Do Mesa amps have no 16 ohm speaker out ??

riffpowers

ive been looking at Mesa amps and it looks like they only have speaker outs for 8 or 4 ohm cabinets .
I do a lot of gigs where I use house speaker cabs which are usually 16 or 8 ohm .
as the Mesa doesn't have a 16 ohm speaker out does that mean I can't use 16 ohm cabs ?? Seems like a huge oversight if so !

Haych

You can use two 16 ohm cabs in parallel into the 8 ohm outputs and I do believe (if I read the Mesa bumpf properly) that a 16 ohm load into the 8 ohm (and probably 4 ohm) output is a safe mismatch.

If I'm wrong somebody will be along to correct me very soon so fear not.

Check this out for more information:

http://www.mesaboogie.com/media/Amplitudes/2013/June/Speaker Impedance Matching and Hookup.pdf

nick79

Yes, you can use a 16 ohm speaker from the 8 ohm out on the amp, i had the same problem a little while back and asked the same question. As i understand it you will lose a little volume and clarity (that's what i noticed anyway) but it's safe to do it. 

I will add though that my Mini Rec driving a 4x12 at 16 ohms was still very very loud so if you have to use the 'wrong' ohm cab at any time it won't spoil your gig.

timmysoft

You don't really need to match most mesas, they're tough AF! 

Maynehead

Mesas can tolerate at least a single level of mismatch. Just plug into the 8ohm and play away with no worries. It even says so in the manual:

Sensitivity to speaker mismatching in regards to ohmage differences is low, hence no damage to the amplifier will occur. 

MIS-MATCHING: When running a higher resistance ( for example: 8 ohm output into 16 ohm cabinet ), a slightly different feel and response will be eminent. A slight mismatch can provide a darker smoother tone with a little less output and attack. This response is a result of the amplifier running a bit cooler. Sometimes when using more than one cabinet a mismatch will be the only option.

Mesa Boogie amplifiers can handle 4 and 8 ohms effectively. You can always have a higher resistance ( 16 ohms, for example ) without damaging results, but too low of a resistance will likely cause problems.

ICBM

Some do, most don't. As already said you can always use the 8-ohm out into a 16-ohm load safely.

riffpowers

Great . For a moment there I thought I'd found something that was a show stopper!

uncledick

ICBM said:

Some do, most don't. As already said you can always use the 8-ohm out into a 16-ohm load safely.

To save starting a whole new thread, does this apply to my Supersonic 22?  I swapped the Greenback in my AC15 for a Blue and and just noticed the Fender only has 8R output.  I seen plenty of discussions about exactly this dilemma on the DRRI but not the SS22 - and didn't want to just assume that the output stages are the same.

ICBM

The DR is a special case because the stock transformer ratio is wrong, and it's actually a better match with a 16-ohm speaker than the original 8. I'm not sure about the Supersonic but I would expect it not to be, but I could easily be wrong.

Impedance matching is not actually as critical as usually thought though - almost all valve amps will handle a load between half and double the matching impedance with no trouble. It only starts to really matter if you're cranking the power stage into overdrive - with a clean sound at lower volume it doesn't really.