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Guitar cab wiring

Tubes 'n Wood

Active member
Joined
Nov 9, 2013
Messages
402
I've been researching wiring diagrams for 4x12" cabs... and I only know enough to be dangerous!? I came across some diagrams for 'Series-Parallel' and 'Parallel-Series' and I didn't know there was a definite difference (but judging by the diagrams)? So my question is this... what are the pros and cons of either wiring? Thanks in advance!
 

PaulD

Active member
Joined
Jun 25, 2007
Messages
673
Electrically both ways will achieve the same thing, i.e. if you have 4 x 16 ohm speakers you will have a total load of 16 ohms with both wiring schemes. I have seen some discussion where people say there is a difference in sound between the 2 methods, personally I can't hear any difference, but then I've spent far too many years listening to 4x12 cabs with the inevitable effect that my hearing isn't the best in the world!

I would say series/parallel is the most common and most vintage Marshall cabs I have seen are wired this way although some were apparently wired parallel series. There is a technical argument that series/parallel is better in that if one speaker fails with an open circuit voice coil there will still be a load on the amplifier, whereas with parallel/series there would be no load which is never a good thing for a valve/tube amp. Some more info here https://wgsusa.com/how-properly-wire-4x12-speaker-cabinet
 
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