Grateful Dead Music Forum

Does anyone have any knowledge or experience with 16ohms. They are in amazing shape and I hope to eventually save up and get a empty HT cab to put them in. But i just don't know bout the 16 ohm it seems like a shitload.

any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. I dont know what advise on but just spit knowledge at this noob

If you put 2 in parallel, they are 8 ohms total, which should work with most amps.

If you had 4 of them, you could put them in a 4x12" vertical cab like Jerry did in the early 80's and have a 4 ohm load.

They are no different really. You'd just use a different ohm setting on the amp. No big deal.

I want to loas' the two of them into a jg1 cab

seniorpesca wrote:I want to loas' the two of them into a jg1 cab

As gr8fulfred said, two of them in parallel (speakers connected together - red to red, black to black) will be half of each which would be an 8 ohm load. Pretty common load for amps that have multiple ohm settings.

What are you going to power them with?

Thats leads me to my next subject lol. In a dream world a macintosh..even a 2300 if life treats me real good. But realistically I have no idea yet

Well any power amp can do 8 ohms will be fine. I was thinking that if you already had a Fender Twin Reverb, that usually likes to see a 4 ohm load ideally but you could still power an 8 ohm cabinet hooked up to a 4 ohm setting. It would just be a bit underpowered.

Yeah I thought it was ok to go up in ohms - if your amp is pushing 8 it's not an issue to go to a 16 ohm speaker, but you shouldn't go the other way around, like an 8 ohm amp into a 4 ohm load. At least that's what the guy at Mesa customer service told me when I had 2x12 16 ohm speakers wired to run independently from a stereo 20/20 power amp. That amp has both 8 ohm and 4 ohm left and right outs - he told me there would be no issues running easch 8 ohm send into each 16 ohm speaker. Since sold them an moved to tone tubbies - now you guys have me jonesin' to get a JBL 120. Go figure - a pair popped up on local CL like 3 weeks ago for 200 bucks and it was just bad timing - yep that's right, a pair of E120 in really decent condition for 200 total.

mijknahs wrote:Well any power amp can do 8 ohms will be fine. I was thinking that if you already had a Fender Twin Reverb, that usually likes to see a 4 ohm load ideally but you could still power an 8 ohm cabinet hooked up to a 4 ohm setting. It would just be a bit underpowered.

good assumption, i recently got a 76 silverface but i want a power amp in the end. But that would be nice to power them with the twin in the meantime. I'm not sure if i want to commit with the preamp tap on the twin or get a SMS. i feel like the twin should be kept as is for other gigs

anyone know what ohms jerry's speakers were??

Jerry's speakers were the more common 8 ohm ones but they sound the same.

I recommend using the JBLs with your silverface Twin. Have someone "blackface" it or make it so you can have the power tubes biased properly or you'll probably be running them cold and it will sound brittle and harsh. Maybe recap the tone stack caps with Sprague Orange Drops get some new power tubes (and have them biased) and you should be good to go.

If you want to go the preamp and power amp route, definitely use the Twin since you already got it. It is really the ultimate preamp. You can still use it as a combo amp any time.

mijknahs wrote:Jerry's speakers were the more common 8 ohm ones but they sound the same.

I recommend using the JBLs with your silverface Twin. Have someone "blackface" it or make it so you can have the power tubes biased properly or you'll probably be running them cold and it will sound brittle and harsh. Maybe recap the tone stack caps with Sprague Orange Drops get some new power tubes (and have them biased) and you should be good to go.

If you want to go the preamp and power amp route, definitely use the Twin since you already got it. It is really the ultimate preamp. You can still use it as a combo amp any time.

That's good advice.

Cmnaround wrote:Yeah I thought it was ok to go up in ohms - if your amp is pushing 8 it's not an issue to go to a 16 ohm speaker, but you shouldn't go the other way around, like an 8 ohm amp into a 4 ohm load. At least that's what the guy at Mesa customer service told me when I had 2x12 16 ohm speakers wired to run independently from a stereo 20/20 power amp. That amp has both 8 ohm and 4 ohm left and right outs - he told me there would be no issues running easch 8 ohm send into each 16 ohm speaker. Since sold them an moved to tone tubbies - now you guys have me jonesin' to get a JBL 120. Go figure - a pair popped up on local CL like 3 weeks ago for 200 bucks and it was just bad timing - yep that's right, a pair of E120 in really decent condition for 200 total.

Actually, it was great timing...I snatched those bad boys up!

joethepainter wrote: Actually, it was great timing...I snatched those bad boys up!

Looks like 2 different kinds of speakers (from the edges). The bottom looks like an E120. What is the top one?

mijknahs wrote:Looks like 2 different kinds of speakers (from the edges). The bottom looks like an E120. What is the top one?

They're a matched pair of e-120's, 8 ohms. I see what you're saying about looking a little different in the pic. It's the flash from the camera, I believe, because they look identical in person. They've been reconed, top-notch job, and sound fantastic! I've been using a Music Man 410/65 on the 8 ohm setting, with the 4 10"s disconnected (so it's pushing just the cab) and it's fucking LOUD! I have them wired in series for now, for a 16 ohm load, as I'm going to experiment with using a classic 30 in conjunction with a Celestion gt-12 and the JBL cab together, just to see.

joethepainter wrote:

mijknahs wrote:Looks like 2 different kinds of speakers (from the edges). The bottom looks like an E120. What is the top one?

They're a matched pair of e-120's, 8 ohms. I see what you're saying about looking a little different in the pic. It's the flash from the camera, I believe, because they look identical in person. They've been reconed, top-notch job, and sound fantastic! I've been using a Music Man 410/65 on the 8 ohm setting, with the 4 10"s disconnected (so it's pushing just the cab) and it's fucking LOUD! I have them wired in series for now, for a 16 ohm load, as I'm going to experiment with using a classic 30 in conjunction with a Celestion gt-12 and the JBL cab together, just to see.

Ok, I see. I thought the top one had more "ridges" on the edge than the bottom one but on closer looking I see they are the same.