000s I would guess completely standard we've got it jumped the treble channel is on a tiny bit but she asked on and the the normal channels are a bit as well it's not heavily overdrive and this is an amp that's very quick into overdrive and we don't have it set like that we have it set with a fair bit of headroom it's running into a two by twelve cab as a customs ill a two by twelve cab that has celestion alnico rubies which we originally got for Dan's matchless it didn't like him very much no because they roll off quite a lot of high-end yeah very however the high treble channel in the plexi is loves them horrible because of the horrible bright cap and so that says it rolls a bit off and it really suits the amp yeah well it does so let's stop listen sit down have a have a shrine growler on that okay [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] lovely pretty direct isn't it yeah this is really nice overdrive [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] what was that get him lucky that was killer [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] okay went for a lick down here and realized I know I need to get back up there need to get back up there um it sounds great Marshall so that's 4 ohms right yeah so out of the back of the Marshall it's on the forum output and the speaker's - 8 own speakers wired in parallel to give 4 oh ok so I'll do the same thing I'll set up a loop and play it will rewire the cab and and come back ok [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] this is so interesting well the 16 ohms definitely makes me play more at a time but that's been my problem the whole time I've been using the ROI impedance I would say my thoughts for the matchless concur entirely with the thoughts for that one yeah that's incredible confused doesn't sass open and as airy to me but again you know saying this and hearing the audio back a good is going to be really interesting because you know it's been another 15 minutes for Dan just yeah re why the three why the speakers okay well let's have a play yep and see we think [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] that is really interesting there's something about that being a little bit less together that works for me you that you prefer no I know if I prefer but it definitely works better than the Masters dude I don't know if I prefer it but there's a it felt that togetherness and that clarity in the marshal I know that that sense of it's a little bit looser you know what we are totally gonna have to revisit this one day with some sort of switching system which makes it easy and quick sure but also I bet it varies with volume yeah yeah yeah because you know think about the impedance relationship between a transformer and a speaker with differing frequency and volume yeah of course because the the 10 impedance it's it's all frequency dependent yes yeah which is why your attenuator always doesn't sound like a speaker about anyway now go on has some out on that [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] far out there that's really playable there that just that was I can't remember if before whether it was the light speed in the Warthog all the ages and the Warthog but there just seemed to be like a mid-range thing that just all came together then yes funniness - it's nice offered the fingers that is so interesting yeah Wow I definitely don't have a preference oh by the way yeah yeah with that I think it's seeing as the master generally is 16 ohms I think leaving that canvas 16 ohms is probably a good idea yep what's really interesting is that there's a difference and it's is that you know all the impedances are matched perfectly it's still 50 watts you know but there's by using the different either or the transformer or not all the transformer like the that the Masters design using like a it's not quite a quarter but it's a it's a quarter of that of the secondary yeah so it's a much higher ratio 1 ratio hmm I guess that's really interesting bit about this video will be the straight back to back comparisons but then I think that the kind of observations in between that of what it feels like to play are also interesting and those are the sorts of things you'd probably notice over a given period of time sure so if you were used to playing in I don't know different venues or practicing at home or practicing with mates or whatever is that you do doing it repeatedly for a while and then changing it is where you would notice the difference okay so what we're gonna do now yep is mismatch the impedance yep so we're gonna use a Mesa Lone Star for this because mesas have pretty robust output transformers and actually in the manuals of some Mesa ramps they encourage you to muck about with the mismatching knee up and penis okay finish that why not back at the road right makes the Lone Star this is the classic version 100 watt I've got it sit on the 50 watt mode and Cal to normal no thick or thicker no extra gain so it's just channel 2 so it's a little bit pushed which puts it somewhere close to where we were with the marshal ok it has 4 and 8 ohm speaker outputs ok and it has an 8 ohm internal speaker so what we're going to do we're going to hear it 50 watts at for an 8 ohm so using the same and we're gonna hear it 100 watts at 4 and 8 ohms using the same sound cool so I think a loop is appropriate do you Daniel yes we could do that joy play it a bit first just to see yeah definitely get get your phone calm [Music] that was a nice Bend hell thank you [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Music] it