Using a head with an amp....for the speaker.

B

Bodhisan

Hillbilly
I haven't received a new head yet that I bought (to record direct with), so I can't experiment. If I wanted to use the speaker in an amp that I have, am I able to hook the head up to it through the preamp out/power in input, and if so, does that amp have to be turned on? If it has to be turned on, would the head being hooked up cut out the amp's amp, so that only the head is powering it? Does this sound like an Abbott and Costello routine?

Bodhisan
 
Do not, I repeat DO NOT try to run your speaker out into your other amp's effects loop. It will assuredly fry one of the two heads. Like poster above said, just plug the old speaker into the new cab (making sure the impedance matches).
 
timthetortoise said:
Do not, I repeat DO NOT try to run your speaker out into your other amp's effects loop. It will assuredly fry one of the two heads.
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Very likely both of them. The head would see very high impedance on its output where it expects to see 4-16 ohms, which will damage the output transformer and/or power tubes, and the line in on the combo will see up to 100 volts on its line in where it expects to see something on the order of a volt or two. Aside from all that, it would sound terrible in the few minutes or seconds before something catastrophically fails.

Very likely the speaker cable on the combo is not long enough to reach the speaker output on the head, so the only thing you can or should do is extend it to reach.
 
Let me reiterrate this into "Heads and speakers for Dummys" so I make sure I don't begin weeping (no, let me be frank and say: CRYING) with ruined equipment:

I simply plug the "speaker out" from my new head into the "power amp in" of my Peavey Nashville 400. Because there are only three inputs on the back of the amp: "Remote Switch," "Preamp Out," "Power Amp In."

Further: Do I have to power up the Peavey, or will this blow a hole six feet deep in my little studio?

Bodhisan
 
No.


DO NOT PLUG SPEAKER OUT INTO ANYTHING BUT THE CORRECT SPEAKER CAB.


IMPORTANT EDIT!!!!!: Just re-read the first post. You'll have to connect the speaker from you old combo directly to your new heads speaker out... the old amp should not be involved at all in any way ever ever. Going down the power amp in / preamp out route will be nothing but hassle i reckon.
 
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Bodhisan said:
Let me reiterrate this into "Heads and speakers for Dummys" so I make sure I don't begin weeping (no, let me be frank and say: CRYING) with ruined equipment:

I simply plug the "speaker out" from my new head into the "power amp in" of my Peavey Nashville 400. Because there are only three inputs on the back of the amp: "Remote Switch," "Preamp Out," "Power Amp In."
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Aren't you even reading our responses? Without exception we are all saying (now shouting), "DO NOT DO THAT!!" Let me repeat... "DO NOT DO THAT!!"

Just because there are only three jacks in the back of your combo amp does NOT mean that ANY of them will work for this purpose.

Plug the speaker of the combo directly into the speaker out of the head. NOTHING ELSE will do what you want, and ANYTHING ELSE will damage one or both of the amplifiers VERY EXPENSIVELY.

Are you trolling us?
 
just so there can be no misunderstanding : the two contact points on the speaker of your old cab (99% chance they are copper or gold coloured) have to be connected to the two wires that run, should run, are supposed to run (and there can only be two. not one. not three. two) from your amp head's SPEAKER OUT.


go to a guitar shop, explain your problem and let them sell you a appropriate cable that has the correct plug on one side and two naked wires or two little clamps or two little plugs on the other.

(how do you call those little thingies that slide over those contacts? english isn't my primary language)
 
faderbug said:
(how do you call those little thingies that slide over those contacts? english isn't my primary language)
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The connectors are called "spade" or "blade" connectors. The male is usually on the speaker (if it uses them) and the female is on the wire.
 
Does anybody here know what the "Power Amp In" is for on that amp? Maybe that is exactly what it is for, accessing the speaker independantly of the amp. That doesn't sound like the labeling for an effects loop or anything. Isn't that a steel guitar amp? Maybe it is designed to also function as an extension cabinet if need be.
I wouldn't make any assumptions about it unless you had some info on the amp though. Maybe you could investigate the wiring.
 
metalhead28 said:
Does anybody here know what the "Power Amp In" is for on that amp? Maybe that is exactly what it is for, accessing the speaker independantly of the amp. That doesn't sound like the labeling for an effects loop or anything. Isn't that a steel guitar amp? Maybe it is designed to also function as an extension cabinet if need be.
I wouldn't make any assumptions about it unless you had some info on the amp though. Maybe you could investigate the wiring.
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"Power amp in" means exactly that; it's where you can plug a preamped signal (NOT a speaker line) into an amp bypassing the preamp section upstream from the power section. It expects a 0 dB or thereabouts (i.e., line level, somewhere on the order of a 1 volt) signal, and in his case it is the receive port for the effects loop. The "preamp out" is the send for the effects loop. Some loops are labeled "send" and "receive", others are labeled "preamp out" and "power amp in", but it's the same thing. Plugging a speaker output into a line input is a potential disaster for both amps involved.

We don't need to investigate the specific amp; this is all industry standard stuff.
 
The power amp socket is for running external preamps (not the preamp of other heads without adding complications and possibly frying something) into the power stage.

For example i used to run a sansamp RBI into my bass power amp.

Edit: Beaten to it!
 
