Preamp Into Poweramp Question

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braintheory

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Just wanted to double check since I haven’t done it in a while. If I want to run just the preamp of one of my amp heads into the just the Poweramp of a different amp head do I go from the send input of the amp I want the preamp for into the return of the amp I wanna use as the Poweramp? Does the amp used as the preamp need to be connected to a speaker to be safe like when I slave amps into poweramps?
 
preamp doesn't need to be plugged into speaker. It doesn't have a power transformer. Slave in is the best for the pre to come in. but return of loop is a place most people use.
I hope i am answering the questions you are asking.
DO NOT GO INTO INPUT ON AMP.
 
Smashedguitarist said:
preamp doesn't need to be plugged into speaker. It doesn't have a power transformer. Slave in is the best for the pre to come in. but return of loop is a place most people use.
I hope i am answering the questions you are asking.
DO NOT GO INTO INPUT ON AMP.
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Yeah never tried input of an amp lol. Very few of my amps have a slave-in, so gotta use the loop. I’m just trying to confirm it’s preamp of head from send to return of amp used for Poweramp
 
The input may not be a problem in some cases. However, one thing that will happen is that the preamp you are using has enough gain, so if you put it through more gain stages, it is going to be ugly.
 
If your running 2 heads with a pre,power section, even if you use just the one for the preamp section it still needs to be plugged into a cab. This is why guys freak when you turn on an amp withOUT a speaker cable plugged into it
 
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Yeah. I think i misread your initial question. I thought you were saying running a preamp into an amp. if you are using an amp's preamp, you definitely need a load..Shit sorry to misread that part.
 
Anytime, and every time you turn on a tube head, it needs a load. It doesn't know that you've plugged it into something else via the FX send.
 
braintheory said:
Do I go from the FX send input output of the <amp 1> I want the preamp for, into the fx return input of the <amp 2> I wanna use as the Poweramp?
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Exactly.
You can also use the line out of amp1 (which includes the power amp flavor) if it has one.
braintheory said:
Does the amp used as the preamp need to be connected to a speaker ?
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Absolutely. Cab or load.
 
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There are some amps which have output at send even on standy mode, for example Engls.
For other amps I will use dummy load or attenuator with 100% load.
 
I think the question has been answered, but I wanted to talk about a setup I have always wanted to try with a 2 channel tube power amp.

Preamp -> power amp channel 1 -> Reactive load -> line out into power amp channel 2 -> guitar speaker cab. A very cool reamp (slaving) rig.
 
Sam, try this for fun…slave your HRG C+ into the C+ Coli. You can use the line out on the HRG, into the fx return of the Coli. Both hooked up to speakers of course. Now, you’ll be able to not only use the GEQ of the HRG but also the GEQ of the Coli.
No more evil dark tones are possible anywhere, ever unless 2 Marks are used.
Double scoop for the win!! ???
 
Racerxrated said:
Sam, try this for fun…slave your HRG C+ into the C+ Coli. You can use the line out on the HRG, into the fx return of the Coli. Both hooked up to speakers of course. Now, you’ll be able to not only use the GEQ of the HRG but also the GEQ of the Coli.
No more evil dark tones are possible anywhere, ever unless 2 Marks are used.
Double scoop for the win!! ???
Click to expand...
Yeah I knew about that for a while. Like AJFA on steroids. Part of why the strategy 400 I used to own became a useless boat anchor. Sounded like a not as good versions of the coli’s Poweramp (with the coli’s GEQ bypassed to make it fair lol). What I’m going for now is to isolate the pre and power amp’s of some of some of my heads to compare with some of my stand alone pre and power amp rack units. It’s about comparisons and dissecting each tonal ingredient
 
braintheory said:
Yeah I knew about that for a while. Like AJFA on steroids. Part of why the strategy 400 I used to own became a useless boat anchor. Sounded like a not as good versions of the coli’s Poweramp (with the coli’s GEQ bypassed to make it fair lol). What I’m going for now is to isolate the pre and power amp’s of some of some of my heads to compare with some of my stand alone pre and power amp rack units. It’s about comparisons and dissecting each tonal ingredient
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Did you run the 400 as a mono input for the full 400w? I also liked the ‘more present’ attack of the Coli slave power section but comparing that to the SRG slaved to the 400 using both sides of the power amp, that’s on a whole other level
 
Racerxrated said:
Did you run the 400 as a mono input for the full 400w? I also liked the ‘more present’ attack of the Coli slave power section but comparing that to the SRG slaved to the 400 using both sides of the power amp, that’s on a whole other level
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To have used both sides would I have needed an ABY pedal or something like to slave to both inputs? And then 2 cabs for both the Strategy’s sides? I guess the question is would it have been 400 watts going into 1 cab or really 2 (200 watts) going into 2 separate cabs?

EDIT: I see in the old listing of it there was a parallel A+B input. Somehow I missed that when I owned it
 
Don't assume that the send and return break points will be placed in the same circuit location between various amps, particularly with different brands of amplifiers. Then there's the matter of whether the loop in question is nothing more than a patch point or a highly buffered circuit itself. I do see the point of this experiment and have done it myself but the results can be misleading if you don't understand what you're doing.

With as many amps as you have and have had, I'm shocked and a little bit concerned you didn't know about the neccessity of the amp load requirement. Sorry but it's kind of like owning expensive sports cars and not realizing they need oil in addition to fuel. This is basic amp knowledge 101 stuff.
 
thegame said:
Don't assume that the send and return break points will be placed in the same circuit location between various amps, particularly with different brands of amplifiers. Then there's the matter of whether the loop in question is nothing more than a patch point or a highly buffered circuit itself. I do see the point of this experiment and have done it myself but the results can be misleading if you don't understand what you're doing.

With as many amps as you have and have had, I'm shocked and a little bit concerned you didn't know about the neccessity of the amp load requirement. Sorry but it's kind of like owning expensive sports cars and not realizing they need oil in addition to fuel. This is basic amp knowledge 101 stuff.
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I’ve never been a very tech savvy guy, but it’s more so that I’ve just been slaving amps into power amps and for that I’ve always had amps connected to a speaker cab. Never made a mistake there. I only tried a head pre into another head’s power amp briefly when I was in my late teens. I made a thread on here too at the time about how to set that up. I think I do recall having both amps back then connected to a cab, but this is why I made this thread just to confirm. I understand your concern, but I don’t think there are any problems so far
 
braintheory said:
To have used both sides would I have needed an ABY pedal or something like to slave to both inputs? And then 2 cabs for both the Strategy’s sides? I guess the question is would it have been 400 watts going into 1 cab or really 2 (200 watts) going into 2 separate cabs?

EDIT: I see in the old listing of it there was a parallel A+B input. Somehow I missed that when I owned it
Click to expand...
Yep; running to one side the Coli alone is a better ‘feels like one amp’ thing. But that mono input; honestly the first time I used it I could sense the windows shaking haha…I’d have broken both of them if I’d even halfway cranked it! Insane power.
 
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