Speaker change dangers?

Sidney Vicious · December 8th, 2003, 04:25 PM

I have an old Jensen 8j11 speaker from an old H400A amp. Speaker sounds great when run as an extension cab off one of my Fender Champs. I have run it thus only briefly however as I don't know/haven't been able to find out/ the ohms of the thing and I am afraid of hurting the Champ. Nonetheless, I am thinking of simply changing it out with one of the Champ's speakers on a more or less permanent basis.

Am I crazy? Will it hurt the Champ?

KC · December 8th, 2003, 05:44 PM

can't you just run a multimeter across the speaker terminals and find out the impedance? somebody here (not me) knows what the champ wants to see in terms of a load. good luck.

da dougster · December 9th, 2003, 03:32 AM

Champ wants to see 4ohms and yeah you should be able to get a reading with a meter off the other speaker.

Back in the day we hooked up anything that seemed to work to our Fender amps and never blew anything up ( this was when impedence was just another big word that we didn't care about, sort of like flux capacitor). I try to follow the rules better today.....

eryque · December 9th, 2003, 10:07 AM

You can test with a multimeter, but you'll be measuring DC resistance rather than AC impedence. It'll be lower than the AC value, around 3.2 ohms, I think.

Sidney Vicious · December 9th, 2003, 01:19 PM

I have tried a new multimeter from RadioShack that works - it appropriately measures pickups, for example, put it on a couple of MIM Tele pickups laying around and got good approximate readings - but won't give me a reading on a speaker - on the speakers - Fender Champs and the aforesaid Jensen - I have it gives reading of zero. Some have said that the thing is too insensitive to give 3.2 or below readings. I know the Champ looks for 3.2 - 4. The Jensen is almost certainly a 4 or 8 ohm. If 4 no problem, but if an 8 - do I blow/burn/hurt the Champ?

Thanks to all.

December 8th, 2003, 04:25 PM	#1 (permalink)
Sidney Vicious Tele-Afflicted Join Date: May 2003 Location: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA Posts: 1,250 14 Photos	Speaker change dangers? I have an old Jensen 8j11 speaker from an old H400A amp. Speaker sounds great when run as an extension cab off one of my Fender Champs. I have run it thus only briefly however as I don't know/haven't been able to find out/ the ohms of the thing and I am afraid of hurting the Champ. Nonetheless, I am thinking of simply changing it out with one of the Champ's speakers on a more or less permanent basis. Am I crazy? Will it hurt the Champ?

December 9th, 2003, 03:32 AM	#3 (permalink)
da dougster Tele-Meister Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Beautiful downtown Ayuh Posts: 300	Champ wants to see 4ohms and yeah you should be able to get a reading with a meter off the other speaker. Back in the day we hooked up anything that seemed to work to our Fender amps and never blew anything up ( this was when impedence was just another big word that we didn't care about, sort of like flux capacitor). I try to follow the rules better today..... __________________ "Somebody set up us the bomb!!"

December 9th, 2003, 01:19 PM	#5 (permalink)
Sidney Vicious Tele-Afflicted Join Date: May 2003 Location: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA Posts: 1,250 14 Photos	Multimeter failed me . . . I have tried a new multimeter from RadioShack that works - it appropriately measures pickups, for example, put it on a couple of MIM Tele pickups laying around and got good approximate readings - but won't give me a reading on a speaker - on the speakers - Fender Champs and the aforesaid Jensen - I have it gives reading of zero. Some have said that the thing is too insensitive to give 3.2 or below readings. I know the Champ looks for 3.2 - 4. The Jensen is almost certainly a 4 or 8 ohm. If 4 no problem, but if an 8 - do I blow/burn/hurt the Champ? Thanks to all.

December 8th, 2003, 05:44 PM	#2 (permalink)
KC Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Missoula, Montana Posts: 1,256 16 Photos	can't you just run a multimeter across the speaker terminals and find out the impedance? somebody here (not me) knows what the champ wants to see in terms of a load. good luck.

December 9th, 2003, 10:07 AM	#4 (permalink)
eryque Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: albany, ny [not chicago] Posts: 7,241 44 Photos	You can test with a multimeter, but you'll be measuring DC resistance rather than AC impedence. It'll be lower than the AC value, around 3.2 ohms, I think.