Why You MUST Connect A Speaker Cabinet To Your Amp
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 มิ.ย. 2018
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Running a valve amplifier without a speaker cabinet attached is a TERRIBLE idea! Find out the importance of loads and impedance matching with this helpful video
#valveamp #tubeamp #speaker
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Running a valve amplifier without a speaker cabinet attached is a TERRIBLE idea! Find out the importance of loads and impedance matching with this helpful video
.
I already know about this kind of stuff but I will always watch your video for a bit of a different description and see what you have to say (after all you have a masters in physics) that's exactly what I got keep it loud Colin!
CSGuitars Do you know why the term used is impedance and not resistance? Because from what I can tell they are the same but different name. Measured in ohms, uses omega, has the same formulas with current and voltage. Is it just a disparage between electrical terms and acoustics/speaker terms?
Impedance and resistance are very much different.
Impedance can be expressed in two parts: a magnitude and a phase component.
The magnitude is what we call resistance, that gives us the value in ohms. The phase is an irrational component mathematically speaking, which is a combination of capacitance and inductance. Both influential factors which cannot be ignored in the grand picture, although were only clutter when I was referring to the relationship to Voltage and Current. They were omitted for simplicity and not to cause undue confusion.
Impedance is relevant for AC signals, the phase element being prominent in an alternating signal.
When dealing with DC, the phase element reduces to zero leaving only the resistance magnitude.
This is important to not because simply putting a resistor over the speaker output would not function as a dummy load on its own. Load boxes are carefully designed to not only match the resistance, but also the capacitance and inductance so that it represents an impedance accurate to that of a speaker.
Mada faka. Talk tpo much and not show anything
hey Colin, how dyou hook up 2 cabs to 1 amp head? Ive seen some orange amps that have multiple 8 ohm outputs but have no idea how it would work for a stereo setup.
Well explained Colin... For the sake of my amp repair business I just hope that none of it sinks in...
Best comment!
I'll try not to educate too hard.
Marcel van der Linden sneak
I actually love this comment ahaha👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻
Hahaha brilliant
Colin your accent made it harder to understand it
To get sound
Solved
Stop
Love you baby 😘
Ok
@Rudy Ayoub
I'm an electronics technician, as well as an enthusiast for tube amps, and I can confirm this video is completely accurate.
I couldn't have explained it better myself, good job!
Nah...Don't opt out that early. The simple concepts are not hard. There are very simplified videos out there.
Stay with me...
See electricity as a flowing river or a pipeline and you're sitting in a tiny boat in that river (You're an electron). That current can flow very fast or slow depending on the applied pressure. The bigger the pressure (voltage) difference between your starting point and your destination, the easier it is to get there. So the Volts decide how much water (current measured in Ampere) will flow.
Now you know how fast and how much water will flow. If there is too much fast water flow (current), the river has to be able to take it. If you read on a power supply that it will work with 1.6 Amps, that's what your gizmo can handle. Give it more and you have a flood on your hands. If that happens really quick (lots of pressured water with no flood gates) you call it a short. With your water current you can power a water wheel. The more pressure you got or the more water you have, the wheel can do more work (Watts).
W = V * I
possible Work(Watts) = Water pressure (Voltage V measured in Volts) * amount of water (current I in Amps)
Watt = Volt * Ampere
So you read on your vacuum label something about 1600W. That is the maximum possible work that COULD be done with all the pressured water it pulls out when you plug it in. It says nothing about efficiency, but about the appetite for power that you see on your electricity bill. I doesn't say anything about for how long and how hard the suction will be.
Back to the water wheel and the river flowing towards it: If there are lots of big rocks(ohms) in the river, the water current is slowed down and the pressure will change. That isn't a problem when the whole river has the same amount of stones in it and the pressure stays the same. If you lead a fast stream that had almost no stones in it's way into a river bed with lots of stones, it will be slowed down and a lot of possible work the water current could do at the water wheel got wasted on the rocks (ohms) along the way. If it's the other way around, the current will speed up and that could be too much to handle.
The water stream doesn't like all that Resistance of the rocks. So if the river splits and there is one leg that has a lot less rocks, most of the current will flow in that direction. The least resistance would be a waterfall (ground) with nothing in the way. All the pressured water is pushing towards it. So if something is grounded, no current wants to flow through your body since the installed waterfall is the easier path. The ground protects you.
