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Location: Yucaipa, California | ... I was wondering whether this would harm either amp or speaker:
I thought about soldering alligator clips to one end of an old guitar cord, clipping them to the speaker lead 'ears' on the main amp and then plugging into the Input of the second amp. Thus giving me an extra amp/speaker to add to my noise.
No, the main amp does not have a "line out" connection.
Any danger here? :confused: |
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Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | yup big danger
you are changing the impedance of the output and can damage the output transformer resisters or tubes and fry your amp |
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Location: Yucaipa, California | ...thought it might. Thanks Al!
Instead of plugging into the second amp's input, could I add another set of alligator clips to the second end of the cord and clip to the second amp's speaker leads? |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | A alternative solution would be to have an amp tech just add an aux line out on the back of your amp.
On some of the older Fender tube amps and their reissues, it is possible to cross-connect the input signal where there are multiple inputs into dual channels. For example, on my Bassman, the guitar goes into input 1 of the bright channel, then I run a lead from input 2 of the bright channel into input 1 of the normal channel. The purpose of this cross-connect is to activate the full range of both channels of the amp as recommended by some of Fender's musician endorsees. However, since the purpose of the cross-connect appears to be to duplicate the guitar's input signal, then it should also work to power a second amp. Are there any real amp techs out there who can chime in here and verify this? |
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Location: NW Washington State | At the risk of Mr. Big's wrath, you probably won't cook the first amp due to an impedance issue. Even if the second amp had an input impedance as low as 600 ohms you would be running 600 ohms in parallel with 4 to 16 ohms, so the overall impedance wouldn't change much. More likely the second amp would have an input impedance of 10K to 1M ohms so there would be even less loading.
*BUT* you could fry the input of the second amp, particularly if it's solid state, and a cord with alligator clips is a dead short waiting to happen and fry the output of the first amp. So don't use alligator clips anywhere, unless you're smoking something.
Instead, look for a direct box. There are dozens to choose from, Al can probably get you a good one. You would want one that has an attenuator so that it can accept the speaker level input from the first amp, but presents minimal load so the speaker on the first amp can still be used. Maybe there are some that have a pass-through speaker output? You would probably want both balanced and unbalanced outputs. The unbalanced output would go to your second amp. The balanced output could be used with a mixer.
-Steve W. |
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Location: NJ | sorry I miss understood the question
hooking the amps together will be ok but not the speakers as in your 2nd post
I would not do it regardless |
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Location: Yucaipa, California | ...Thanks all!
I think I'll probably go the route the Honorable ProfessorBB suggested: add a line out.... just do it right.
Thanks again! |
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Location: NW Washington State | Tim-
What amp are you using for the main/first amp? If it has an effects loop or headphone output you may already have the equivalent of a line out. If it's an original vintage amp you might not want to have the average amp "tech" mess with it.
I did think of one use for alligator clips. Attach one end of a wire to your tinfoil hat and the other end to your amp. Could be exciting!
-Steve W. |
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August 2003
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Location: Yucaipa, California | ..it's a Vox VT30... it has the headphone jack, but it disconnects the main speaker when plugged in. I want to be able to just add another speaker cab or additional amp for a bit more variation.... btw the hat already is connected to a power source :eek: |
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Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | Ooh, nice amp Tim. I've had a few of them pass through the shop, and for the money, they are about the best I've heard. |
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Location: Yucaipa, California | ..yup. I love it. Best all-around amp I've ever played, both for the Ovation and the electrics. |
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Posts: 1498
Location: San Bernardino, California | I looked at the user manual for the amp. Don't hook up anything but the speaker(s) to the speaker output.
From what the manual says, the easiest thing to do would be to modify the headphone/DI jack to defeat the speaker on/off portion.
Although the output may not be high enough. See if the extra amp works with the VT before modifying anything. |
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August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | ...I'm going to use the headphone jack and send it to my Kustom Profile System One PA aux input.
That way I can use the Vox as a
head", but have 100 watts and two speakers. Should be enough power for my living room. :eek: |
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Question for the GearwireHeads amongst us