sounds fantastic there's more complication up there in the high end isn't there a bit of histrionics and yeah right that's not nice though yes it sounds really great hit with the pose okay I think we should probably set up a loop okay and then we can hear that back-to-back at 8 ohms which is what it is currently and 4 ohms and I have to stand up to do loops I don't know why that is I can't sit down and operate my foot at the same time [Music] you [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] not huge amount of difference now so theoretically we are having the amount of impedance that we're using therefore we're doubling the current we learn that speaker and as a thing that happens with output transformers what happens on the secondary is sort of repeated on the primary also memories on the primary so sort of narrow veins law that current now that we're doubling with the output you'll see a double of the current now on the input as well so that the really low current so remote the primary we've got large voltage small current if you had that coward that small car is now doubled it's still relatively small but it's one it's one thing to be careful of normally if you with an amplifier normally it's fine to go from 8 to 16 because we're having the current yeah right so that's quite safe but with an amplifier that's this sort of designed sort of on that edge if we then double the current then that's where you can run into risk so you're asking the output for transformer to do more work absolutely let me just check that I've got that right and I didn't go from one for I'm out for it to the other for amount but okay it's always possible you know these things oh no that was definitely 84 okay I wanna do exactly the same thing but our hundred Watts okay so here's a hundred watts and here's a here's a hundred Watts for own ah really now a few Watts at 4 ohms [Music] it seems louder at 8 ohms yeah just that thing of matching the impedances properly it's the same bit louder I know in days of yore when ideally impede that at the end we can do the impedance together at the end I can remember from having single rectifiers there was one particular 50 watt rectifier director verb I think it was called Mambo that I always thought sounded much better at 4 ohms than 8 well it was tighter what was a speaker I was 8 ohms well yeah yeah I can't and then it the reason we did we flipped from 50 to 100 watts is because obviously the power up it makes a difference as well sure all right what we learned there Daniel well we've learned that I think matching the impedance is actually really important but there is a difference there used even with masterpieces that are even with matched impedances there is you know it's something to have a play with so we think the matchless sounded different before we have the opportunity to listen to the audio we think the matchless sound a different forum output forums speaker yep then 16 ohm output 16 ohm speaker same amp same cab same guitar same pedals same everything yes different impedance yes different impedances so yeah couple things going on there you're using with forum output you're you're using less than ones of the transformer with a sitting on output you're using more than windings and you're also you've got the two speakers wide in series instead of parallel so instead of both speakers taking exactly what they need as far as you know the current from the amp you've got one go into one speaker and then into the next one so you know that also plays a part as well all those things matter so I wonder if we'd use a 212 with that whether that would have made any more difference then it all who knows yeah who knows it's so interesting okay everyone thank you so much for watching please subscribe if you haven't subscribed regular viewers will know that normally we say thank you to a few people now thank our patrons and all of that sort of stuff but instead we are gonna hand over to Scott Coombs voice-over artist who sent us this fantastic clip we'll see you next time bye massive thank yous go out to our patrons on patreon without whom the show wouldn't be possible our preferred retailers for all your pedal and musical instrument needs in the UK and Europe and Rutan's music of Guildford in Surrey our mates in Australia pedal Empire of Brisbane Queensland and Sweetwater find their links cleverly displayed in the description below we'd like to thank everyone who's bought anything from that peddle show store.com such as hats t-shirts hoodies gift cards journals coffee mugs coasters for the coffee mugs strings stickers pencils pedals and the ever-popular more that's incredible Scott thank you so much for doing that it's amazing all right cheers guys that's watching see you later bye ladies and gentlemen please make your way to the exits Dan and Mick have left the building I repeat Dan and Mick have left the building [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

Channel: That Pedal Show

Views: 78,589

Rating: 4.846004 out of 5

Keywords: amp output impedance, correct output impedance, 4 or 8 ohms?, 8 or 16 ohms?, what ohmage should I use?, What impedance should I set my amp?, Marshall 1987x, Celestion Alnico Ruby demo, Matchless HC30, Matchless C30, PRS Guitars, McCarty Soapbar, amp speaker output, speaker cabinet, correct impedance?, impedance sound differences, valve amp, valve guitar amp, Mesa Lone Star, Lone Star Classic

Id: WP6uHtClwec

Length: 42min 29sec (2549 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 19 2020