So, was that so hard?
blackcorvo does this apply to combo amps
It applies to all amplifiers with a valve power amplifier.
M W but do combo amps not contain an amp and cabinet
Impedance is actualy calculated is Henry, but ya you can convert it to SI units pretty ez
Nice boy Colin changes shirt during ad so you can tell where it ends when you fast forward
Don't skip, watch his ad, -it's the most entertaining ad you'll ever watch.
Kenton Park nah
Kendall Lingard That’s the first thing I thought! lol
Legend
That’s what I thought, but also so he doesn’t have to re-record the ad if he uses it in another video.
And then some idiot still plugs a instrument cable to the back of a cab, saying "Its all good bruh" 😧
when i was at school i played bass on school concerts for my music teacher (who buys and cares for the stuff) and when i set the backline for the upcoming concert i simply put my cheapest super thin instrument cable in the amp to connect the speaker. i had no idea. I turned the amp on, nice sound was coming out, i was like hell yeah that works. the amp (peavey 400w + 4x10) worked quite well actually, until my teacher came organizing stuff on stage, he saw the cable and completely freaked out. "Who put that puny ass cable in the amp???" and i was like whats the matter i did this and he was so speechless he couldnt even yell at me. long story short: the amp worked fine and was not damaged, i did not know what i did wrong and my teacher did not educate me properly afterwards. 10 years after that i finally knew what i did wrong when i first bought a head and cabinet seperately instead of a combo :D
acekkkkkk call your teacher, say sorry. ;)
well in reality...most amps will work for years if you use cheap instrument cables...it is allways the "CAN break" thing...but do not get me wrong..USE Speaker cables!
@@acekkkkkk if you don't go over the maximum current rating the cable will be fine. An instrument cable should still have quite low impedance although not wanting to open circuit a tube amp is understandable if the cable breaks. Or if the insulation melts and shorts the cable
@@acekkkkkk I am hearing "Another Brick in the wall" - it's funny what we didn't know we learnt at school - bit years later we realise we were told it ... Perhaps it didn't have time to sink in. In electronics I always had to bend the cables to a right angle. Blasted cables kept unbending ... Could never make a circuit in time. Years later - topological equivalence ... Doh!
I only recently got a valve combo. Just been converting my solid state combos with Cliff jacks (all my speakers are 8 ohm and that the nominal load required by my valve amp). For the solid state tests I used a guitar cable ... Then I thought expensive tube amp ... Let's Google ...and who knew - better to be safe than sorry. £15 cable from trusted source in clashing colour on its way. Thanks to you bass teacher for the implicit lesson.
I think that it should be noted that some early solid-state amps do have output transformers (I own one), and are therefore also susceptible to this problem. The problem here is that these early amps often use transistors that are very obsolete and hard to find, making repair/replacement of burned out components even harder than for old tube amps. My opinion is that it's just never a good idea to use an amp without a load attached.
"This vedio is brought to you by Destrokid!"
Sorry Colin, couldn't help it. I love your accent! XD
Admit it. You just wanted to be haired.
I like his accent also.
Destrowkedd*
Greeet Scot!!
Buying a cheaper valve amp on my first go-round turned out to be a good choice. Over the course of 3 videos I've learned 3 very important things i didn't know at all about tube amps. Infinite thanks to you!
I don't even sing/write music/play instruments. I just like the videos. And his accent.
as a beginner this video is really helpful for me trying to understand a little more about how amps, amp heads and cabs work. thanks for the uploading this video!
A perfect explanation. I feel like I owe you $, Colin. Thanks for all you do. You continue to fill in all the holes.
So, in all these years, amplifier makers haven't thought of doing something as easy and simple as cutting current from some key components when a speaker is not connected? Wow.
You, Sir, explained these important things in such a little time! I learnt something useful not only for taking care of amplifiers. A rare thing in the videos I dig everyday. Thanks a lot!!👏
Hey Colin, You should do a video about changing tubes yourself.
Coming soon
Yes please !!!
Another excellent clip, I stumbled across one last night now I'm jumping from one to the next.
Colin continues to be one of the smartest and most helpful guys on TH-cam!!
Thank you big time,That helped me out a lot.Im changing my tubes in my marshall and I’ve learned a lot about bias setting.
That was informative, thank you very much!
Fantastic video. Thank you again for the time you took to make it.
