One cab - two amps...

JDOD

JDOD

therecordingrebels.com
Right, been GASing over another amp... will probably be getting rid of the Peavey and at least one guitar.

What I'm really after is a Victory V30 - A mate has one and I played through it once, was great. I saw him live and fuck me, it sounded good. They're not hopelessly expensive either like MESAs.

So, expecting to get a small bonus at work - probably about a grand £.

Its a pretty portable little unit (>10kg!) so what I'll probably do is keep my Blackstar at home and travel with the V30. Does anyone know of a speaker cable connector with a standard male jack one end and a female jack the other? That way I can connect it to the cab of the Blackstar combo to use at home as the Blackstar speaker has a male jack. Also, if the Peavey is basically not worth selling (if its less than say £100s worth) I'll rig this up in a similar way for my week day apartment - this might require a bit more fucking about though as I think the internal speaker is actually wired into the amp on the Peavey Bandit.

I might also have another look at cab emulation as I've heard Victory amps work well with cab emulation - although this might be bypassing the 6L6s.

Just looking into more of the switching modes on the V30 - being able to switch between 40W, 7W and 1.5W might be quite nice for me too. I'm also "GASing" for a new surfboard - which might take priority as my current board is running out of useful life.
 
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I'm at a loss as to what you mean. Are you saying that the Blackstar amp and speaker in your combo connect together with a little integral speaker lead and that when you unplug that you need a speaker lead with a female jack socket on one end to plug it in to?
 
Can you talk in plugs and sockets? I'm having a little trouble visualising what you're talking about. A jack is a socket in my world.

I'm going to assume that the speaker (plug) in the Blackstar plugs into the amp of the Blackstar (socket) and isn't hardwired - that's how my Laney combo works.

In any case an M to F speaker cable shouldn't be a drama - basically an extension lead for a speaker cable, any number of suppliers that I can find...
 
JDOD said:
Great - that's cheep and should work pretty well.
.
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It will. The danger of the female-to-female coupler is that a bad connection could present a no-load scenario to your output transformer. But it will work for cheap.

A sturdier option would be to just replace the Blackstar's speaker cable with a longer one that can reach another head.

A more expensive but cool option would be a Radial Headbone.
Headbone Valve Tube Head Switcher
 
JDOD said:
Bubba - this is what I mean:
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_images/1/1319/2149/3296074001_large.jpg
The cable from the speak to the amp is actually pretty short - I would want something to extend it so I could get it to another amp. So I could just use my Blackstar as a cab with another head. Would give me a hell of a lot of options for recording at home while also giving me a set up that travels more easily.
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I got you. My Marshall combo has a similar arrangement except that the speaker cable is hardwired from the amp end, not the speaker end.
 
Greg_L said:
A sturdier option would be to just replace the Blackstar's speaker cable with a longer one that can reach another head.
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You're right - that's probably the most sensible option. I could see if I could work something similar out with the bandit then too.

Greg_L said:
A more expensive but cool option would be a Radial Headbone.
Headbone Valve Tube Head Switcher
Click to expand...
Now that would be cool - but I have no use for it!

---------- Update ----------

Bubba po said:
I got you. My Marshall combo has a similar arrangement except that the speaker cable is hardwired from the amp end, not the speaker end.
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That would be fine if that was the case 'cos then I could just use a standard speaker cable.

Its just nice to have a plan actually - something to work towards :)
 
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Any way to be sure that female-to-female adapter is up to the loads of speaker cable? Does it matter?
 
Robus said:
Any way to be sure that female-to-female adapter is up to the loads of speaker cable? Does it matter?
Click to expand...

It will cope with the current easily but IMO don't use one. Jack couplers/line sockets might be ok for most signal but, as Greg mentioned, if they go open circuit, even momentarily they can cause valves to arc over* and possibly destroy the OPTraff. The couplers etc are not that reliable. I trust only one, the Neutrik locking cable jack.

There is a simple solution. Solder two jacks pin for pin and then cable tie or gaffer the whole thing together so it won't get yanked apart. Can't solder? 'King well learn! ALL HR peeps should, IMHO be...

1) equipped with a $20 digital test meter.
2) be able to solder and make/repair at least guitar and speaker cables.

*Don;t push your luck but, all Blackstar amps have SOME innate O/C load protection. Most other valve amps do not and can be rinsed in milliseconds.

