Guitar speaker cab question

[OldTimey]

So i have an old fender bassman blackface head (~50watts) rated for 4ohms that i run through a 2x12 cabinet (two 8ohm speakers wired however they need to be to make 4ohms).

this works great in practice and in medium sized clubs, but when i play smaller places, it's just too loud. I have to turn the amp down to "2" and i lose a lot of tone. I was thinking about pairing it with a smaller, 1x12 cab for these kinds of gigs, but can't seem to find any 4ohm speakers to put into such a cab. Would this bring the volume down at all? Is plugging an old tube head like the bassman into a an 8ohm speaker a "bad idea"?

i just don't know much about this. thanks!

[HCMarkus]

Not an expert on tube amps, but believe that higher impedance is generally not a problem, it will just reduce available power, which is really what you want in your situation. As such, a single 8 ohm speaker might be fine. Speakers are available with 4 ohm impedance, too. You could also pick up a power soak and place it between amp and speaker(s).

Avoid LOWER impedance for sure, or you risk blowing your amp up.

[BKK-OZ]

Look into getting an attenuator:
https://taweber.powweb.com/weber/minimass.htm
http://www.soundsmith.com/atten.htm

[davedempsey]

Power soak is probably the best bet. However, running an 8ohm load is theoretically not harmful to the amp. As HC said it's loading down the amp that's a problem.

[BKK-OZ]

yah, maybe...
http://www.amptone.com/scholzpowersoak.htm
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun06/a ... h_0606.htm

[OldTimey]

thanks guys. I'm going to try an 8ohm cab first and then go from there. Could always use another cabinet.

[bigdaddy]

FYI... I just picked up a (used) Avatar 1 X 12" cab with a Celestion Vintage 30 Hellatone in it. I've used several amps to power it - Everything from a Blackheart Little Giant 5 watt, to an Orange Tiny Terror 15 watt, and a vintage Vega amp which puts out about 25 to 30 watts (2 X 6L6 power tubes). Everything sounds great through this cab and I *think* you can have them load up just about any speaker you want. Or you can buy the empty cab and put any speaker in there.

Very well built, solid nice looking cabs. Reasonable prices, etc...

http://www.avatarspeakers.com/

I compared the Orange Tiny Terror head through an Orange 1 X 12" cab ($350.00 new) and through the Avatar 1 X 12" cab ($250.00 new) and the Avatar blew the Orange cab right out of the water.

[bigdaddy]

What the heck?!?!?!? Spam alert!!!

[noah330]

I have the Mini Mass mentioned above and it is great! Sounds better then almost all the others I have tried and has a bypass and a non-stepped volume knob.

Plus it's less then $100.00