Distrokid should hire you to make ads for them, that was by far the best ad I've seen so far 👍
Great and very important video, and thanks for teaching me how not to screw my amp!
Remember: Amp to Cab - Low to High will fly, High to Low will blow
so say, a 4ohm amp output to 16ohm cab- fine.
16ohm amp output to 4ohm- amp death.
is that right?
Low to high might not blow your amp up, but it doesn't provide the power to drive the speaker effectively. Certainly not a 'fine' solution.
Always match the impedance is a much better rule to follow.
Well Low to High isnt always good. Like Colin said, dont connect a speaker at all is like "Low to Very Very High". But yeah given the common impedances what you said is right xD
Most modern tube amps can actually handle a 2:1 mismatch up or down.
I have a Boogie 50 cal combo and wanted to send it to a Marshall 4 x 12" cab with 16 ohms , my only option on the Boogie was sending 4 ohms to the Boogie combo 1 x 12" speaker and 4 ohms to the Marshall cab, it sounded weak , so I guess this idea is not going to work for my set up correct ?
Great job with the ad transition.
It was also a great ad lol
Tons of love from Canada.
xoxo
Well done my friend. I now fully understand something that had been wrinkling my brain.
Thank you for posting this vid. It is a treasure trove of information!
been wondering about this for a long time, thank you!
Very glad I watched this. New to tube amps and was about to get one without a cabinet, now I'm gonna save a little more and pick up a good cabinet to go with it
Great and useful video, thanks Colin
I swear, Colin, you're one heck of an educator.
Thank you.
Great video! I always appreciate the accuracy in your videos. Better than the typical "it'll burn your output transformer!!!" stuff you hear repeated over and over again with no explanation or actually theory behind the statement. I'll have to share this instead of typing a novel trying to explain load matching to people myself.
I'll have to check out your video on speaker cables vs. instrument cables. I have a combo amp and I've been thinking about getting a large cabinet to plug into it. Definitely don't want to do any damage. Thanks!☺
Very helpful explanation.
FANTASTIC explanation. Always was curious as to HOW this is dangerous more than WHY you don't wanna do it, and you cleared that RIGHT up.Thanks!
Information on the point, no YT chitchat---- THX for this video , wish You all the best for Your music ;))))
Thanks - very clear and important!!!
I don't have a clue what you're saying. I can understand your words, because I'm Scottish myself, but I am too dumb to understand the science lol. I get the point I need a cab attached to my amp though, which I never knew before, being a newbie to amp heads! Thanks man.
Great! Thank you so much for the info!
Seems like it would be relatively easy to have some kind of safety feature which checked for the presence of a physical cable jack, and if one wasn't detected, it would prevent the tubes/valves from running any voltage through themselves.
Some guitar amps allow you to do this though. The EVH 5150 III being one of them. The designer himself said the amp doesn't suffer if you don't plug a load in while the amp is on. (Just don't plug a cable in without a cab, because then the switchcraft jacks don't short out the power amp as intended.)
Already have all three of your songs Colin!!!
Well done Colin!
Cheers Colin - always nice to know why my amp has exploded if I do manage to forget to attach my cab.
Viagra fixed my impedance, now my loads are infinite.
volvoplz reading that comment with your thumbnail. Lol why i love the internet and youtube comments
Lol i farted ... pls don't get overloaded.
Pinoy keyboard warrior TMI
Highly appreciate you making this video. Most answers out there seem to be, "just because".
Well done
This was very valuable video, just ordered new tube amp to replace my combo, and was thinking about testing it with audio interface while waiting for cab, but maybe i wont now 😅 thanks!
"PLEASE BUY MA MYUZIK!" 😂
Great vid, Colin. 👍🏻
Very nice video, bro! 🎵🎶
Colin's ad for Distrokid is the best!
Hi Colin,
Absolutely love your channel. Was trying to cypher through the videos to see if you had one on amp vs speaker wattage, have you done this topic yet? TIA.
Lively explanations. Subscribing.
Hi Colin! Next, you could do a video on running multiple cabs and when 2 x 8 = 4
;)
In regard to solid state amps - "This is much of the reason why the amps are so much cheaper." ...and lighter.
