Rewiring 2x12 cab

If they're both 8 ohms , no . You either get 16 in series or 4 in parallel .

 

Okee dokee , two 4's in series or 2 16 's in parallel = 8

 

Yes, 2 16ohm speakers wired parallel would give you 8 ohms.
It might change your tone slightly. Probably give you a little more headroom.

 

Are you sure? Most Bandmasters (all BF and SF ones, anyway, I'm not certain about the Brown ones) are 4 ohm.

 

The quite rare 1960 brown Bandmaster was a 3x10 combo. 3 8 ohm speakers in parallel gives, 2.6666... ohms.

The early blond Bandmaster heads were sold with a 1x12 cab, so 8 ohms. Later blond Bandmasters were sold with a 2x12" cab, hence 4 ohms.

Fender standardized on only 8 ohm speakers at a relatively early date. And they only ever wired cabs in parallel. So if you know what cab an amp was sold with, you can figure the impedance.

 

It's perfectly acceptable to run the 8ohm out from the Bandmaster into a 16ohm load -- you'll get a little more compression and a little more sag; a nice compliment to the Bandmaster if you ask me.

 

I guess just the basics to remember ...
Speakers in series add Ohms
Speakers in Parallel .. 1/R1 + 1/R2 + ... = 1/Rt
(Speaker Ohm val 1, 2 etc. = t = Total impedance)

If you are eyeing some improvement in sound, new speakers is a great idea. And if your output (is confirmed) 8 Ohm out, I'd say get two 16 Ohm in Parallel (vs. two 4 ohm in series)
What it does is it divides the current in half to each speaker and so you cab can run higher wattage.

If you really like the speakers you have, you can do what I did (I didn't want to get change out my Fane speakers) and get a Weber Impedance Matcher. (Very affordable)

 

(not to run cab makers out of business but)
You could again use the Weber Impedance matcher and just go with one cab. Works quite well so far.

As far as tone differences ... I believe technically speaking here shouldn't be a difference although from the practical side .. everything seems to make things sound a little different.

I believe the way the theory goes ..
Amps with multiple impedances out, basically it is coming off the same Transformer but after a different amount of windings. If your load is matched I believe your current output stays the same? i.e. Current out for 16 to 16 ohm is same as 8 to 8 ohm.
If the current output is affected then you get a slightly different sound.

 

But unless he's got a 1961 blond Bandmaster, what his amp wants to see is a 4 ohm load.

Running an amp that wants a 4 ohm load into a 16 ohm cab is not a good idea. Generally a 100% mismatch either way is safe (at least with Fenders) but a 300% mismatch upwards is likely to cause trouble.

 

Check out
Weber Amplification

Click on Z-Matcher

 

I have the 100 watt .. although I ordered the 50 .. got the 100 shipped ..
I haven't opened it, but ...
It is all passive (you don't plug it in, no powerering of any parts)
It's cool though, has a line out, xlr out and an extra out so you can hook into various extra things from it.

I believe (guessing) the guts are 1 speaker (or something that functions as a speaker) that doesn't actually make any sound and load resistors ...
plus some connectors and switches.