Scott Henderson Discussion

[Thumberstrummer]

Hi Scott.
During the years I've collected a bunch of speakers (mainly Celestion), in search of the ones fitting w my style and tone demand.
I love my 4x12 cab, but’s gonna stay in my studio, I'll never carry it around, being too bulky and heavy. The best compromise for me, my go-to cab is a 212. I got my Germino 212 cab along with my Club 40 JTM style head, stock loaded with 2 G12H - 75’s rated at 16 ohm. After all these years I clearly figured out that a 16 ohm speaker is different from its 8 ohm counterpart, and it’s way more on the bright side. And also that in my 212 (semi open) cab 2 greenbacks are too bright for my taste, at least the ones I got, rated at 16 ohm. On the other hand the stock G12 H speakers, with their big magnet, are good, but need to be pushed hard for the best results, not mentioning they have a harder and slower response and at relatively low to moderate volume sound a bit dark... Therefore I'm currently using those that seem to be the best compromise to me - 2 UK-made Vintage 30 (rated 16 ohm, so I run the amp at 8 ohm). I prefer the tone of the V30 8 ohm version, but I have only one, and I'm in search of a good deal to get a second guy used, to swap the current 16 ohm ones and to run the amp at 16 ohms.
And here come my question(s) - I read that a lot of pros (mostly using Marshall-type amps), including you, tend to run their amps at 8 ohms. But there's not enough info on which impedance are rated the speakers they use to match such amp impedance. Is it preferable to use the 8 ohm version of a given speaker, and run the amp at 16 (or 4 ohm, but's pretty unusual), or better stick w the amp set at 8 ohm and use 16 ohm speakers? I know that with a 412 cab, the 4 8 ohm speakers can be wired (parallel / serial) to match the amp output at 8 ohm, or they can also be wired to match a Bassman-type amp, which runs at 2 ohm. Wide array of options there.
But w a 212 cab and 2 8 ohm speakers you can only run the amp at 16 or 4 ohm...
I’m also interested in your thoughts re 8 ohms greenback versus their 16 ohm counterpart. Any opinion, including the ones from whoever of you guys out there, is gonna be highly appreciated. Many thanks in advance
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Germino Club 40 plexi replica + EJ Strat w Suhr ML st. pups. I'm not asking for more so far (but... who knows...?)

[Scott Henderson]

I don't have much experience using different cabinets and different speakers - I'm a big fan of Greenbacks and I don't like much else. I've used a 4x12 for such a long time, I don't really know what anything else sounds like anymore. One thing I do know is that my Marshall running at 8 ohms through a 4x12 with 8 ohm speakers sounds completely different (and much better) than the same amp running at 16 ohms with the 16 ohm version of the same speakers.
My opinion is that running everything at 16 ohms sounds a little bit smoother, but it's a horribly thin sound compared to 8 ohms.

I'm not sure exactly how much of that sound change is due to the ohm value of the speakers, or the ohm setting on the amp, but I'd guess the amp is more important because it has to do with the transformer. A lot of the vintage recordings we all love are Marshalls running at 8 ohms with two 16 ohm cabinets.