I know nothing about this, but I had a similar question a while back. I wanted to know if I could run the speaker out of one amp I had into the effects loop of another combo amp. The people that replied said that was a horrible idea. I also talked to a guy who builds and repairs amps for a living. That guy said it wouldn't hurt the amps, but it wouldn't sound good either.
 
MatthewRedStars said:
The power amp socket is for running external preamps (not the preamp of other heads without adding complications and possibly frying something) into the power stage.

For example i used to run a sansamp RBI into my bass power amp.

Edit: Beaten to it!
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Yes, but it's a useful distinction. The "power amp in" or "receive" port can also be used to amplify a preamped signal generated elsewhere than in the preamp section of the amp in question. The OP could, for example, safely patch from the "preamp out" or "effects send" (assuming it has one) of the head to the "power amp in" of the combo. I'm not sure what that would buy him, tonally speaking, but the head would then control the output of the combo. It would, of course, still have the output power rating of the combo.
 
ggunn said:
"Power amp in" means exactly that; it's where you can plug a preamped signal (NOT a speaker line) into an amp bypassing the preamp section upstream from the power section. It expects a 0 dB or thereabouts (i.e., line level, somewhere on the order of a 1 volt) signal, and in his case it is the receive port for the effects loop. The "preamp out" is the send for the effects loop. Some loops are labeled "send" and "receive", others are labeled "preamp out" and "power amp in", but it's the same thing. Plugging a speaker output into a line input is a potential disaster for both amps involved.

We don't need to investigate the specific amp; this is all industry standard stuff.
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I know what an effects loop is, I guess I've just never seen one labeled that way. I would expect to see "preamp in" but I suppose "power amp in" does make more sense. It seems to me that I've seen a combo amp that had a speaker input before...I suppose it would be clearly labeled "speaker in" or something. :p
 
Listen: I know I not the smartest when it comes to electric, and I appreciate the rather stern concern here. One of the suggestions I saw on a pedal steel forum I belong to, on how to run two Peavey Nashville 112's together, was to run the a cable from amp #1's preamp out to the input of amp #2s power amp input, which would turn amp #2 into the slave amp, reacting to all the e.q. and power of amp #1. This is where I'm getting thrown off, by replacing amp #1 with the as-of-yet-unreceived head.

What I'm gathering from you experts (and I mean that with affection), is that I can't plug my head into the Peavey. I simply need to disconnect the speaker wires, and get a specialized cable that has a 1/4" jack on one end to go from the speak out output of the head, and connect the two little thingies from the other end of the specialized cable to the two little thingies on the Black Widow speaker wires. Eh? Eh? Am I with you?!

Bodhisan
 
Bodhisan said:
Listen: I know I not the smartest when it comes to electric, and I appreciate the rather stern concern here. One of the suggestions I saw on a pedal steel forum I belong to, on how to run two Peavey Nashville 112's together, was to run the a cable from amp #1's preamp out to the input of amp #2s power amp input, which would turn amp #2 into the slave amp, reacting to all the e.q. and power of amp #1. This is where I'm getting thrown off, by replacing amp #1 with the as-of-yet-unreceived head.

What I'm gathering from you experts (and I mean that with affection), is that I can't plug my head into the Peavey. I simply need to disconnect the speaker wires, and get a specialized cable that has a 1/4" jack on one end to go from the speak out output of the head, and connect the two little thingies from the other end of the specialized cable to the two little thingies on the Black Widow speaker wires. Eh? Eh? Am I with you?!

Bodhisan
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In the article you read, the salient point is to connect the preamp out of #1 to the power amp in of #2, not speaker out to power amp in. The difference is huge.

And yes, you've got it right now. A possibly easier solution is to get a 1/4" barrel connector (female to female, sometimes known as a "gender bender") that will allow you to connect a regular speaker cable from the head to the existing cable in the combo. Radio Shack has them.

Oh, and allow me to clarify something I said earlier. I said that you could safely run the preamp out from the head into the power amp in of the combo. While this is correct from the line out to line in perspective, it is not safe to run a tube head power section with no speaker connected to it.
 
pdadda said:
I know nothing about this, but I had a similar question a while back. I wanted to know if I could run the speaker out of one amp I had into the effects loop of another combo amp. The people that replied said that was a horrible idea. I also talked to a guy who builds and repairs amps for a living. That guy said it wouldn't hurt the amps, but it wouldn't sound good either.
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It's very similar (or the same) as what Bodhisan is talking about; If you're going 'speaker out', it's sending 5 to 40 some odd volts to an input that is expecting 1. That doesn't even account for the rather big question of does it also mean there going to be no actual speaker load connected to the first amp? (bad for the first one too then.)
 
metalhead28 said:
I know what an effects loop is, I guess I've just never seen one labeled that way. I would expect to see "preamp in" but I suppose "power amp in" does make more sense. It seems to me that I've seen a combo amp that had a speaker input before...I suppose it would be clearly labeled "speaker in" or something. :p
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Hmm.. maybe. Or maybe they're just marked 'speaker', and it is a hole, and you do plug the speaker 'in' there... but... :D :rolleyes:
 
metalhead28 said:
I know what an effects loop is, I guess I've just never seen one labeled that way. I would expect to see "preamp in" but I suppose "power amp in" does make more sense.
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Preamp out and power amp in; preamp in is simply the input to the amp. An effects loop breaks the path between the preamp and power amp sections to allow you to insert line level effects - stomp boxes work at instrument level and don't usually work as well in the loop.
 
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