Dave.
 
If it were me I'd fit a quality jack socket into the cabinet somewhere, wire the speaker to it and use a short speaker cable to connect from the amp. Neat, tidy, reliable.
 
Bubba po said:
If it were me I'd fit a quality jack socket into the cabinet somewhere, wire the speaker to it and use a short speaker cable to connect from the amp. Neat, tidy, reliable.
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But the problem is to adapt a MALE jack plug to another male plug on a cable. I the OP is going to solder in a whole new socket he might as well make up the jack to jack adaptor I mentioned. (you can solder 3, 4, ad inf. and use them as splitters/combiners, must know the impedances you are forking about with tho')

He could of course replace the existing short cable with one long enough. Can coil in the bottom of the cab, no harm. In that instance he could eschew solder and splice in a lead using 5amp "choc-block".

I am intrigued to know which Bstar combo ot is? Most of the later ones did not come with stellar speakers? I cite the Rcket 50!

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
But the problem is to adapt a MALE jack plug to another male plug on a cable. I the OP is going to solder in a whole new socket he might as well make up the jack to jack adaptor I mentioned. (you can solder 3, 4, ad inf. and use them as splitters/combiners, must know the impedances you are forking about with tho')

He could of course replace the existing short cable with one long enough. Can coil in the bottom of the cab, no harm. In that instance he could eschew solder and splice in a lead using 5amp "choc-block".

I am intrigued to know which Bstar combo ot is? Most of the later ones did not come with stellar speakers? I cite the Rcket 50!

Dave.
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Hi Dave, glad you posted. It's a blackstar Studio 20 but with a V30 in place of the R50. I think the easiest option is to get a longer speaker cable.
 
JDOD said:
Hi Dave, glad you posted. It's a blackstar Studio 20 but with a V30 in place of the R50. I think the easiest option is to get a longer speaker cable.
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Ah! I still have son's 20 head here. Runs into a Greenback housed in a scrap Wiwatt combo cab.

HT-20 factoids? More less cathode biased so 20watts and very little more. Advantage of CB is you can slot in virtually any EL34 and they will bias close enough, certainly get you through a gig until you can check it. (FYI bias set for ~11V on one of the 220R 7W cathode resistors. )

Amp can take 6L6 BUT bias them! Told even 6V6 but neither swaps are official.

Rather "flat" tone some fins can be nicely countered by 6-10dB midrange boost from an EQ pedal in the FX loop.

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
Ah! I still have son's 20 head here. Runs into a Greenback housed in a scrap Wiwatt combo cab.

HT-20 factoids? More less cathode biased so 20watts and very little more. Advantage of CB is you can slot in virtually any EL34 and they will bias close enough, certainly get you through a gig until you can check it. (FYI bias set for ~11V on one of the 220R 7W cathode resistors. )

Amp can take 6L6 BUT bias them! Told even 6V6 but neither swaps are official.

Rather "flat" tone some fins can be nicely countered by 6-10dB midrange boost from an EQ pedal in the FX loop.

Dave.
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Mm, swapping for 6L6s could be an interesting idea. Don't suppose I'll bother though. I don't necessarily want a louder amp, just something that's a bit meatier but without going dark. I've actually found the Blackstar really versatile so far. Although there's clearly something strange and either digital or clippy distortion going on in the gain stage and I can't work out what!

Both the volume and the gain seem quite natural below the half way mark but both get harsh above it, they seem to work off each other in some way that I haven't quite fathomed too.
 
JDOD said:
Mm, swapping for 6L6s could be an interesting idea. Don't suppose I'll bother though. I don't necessarily want a louder amp, just something that's a bit meatier but without going dark. I've actually found the Blackstar really versatile so far. Although there's clearly something strange and either digital or clippy distortion going on in the gain stage and I can't work out what!

Both the volume and the gain seem quite natural below the half way mark but both get harsh above it, they seem to work off each other in some way that I haven't quite fathomed too.
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Then definitely try the mid boost in the FX loop. L6s won't give you any more power but their lower gm means the PI will have to work/be driven harder. What the sonic effect of that would be I don't know.

Dave.
 
Greg_L said:
Phase Inverter distortion is never a bad thing IMO.
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Except Greg, in the case of the HT-20 (and many other models) the PI is a pair of high voltage MOSFETS!

What exactly that means for "the tone" I have no idea!

Dave.
 
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