Question about cabs/ohms

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cddsix
Tiny Terror
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Joined: Thu Mar 12, 2015 10:26 pm
Location: Northshore Boston MA

Question about cabs/ohms

Post by cddsix » Mon Mar 12, 2018 11:13 pm

Hi, sorry if this is a dumb question, I have two 8 ohm cabs, is it safe to run both of them out of the two 8ohm taps on the Rockerverb MKIII?
I think ideally I should be exiting two 4ohm cabs in this situation. Will I screw up the amp running two 8ohm cabs?
thanks for any help you can provide!

OU818
Orange Master
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Location: Melbourne, AUS

Re: Question about cabs/ohms

Post by OU818 » Mon Mar 12, 2018 11:23 pm

Hi,

So this can be a bit confusing at first due to the way Orange label their speaker outs.

Anyway, quick answer, No.

You cannot run two 8ohm cabs from your Orange head as this will give it a 4ohm load (exceptions for this is the Micro series and bass heads).

The two outs labelled 8 ohm are to allow for an 8ohm load (i.e. two 16 ohm cabs).
Orange Gear:
AD200B MkIII
OBC810

Non-Orange:
Bergantino NXT212
Bergantino Forte D
Woogie Lessie
Laney DBV-410

Basses:
Ernie Ball Stingray 4H
Rickenbacker 4003
Gibson Midtown Signature
Gibson Thunderbird
Gibson Nikki Sixx Thunderbird
Gibson Les Paul Bass

Jondog
Duke of Orange
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Location: Ontario, Canada

Re: Question about cabs/ohms

Post by Jondog » Mon Mar 12, 2018 11:24 pm

You can safely run one 8 ohm cab, one 16 ohm cab or two 16 ohm cabs plugged into the 8 ohm outputs.
Two 8 ohm cabs would put a 4 ohm load on the amp and should be avoided.
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cddsix
Tiny Terror
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Joined: Thu Mar 12, 2015 10:26 pm
Location: Northshore Boston MA

Re: Question about cabs/ohms

Post by cddsix » Mon Mar 12, 2018 11:29 pm

Thanks, that is what I suspected, I really was hoping to use both of these 2x12 cabs. I suppose there is no way to rewire them so they would work.

I'll just move all the speakers into a 4x12 cab I guess, thanks

cddsix
Tiny Terror
Posts: 99
Joined: Thu Mar 12, 2015 10:26 pm
Location: Northshore Boston MA

Re: Question about cabs/ohms

Post by cddsix » Mon Mar 12, 2018 11:35 pm

I hope I didn't screw up the amp, it is a new RV50MKIII, I just started a few days ago running it off an on in this config at low volumes, today there was a very faint high pitch drone, like a preamp tube on it's way.

I honestly thought that at low volumes this type of amp was ok with a one step mismatch as long as it wasn't driven hard. That is what the Mesa manuals say, I guess that doesn't apply to Orange, I feel like an idiot

cddsix
Tiny Terror
Posts: 99
Joined: Thu Mar 12, 2015 10:26 pm
Location: Northshore Boston MA

Re: Question about cabs/ohms

Post by cddsix » Tue Mar 13, 2018 1:31 am

Whew, false alarm, I thought I had messed up the amp, it was something simple, a partially unplugged cable in one of the effects was causing a whistling noise.
Thanks for the ohm clarification

Jondog
Duke of Orange
Posts: 7234
Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2008 12:16 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada

Re: Question about cabs/ohms

Post by Jondog » Tue Mar 13, 2018 2:03 am

Important thing is a speaker load is connected to the amp. Running an improper impedance is hard on the amp but not going to blow it up.
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