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Post by chptunes on Feb 25, 2011 9:03:58 GMT -5
Wikipedia has a long 'Impedance Matching' page here. Their opening statement is this: "In electronics, impedance matching is the practice of designing the input impedance of an electrical load or the output impedance of its corresponding signal source in order to maximize the power transfer and minimize reflections from the load." -Wiki So.. is this another subjective area where we guitar-slingers swear that an improved tone maybe achievable by breaking the laws of science? Last night, in a moment of curiosity, I plugged my 8 Ohm H1 into my Ghia's 4 Ohm tap. I've tried mismatches before (with other gear), but this Ghia/Tubby mismatch yielded the most obvious tonal difference. [NOTE: Impedance Mismatches in guitar amps/speakers are usually not recommended by manufacturers. If a mismatch is desired, ALWAYS make sure that the speaker has a higher Ohm rating than the amp.. lower speaker Ohm'age could create Fireworks!] The change in tone was not subtle. There was a noticable volume drop [not extreme, but obvious].. the attack was dampened and softened.. the tone was a couple of shades darker, overall. Maybe a little added dose of natural compression too... Could be useful for knocking the output down a couple of decibels.. and creating a softer, smoother tone.. reminded me of Santana's smooth and sultry tone ...
..just thought I'd share some impedance thoughts.. anybody else dabbled with mismatches?
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scotty
Junior Member
Posts: 136
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Post by scotty on Feb 27, 2011 0:00:16 GMT -5
Never tried it, but I'll give it a shot with a couple different speakers.
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Post by chptunes on Mar 4, 2011 13:36:23 GMT -5
..just an update.. I've listened to this mismatch some more. I definately won't be using it a lot.. just glad to know it's there. Those shades of darkness can be had by simply rolling my guitar's Tone knob down, or by rolling Ghia's "Tone" knob up. And the softer attack is something that I've already accomplished by using NOS 5751 preamp tubes (love the soft and warm character of those babies).
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Post by mikethebike500 on Mar 5, 2011 23:56:08 GMT -5
years ago, I had a fender Tone Master head, for a very short period of time....IIRC it had a selector switch on the back, not really your typical Impedence selector...but I think it was labeled LOW, MED, HIGH....and it gave the user the option to mismatch to an extent, for tonal variation...I wanted to love that amp, but it had issues..so as a result..so did I..lol
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Post by chptunes on Apr 13, 2011 12:06:36 GMT -5
I revisited this mismatch.. I do like it. It's a fun change, especially for lower volume jams at home or in a friends basement. I definately recommend it, for kicks if no other reason.
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Post by scottatsvva on Apr 18, 2011 19:26:02 GMT -5
Absolutely! I have several gigging customers who always mismatch their amp's impedance with their speaker load, because they "like" the compressed, slightly dirtier (darker) sound.
Tone is in the ears of the beholder and I'm betting there is someone out there that will like the sound of just about everything! I even had one customer who liked running a pair a speakers out of phase, which I thought sounded pretty bad, but he liked it and that is what is the most important.
"To each his own ... .. ." Scott
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