[JivRey]

As I am a person who prefer to keep his equipment "stock", I don't really know what to do here

I have a 1981 JCM 800 2003 (100 watts) head and I just acquired a Marshall 1960ax cab (100 watts, 4(x) 25 watts Greenbacks) which has a delightful sound.

My JCM 800 is the CSA version (Silver switches, square light) that have only 4 ohms and 8 ohms output, and of course the 1960ax is wired @ 16 ohms.

I know it's best if the impedence of the head and the impedence of the cab match, but its not so bad if the head is used at 8 ohms into a 16 ohms cab.

But in this specific case, I am more worried about those somewhat delicate Greenbacks. I don't plan on using the cab super loud as I don't play gig with it and use it mainly for studio application. Rarely setting the master volume over 4-5..

So specifically my question is;

Would you NOT recommend the usage of a 100 watts JCM 800 (@ 8 ohms) into a 100 watts 1960ax (16 ohms)? Or I should really get over my obsession of keeping that cab stock, and rewire it @ 4 ohms?

Thanks for your precious opinions!

 

[cboutilier]

Just rewire the cab. It won't hurt anything and can be completely undone and set back to stock. On a Marshall it should just be a matter of switching 2 or 4 wires .

 

[Budda]

Rewire the cab. Thats how my band runs our cabs.

 

[WCGill]

If you like the sound and you're not running it loud like you say, just leave as is. Nothing will be harmed and the amp won't quite put out rated output. If you were diming it on big stages I'd get a different cab.

 

[ezcomes]

Arent there marshall rear panels that allow you to wire 16 or 4 ohm mono and 8 stereo?
It would keep it 'stock' with added flexibility

 

[xbolt]

Or pull the two middle or outer power tube and run it at 50W. The 8ohm speaker output will be pushing 16 ohms in this setup...
May want to rebias the tubes but if it sounds good, I wouldn't be too concerned about it...mainly tube life that may suffer a little but you will only be replacing 2 anyways...

 

[hollowbody]

Just rewire the cab. It won't hurt anything and can be completely undone and set back to stock. On a Marshall it should just be a matter of switching 2 or 4 wires .

Rewire the cab. Thats how my band runs our cabs.

+1 - re-wiring to 4 ohms isn't really a "mod" in the sense that it alters the originality of a piece of gear to the point where you can't easily restore it. It's 10mins with a soldering iron and you don't have to worry any more!

 

[JivRey]

Ok fine you guys win. The safest operation after all is re-wiring the cab. And then I can enjoy those bad boys together with peace of mind Thanks for the help!

 

[cboutilier]

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