Stupid question about VJs.......and ohms/output

[RSDx]

Just wondering if this is possible without thoroughly screwing something up. I have a VJ head'n'cab and a VJ combo.

Is it possible (without ruining/frying something) to set the combo on the cab, run the 8" combo speaker from the 4 ohm out and run the 12" cab speaker from the 16 ohm out simultaneously? Am guessing not...... no matter, I can run two amps from my multi-fx, but was just wondering. Every time a seem to grasp the whole ohms thing, I lose my grip

[deflepfan]

No clue on this, but question for you as a VJ Combo owner. I was thinking of going to a small tube amp, and wondered if the VJ Combo should be a consideration.

 

I play rhythm, do not play any real lead, want something clean that I can actually hear, not distorted, but something that I will grow with/into, and not out of in a couple of months.

 

I know the VJ's are loved, but would it be an appropriate amp for me? I have not been able to get access to one to try, so I am looking for some input before I make any real effort to hunt one down to try.

 

Recommendation?

 

Thanks,

Sheila

[m-theory]

Is it possible (without ruining/frying something) to set the combo on the cab, run the 8" combo speaker from the 4 ohm out and run the 12" cab speaker from the 16 ohm out simultaneously?

You could run both speakers, but not like this. The outputs on the Vjr are taps off the output transformer, so whatever ohms you see at whatever jack is what the amp wants to see. In other words, if you wish to run 2x16 ohm speakers in parallel, you can, by taking the output from the 8 ohm jack on the back of the amp, and running to both cabinets, in parallel. You'd want to add a second jack, in parallel, to the 1x12 speaker cabinet. Disconnect the 8" speaker cable from the back of the amp and replace it with a speaker cable to go from the 8 ohm jack off the amp to one of the parallel jacks on the speaker cabinet. Then, take another speaker cable and connect from the second jack of that 1x12 cabinet to your 8" speaker that's in the combo. You'll need an appropriate connector here to connect the 8" speaker. Can be done a number of different ways.

 

The key is, assuming the 8" speaker is 16 ohms (which I cannot attest to, personally), when you connect that and the 16 ohm 1x12 cabinet together in parallel, you're creating an 8 ohm load for the amp to "see," so you'll want to come off the 8 ohm jack on the back of the amp.

 

I know the VJ's are loved, but would it be an appropriate amp for me?

Not if you want clean and wish to be heard, at the same time. These amps aren't known for clean. If you wish to be heard and clean at the same time, you'll want something in the 15-20 watt range, minimum. You should poke around for used silverface Fender Princetons, Deluxes, and Vibroluxes. Princetons are 12 watts, Deluxe 22, and vibroluxes 35. All were terrific amps, and all do cleans better than just about anything made today.

 

You'll pay more than you would for a Vjr, but you'll have something that you can hang onto forever and gig with proudly. Right now, it's a buyer's market for vintage gear, and the silverfaced Fenders never came close to the pricing that blackface, brown, and tweed models went for at their peak. You should be able to find these amps for between $500 or so if you're patient. Expect to pay another $150 or so to have the amp completely serviced by a good tech before you start using it. At the very least, anything that old (silverface Fenders were made from '68-'81) is going to require new filter caps and other electrolytics, as well as screen grid resistors, and bias tweaking.

 

Check ebay, craigslist, local thrift stores, garage sales, etc. Non-reverb princetons and deluxes will run less than reverb versions, and will also run cleaner, which would make sense for you, since you're looking for clean. The non-reverb models aren't very much sought-after, but they'd serve your purposes perfectly, since they're cleaner AND cheaper.

[wiggy]

NOt wanting to hijack the thread but I was wondering if someone could explain to me in simplish terms why, assuming that each output on the back of my BC30 (2 x 4Ohm, 2 x 8Ohm & 1 x 16Ohm) is wired to a separate tap on the OT, I couldn't plug an appropriate impedance speaker into each socket at the same time. The OT would be seeing the correct impedance at each tap so there would (on the face of it) be no impedance mismatch anywhere.

 

I'm not even vaguely thinking of trying it but, ignoring other issues such as limitations of power to drive that many speakers, would like to know why you couldn't theoretically do it.

[RSDx]

The key is' date=' assuming the 8" speaker is 16 ohms (which I cannot attest to, personally), when you connect that and the 16 ohm 1x12 cabinet together in parallel, you're creating an 8 ohm load for the amp to "see," so you'll want to come off the 8 ohm jack on the back of the amp.

 

[/quote']

OK, I think I get wht you're saying ... my combo is old, has 4 ohm 8" speaker..... didin't really think it would be so easy as to just plug and play...LOL. No biggie - thanks, m-theory. I vaguely remember getting confused by the ohm stuff back in the '70's when mixing/matching stereo amps/speakers .... apparently I have learned nothing over the years

[jefrs]

I asked this of a chap that designs output transformers: do not load multiple secondary taps, the load reflected back onto the primary is complicated.

 

If you want to run an 8ohm and a 12ohm as a pair then run then in parallel (you could use a 2-into-1 jack adaptor) off the 4ohm socket, as this makes 4.8ohm. You can put a slightly higher load onto any valve amp, but not lower (unless it is an old Fender).