I'm confused, having heard and read conflicting things about mismatched loads, etc. Some say it is desirable. Will the OT in a '69 Deluxe Reverb (factory blackface specs per my tech) handle a 16 ohm speaker with no ill effects? Comments pro or con?? thx
It's the worst choice between 4, 8, and 16 but ill effects are tough to predict. Low to moderate volume playing...probably OK. Moderate to heavy playing with OD pedals, probably risky. Fly-back voltage is the danger.
I actually prefer the tone of a 16 ohm over an 8 in my Deluxe amps. I have three non reverb blackface Deluxes. I gig with a pair on a regular basis and have used 16 ohm speakers in them for over 10 years. No problems what so ever.
I'm not at all surprised. Predicting OT failure due to impedance mismatch induced flyback voltage is about as easy as predicting whether you'll get struck by lightning. The difference is that 4 ohms is like standing in a basement and 16 ohms is like standing in an open field during a thunderstorm. You can go for a lifetime and never get struck either way. Tonally, it's all personal taste.
Vintage Fender Deluxe Reverbs ideally want to see 8 ohms, but they were designed to safely handle from 4 to 16 ohm.
It's actually a bit more involved than that if you really dig into that particular amp and OT.... IIRC, the turns ratio actually ends up wanting to see about a 6 ohm load for a perfect match to 6V6's. Just one of those anomolies.... Most Fenders will easily handle a 2:1 mismatch, but if you run it full bore the higher impedance becomes more risky. Same for any tube amp.
