Can I rewire Orange to 8 Ohm?

[erm87]

It's me again. I have a Mesa Boogie Rectoverb 50 head with an 8 ohm out and two 4 ohm outs:



From my last topic I learned that i could run two Orange cabs by going from the 8 ohm out and daisy chaining. HOWEVER, I would never be able to run just a single cab because i don't have a 16 ohm out on the head.

Can I rewire the Orange cabs to 8 ohm each?

This is the answer I got from Orange's tech guy:

The speakers in the 412 are wired in series-parallel and are 16 ohms each. This cannot be rewired to 8 ohms, but you can wire all 4 speakers in parallel to get 4 ohms.

I really want to get an Orange stack but I also want the option to only run one cab when needed.
It seems I am out of luck. I just wanted to see if you guys had any ideas.

Thanks!

[Randy Bass]

You would need different speakers (8-ohm) to have each 4x12 cab wired at 8-ohms. What you need is a new Orange head to replace your Mesa !

[misterMagoo]

Off topic...

How do you like your RectoVerb? I was going to get one of those until I found my Rockerverb 50. No one local had a Rectoverb so I never got to try it.

What style do you use it for? What styles would you say it could cover, and is best suited for?

I played a dual rec once and it seemed like it was all gain. Even the clean channel was pure crunch!! I mean, there was no cleans at all.

[erm87]

I do need an Orange head! My band is actually endorsed by Orange, but tour revenue can't buy new heads The other two guitarist in my band already use Orange cabs which sound amazing. I could sell my Mesa but I'd still need to scrap together some more funds.

Now as far as my review of the Rectoverb...
I play the modern variety of progressive(y) metal. On our last record we used a Voodoo modified Rectoverb for the main tone and then re-amped with a Voodoo mod'd Dual Rec. You can check out the results here: http://www.myspace.com/aheroafake" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
50 watts is more than enough headroom on the dirty channel and I love the amp's standalone distortion tone; great crunch. The amp has one gain knob per channel, so to get the liquidy distortion tone I put a Maxon Tubescreamer in front so i have a pre and post distortion mix. The ONLY problem with the head is that the clean channel doesn't have enough headroom before it breaks up. More clean headroom would be great.

Now based on the particular my particular genre of music, if I were to get an Orange head would you recommend it be the Rockerverb Mark II 50, 100 or the Thunderverb 50, 200?

Thanks guys!!

[Sooner]

Can I rewire the Orange cabs to 8 ohm each?

No problem. For a 4x12 disconnect 2 speakers and wire the other 2 in parallel. For a 2x12 disconnect just one speaker.

[OrangePaul]

For the amount of clean headroom your probably looking for I would have guessed u would be looking at a rockerverb 100 minimum....i'd 'pass' on the tiny terror anyhow lol

[tadaitstyler]

the mesa heads are built to be able to throw a 16ohm cab in the 8 ohm jack, or two 16ohm cabs into the two 4ohm jacks. that is why they don't have separate jacks. it should be in your user manual. it's in the user manual for all the mesa manuals I have read (road king, roadster, rectifiers). You should be fine just throwing the 16ohm cab right into the 8ohm jack.

[thenetsux]

Hey Eric,
Fancy seeing you here (this is daniel - systems).
I heard about your endorsement, and congrats. Thats totally amazing. I'd say you should just make the go for the Thunderverb 200 or Rockerverb 100.The Thunderverb 200 has an option to drop half of the power section out making it 100 watts and it has a built in attenuator adjustable on the front of the amp and you can engage/disengage it via footswitch (though i don't think that's be something I'd use much) It also has a power transformer that can handle very low frequency responses, giving it a lot of low end. The Rockerverb is pretty sweet because it has power tube versatility. You can run it with 6l6's (something I'd love to try in my AD140) or EL34's and obviously their drop in replacements (6CA7's, KT77's, 6550's, etc). I hear that the Rockerverb has more gain on tap than the Thunderverb, but I haven't had the chance to play with either of them. If you can, I'd say try and find someone with one or a dealer where you can try them out. There definitely is no substitute for hands on experience. I think you may be able to find some at Mullis Music in Concord. Not too far from home.

[ianwrecked]

The Rockerverb has a lot more gain than the Thunderverb. However, they're still great amps.

and obviously their drop in replacements (6CA7's, KT77's, 6550's, etc).

I think you mean KT88's

[Randy Bass]

I thought he meant KT77s .

They should be drop-in replacements for EL34-equipped amps.

[thenetsux]

Ha, I actually meant 5881, but yes, KT88's also. That feature really appeals to me lately.

[a.hun]

the mesa heads are built to be able to throw a 16ohm cab in the 8 ohm jack, or two 16ohm cabs into the two 4ohm jacks. that is why they don't have separate jacks. it should be in your user manual. it's in the user manual for all the mesa manuals I have read (road king, roadster, rectifiers). You should be fine just throwing the 16ohm cab right into the 8ohm jack.

If you are still reading erm87...

Thats right enough from tadaitstyler. Mesas are (due to very good design and strongly over spec'd transformers etc.) much less sensitive to impedance mismatches than most other amps.

If you want to run your 16 ohm Orange cab from the amps 8 ohm output you'll do no harm to either. Should sound great too!


Andy.