Cool vid and even cool ad
I have my Crate Power Block CPB150 150 watt amp head connected to my stereo Akai SW-155 speakers which are 8 ohms each and I have them wired in parallel which gives me 4 ohms for the pair. I also have a 250 watt car woofer at 4 ohms connected to the other speakers in series which gives me a total of 8 ohms. This setup sounds great and my wife is always telling me to "turn it down!" I have been relegated to the deck outside so I can practice. The Crate is a stereo amp with stereo effects loops. I can't wait to get a few effects pedals.
Great video, loads of info, one question, can I use just one channel on a pa amp to power only one speaker, will I blow the amp?
Nice vid, damn always wondered about this on valve amps......in RF we work on 50Ω out and 50Ω in. mismatch it on low power and you'll have issues. mismatch even with a 1 watt amp and P00FFFF.
I'm wondering tho....in my world a miss match (like not plugging anything in), causes, pritty much, all the power send out to be reflected back. that is what causes the damage.
PS: just be careful not to mix Resistance Ω with Impedance Ω
Keep up the great work Colin
Love these videos. Does this apply to combo amps like the Vox AC10? Or is it built in already? I thought all amp heads need to be connected to a speaker to even just make noise lol so I’m not sure what this applies to
Hi Colin, you've touched on solid state amps, but what about the hybrids with a valve pre-amp and a Class-D power amp? Keep up the good work, Cheers
The only thing that matters here are power amps, so hybrids with a ss power amp are fine without a speaker
can't wait to start airning :D
That is very well explained, which is why I like solid-state amps better, because you don’t have to worry about them so much, like how you do with valve tube amps, I still love valve tube amps, but I don’t wanna like not be careless about them and Destroy the amp, which is why I have a special amp that is good for both live and practice. It’s a line 6 spider V 30, It’s affordable it’s Distorted and it’s certainly worth buying
Thanks, you saved my Fender Studio Bass. I didn't know that.
Thank you! Always answering the questions I feel too stupid to ask myself.
funny thing is..in old Fender amp manuals they allways said "Never run your amp without a cab, but what cab in what output does not matter...just try and use what sounds best to you" ;o)
5:16 modern ones, but certain older transistor amps did require output transformers, especially amplifiers that used germanium transistors.
Great video, I love all your content.
I have a question regarding wattage, some amps allow you to change the wattage, example: from 20w/5w/1w, if I keep it on 1watt is it safe to assume that I can use a 2 watt speaker if it existed? Thank you
Best endorsement ever
I'm pretty sure I have made that exact same shrieking noise Homer Simpson makes after realizing my amp is not connected and turning it on while waiting for it to warm up.
Me today, so Im here again
Hi Colin, What about amplifier heads that offer output to headphones with a standby switch. Should cab still be connected?
you sir are undertated
I would definitely use a cab, however, what do you think about cab emulating DI boxes such as the Hughes and Kettner Red Box? I know that it can allow you to record without a cab, but can it also used to run through a pa system? or can you only use the Red Box if the amp already has a separate "line out" output? just curious
I got a orange micro crush awhile ago and it works as a practice amp and head. If I connected it to a Marshall guitar speaker cabinet would I still be able to gig out with it ?
Hey man I just got the EVH 5150 iconic 80 watt head and 4X12 cab. Is there any recommended speaker cable I should get? Sorry for the random question it’s just been awhile since I’ve had a real setup
What about preamps with interchangeable outputs, though?
I have an Engl e530 preamp and I'm a little confused about it because the cabinet output can also be toggled to be a headphone output, meaning it won't be running through a cabinet at all - obviously.
Is that different in any way?
I have a question seeing as how you so nicely displayed the 3 output taps on the back of the amp: Do you think that the taps sound different? I'm not sure at this point, but I try to use the 16 ohm tap. My logic is that a 50k:16 ratio is more efficient and fuller sounding than a 50k:4 ratio of turns in a transformer. Impedance matching marches under the umbrella of the "Maximum Power Transfer Theory" and mismatches really affect the sound. either strangled or flubby and blown away sounding depending if you are driving a hiZ or LoZ input with the opposite output.
As soon as I can get a pair of 1x12's with 8 ohm speakers, so that I can do all three combinations with 2 identical speakers, I will test the 3 taps on my little 15w tweaker amp since it has a ton of settings, to see if I can tell any difference. Have you ever tried this? You could if you have 2 identical 8 ohm cabs or speakers.
