Ohms what?

Just as I was writing yesterday about getting this Y cable so that I can actually make full use of the 2 of my Marshall mini stack cabinets, like most average bedroom player, I have no idea what this resistance thing is all about. I always thought that I could just plug in cables that fit and the head and cabs will automatically works. I found out that I was wrong. Very very wrong.

Anyway, I ain't going to go through the details on how to calculate the resistance. Or rather, I have no idea how to do that. I shall tell my readers the answer on how to use a Y cable for an amp head with only one input for 4, 8 and 16 ohms. So the problem is I have one of each and I want to connect to 2 different cabinets measured at 16 ohms each. I have a parallel Y cable. Which one do I plug it out from? The answer is 8 ohms.

Take note that running your speakers at a lower resistance or lower ohm than your head will spoil your head and speakers. This is true to even audio grade amplifier. No matter what, you will need to run your head with speakers with greater resistance. Having a pair of speakers with greater resistance will only cause the sound to be lack of power. In layman terms, softer audio with less punch and power. However that won't kill it.

Now, you might ask me why do I pluck it into the 8ohms to 2 speaker out instead of 16 ohms to 2 16 ohms speakers? Apparently, when wired parallel, the resistance is doubled from the head. Hence, 8 x 2 = 16 ohms. Meaning if I have two of 8 ohms speakers, I will have to plug it out from the 4 ohms slot. Just always remember when using a parallel Y cable that your resistance will be 2 times of it's original value and make sure that either cabinet's resistance will not be lower than that value.

My loot from the Yamaha Clearance sale

Look at that cute little thing

Today is a great day. Even though I had to go to Yamaha at Clementi two separate times today. I went to the sale after finishing off some stuff however was met with a disappointment. The only thing that I was aiming from the start is the Blackheart Killerant 1W tube head. Unfortunately when I was there, the only piece was already sold to one lucky person, who was a step ahead of me. Luckily for me, a staff (Trevor) was kind enough to take down my particulars and gave me a call if there are any other pieces left for the amp head.

At about 3pm, I received a call from Trevor, telling me that the stock has arrived and has been reserved for me. Even though i was already at home, I decided to make my way down and grab the amp. The amp, as expected and suggested by the name, is a really small amp head. It's pretty heavy for it's size but that is expected, due to the transformer for tube amps.

The Amp head is currently sitting on top of my Marshall Microstack. Yes, the head is going to be paired with my existing Microstack's cabinets. Why would I buy a amp head, if I already have one from my Marshall? Well, the problem with Marshall is that, since it is a solid state amp, it is a good amp by itself but when paired with external drive pedal units, I find the tone somewhat lacking. I've always wanted a tube amp just for this purpose and this is a perfect opportunity to get such a great amp head at a really irresistible price.

More to come after I get to sit down and test the amp thoroughly.