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| | Wiring a 4x12 Guitar Cabinet |
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There are four ways to wire a normal 4x12 speaker cabinet; Series, Parallel, Series/Parallel or Parallel/Series. Which method you choose is based on tonal preference and/or what speakers you prefer or have available. Parallel or Parallel / Series provides a cleaner tone and a bright high end, and is the method used by most Fender amps and cabs. The Marshall camp tends to wire cabs in Series or Series/Parallel for a dirtier sound with more low end.
Mixing ohm ratings within the same cab is not recommended, mixing different speakers with the same impedance but different power ratings, or even different sizes can sometimes provide a richer over all sound and is absolutely worth experimenting with. A common approach is to mix two lower watt speakers (25W Greenbacks for example) with two higher watt speakers (60W Vintage 30's for example). This ends up giving you the best of both world's, the lower watt speakers will break up a little earlier, the higher watt speakers will provide more headroom, and since each set of speakers is voiced slightly differently it tends to make the cab as a whole sound bigger and gives your tone a bit of texture.
Mixing speakers with in a cab, is often referred to as a "shot-gunned" cabinet. I can't recommend this enough, my main cab is loaded with three different speaker models and I extremely pleased with sonic mayhem that results. |
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Series / Parallel
Thanks to Marshall, this is the most common way to wire a speaker cabinet. For the Series/Parallel method of wiring, you wire two sets of speakers in series and then wire the two pairs together in parallel. Impedance example: 8ohm (speaker impedance) x 2 (number of speakers per set) ÷ 2 (number of speakers sets) = 8ohms (total cabinet impedance). |
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Parallel
Straight parallel wiring isn't quite as common for four speaker setups, it tends to be found in Fender 4x10 combos or cabs. Parallel wiring provides the cleanest sound. Impedance example: 8ohm (speaker impedance) ÷ 4 (number of speakers) = 2ohms (total cabinet impedance). |
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Series
It's rare to see 4 speakers wired in series simply because 2ohm and 4ohm speakers aren't nearly as common as 8ohm and 16ohm models. Impedance example: 8ohm (speaker impedance) x 4 (number of speakers) = 32ohms (total cabinet impedance). |
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