Has anyone gone extreme and tested like a 64ohm secondary transformer with maybe a 4x12 of 16ohm speakers in series? I have a funny feeling this could sound awesome vs what we hear at 4,8,16 ohms, but traditional standards for speaker impedance steered people from trying that(or mfrs from making a 50k:64ohm tap O/P transformer either I guess)
What about hybrid amps with a tube pre and a solid state power stage? Would that be the same as a regular transistor amp or does it behave like a valve amp?
great video as always!! Just, well, I might connected wrong some cable: I connected the amp head to an attenuator (Rivera RCR) and this one to the interface. Just an awful sound from the pc speakers. I though i did as always but maybe i connected the Rivera output to the amps output (everything else just correctly connected) the attenuator works fine with my combo, the amp head switch, logo and fan lights on/works, no weird smell at all, no smoke, valves glowing... Any thoughs? Just the mic input interface blown Up, or maybe the head is damage? Thanks!
Great Video... good thing there is a option for playback speed :-)
I just wanna say that i love your ACCENT
Is it Scottish?
Great video! I have one question though, Is it okay to just plug in headphones and not a cab or do I need the cab plugged in with headphones plugged in too? I don't have a cabinet at the moment so headphones are my only option.
nice video right there. i’ve left the speaker cable out once or twice for about several seconds :0, and quickly going f.... and turned of the amp. the amp still sound good so think i got away with this stupid mistake. i think the speaker cable should be the 1st to think about when connecting.
CSGuitars
Some amps have a dummy load, is that protection for not having the speaker plugged in ?
Ironically I found out about this on my own on accident about 6 months ago, wish I'd seen this sooner XD
I have a question about turning valve output to something suitable for line out (directly into pc)
Sidenote: you were right about DistroKid!!! Best way to finally upload my music!!
DestroKid
Collin, i want the best tone possible for my sound but now I can't really bring an amp due to transportational and flexibility reasons.. All I can use is some kind of "not-too-big" effect pedals as I just could bring a single gig bag for now. *Got any advice for me?*
Quick question. If you connect a cable to your effects loop send and don't close it back in the return can you operate without a cab? Like metallica did with MoP, combining the preamp of a Mesa and the poweramp of a Marshall. Do you have to connect a cab to the Mesa?
Any idea if you can use a stereo output jack on my guitar amp instead of the mono one?
What about the Mesa Boogie JP2C? It has a cab clone feature with a 'speaker off' option to run DI for recording thru the venue PA (Which I have done for both, before)
Hey
What about running just a preamp without a Poweramp nor a Cab?
(I only use the Phones Output and the recording output).
Sorry for my bad english and greetings from Germany
So, a question i am left with is, i am owning a Hughes and Kettner GM deluxe 40. i dont have a cab but im using the load box built in directly into the ID4. is the built in loadbox helping to compensate for the lack of not being plugged into a cabinet ?
Is hooking in a cabinet necessary when using the valve amp with headphones ‽
I bought the bugera T5 recently (not received yet) , but I want the tube amp sound mostly for quiet play at midnight ; so I won't be wanting a cabinet hooked in or the bulk of it in my area , Is this gonna create a problem ‽
as an electric technician, i must say you killed it.
Unless you have a power-soak built in. :) I've been running my Hughes and Kettner without a cab for months (home recording mostly) and just recently bought its matching cab.
I require to use a Vst from my audio interface output to the Fx return of a combo amp. What type of cable is appropriate for this as not blow anything up? Or should I just connect the speaker cable to the output of the audio interface?
I just got a Marshall dsl20 head and plugged the 1x16 ohm output to a single 8 ohm speaker. Only played about 10 minutes and didn't push the amp at all. Not the volume, the gain, yes. Should I be in the clear. I've since corrected the error. But is it worse to plug a 1x16 ohm speaker into a 1x8 ohm amp input or the other way around?
Does this apply to hybrid amps specifically the Orange MicroTerror just using headphone outputs only?
Is there the same issue with..e.g. vox vt amps with valve preamp, and orange micro terror?
I have a question if you can answer it. I’m looking into getting an Axe FX III. But I need to get a power amp that won’t blow up my 150 watt cab. Any suggestions that are kinda cheap?
Hey Colin, I just turned on my Engl fireball 25 and no sound was coming out.
I checked the ins/outs and FX loop; then, I realized that the speaker cable wasn't plugged in all the way in the head.
This whole operation lasted about 45 seconds - 1 minute.
The amp seems to be ok, but how much damage are we talking about?
Thank you! 🙏