Noob wiring a 412 cab

[olypen]

Ok so i just got a Peavey Butcher head and cant wait to get the thing all plugged in but my problem is my 4x12 cab was tinkered around with in the past and i need to rewire it the right way because the wires have been snipped and what not.

So i have a CAB and 4 12in 16ohm Celestion Classic Lead 80watt SPEAKERS

What i would like to do is get the most out of both my amp and speakers. I want this set up to scream, now i have been told that using different impedances will effect the watts like running 16ohms will be lower volume and weaker sounding then 4ohms. Is this true?

My Butcher head has these outputs:
single speaker outputs: 4ohm, 8ohm, 16ohm
speaker system outputs: speaker 1 16ohm, speaker 2 16ohm, Speaker 3 16ohm, speaker 4 16ohm

So i guess what my last question is, What parts do i need? A mono input jack or is there more?

What all do i need for my jack plate assembly and what impedance will get the full power from both speakers and head?

Thanks alot this is something i have been trying to do for a long time but now am finally getting down and doing it so all the help like websites or books would help!

[Enzo]

You have four 16 ohm speakers in a cab. You have three choices to wire them together. All in parallel for a 4 ohm total. All in series for a 64 ohm total. Or series/parallel for a 16 ohm total.

Whatever arrangement you use - and I'd advise against the 64 ohm one - the speakers will share the available powr equally.

You will get the most power to the speakers by matching the amp impedance to the cab impedance. SO you can wire the cab for 16 ohm or for 4 ohm, and connect it to the amp at the 16 or 4 ohm jack.

There will be some who would argue that 4 is better than 16 or 16 is better than 4, but any differnces in things like damping or whatnot will be subtle. No night and day things here.

This is a tube amp, you match impedances. Solid state amps would produce less power into the higher impedance load, but that is solid state, this is tube. Your amp will produce the same power output into either version.

One thought: If you wire it for 4 ohms, then youo cannot add a second cabinet to the amp. Two 4 ohm cabs makes a 2 ohm total, and the amp isn't wired for that. On the other hand. Two 16 ohm cabs makes an 8 ohm total, so if you wire it for 16 ohms, then you can always add a second cab to it whenever you want.

[oc disorder]

As Enzo said 16 ohms will allow you to connect a second 16 ohm cabinet
the down side of 16 ohms is if you want to use it with a transistorised amp
It wont allow the maximum power wheras a 4 ohm will.
As the butcher has selectable outputs to match whatever you have
its output is the same (matched for maximum power transfer) whatever
you use.
This site may be useful

http://www.soundcitysite.com/sc_webpages/wire_diags.htm

and attached is a series parallel diagram.

[Fragger]

A quick and dirty way to test if all the cabinet speakers are in phase, that is they all jump the same way when a signal is applied, is to ~MOMENTARILY~ touch a 1 1/2V to 9V battery to the main cabinet leads while watching the speakers.

On my old Peavey 412M I plugged a guitar or speaker cord into the enclosure and quickly touched a 9V battery across the other end of the cord while watching the speakers.

It`s discussed here:

http://www.colomar.com/Shavano/speaker.html

[Enzo]

Then the cab as 16 ohms would run 6db less loud on a solid state amp.