Re: Two amps in series

<panfouez@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:218befca-566c-462c-ab32-b767a12aad7a@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I am relatively clueless in amps or electronics in general so beware.
My question is related to hooking up two amps together in series. I
have a tube amp that sounds great but it is lacking an effect loop.
However, it does have a headphone output that cuts the main speaker
off. Can I use that signal as a preamp and drive it through another
tube amp used as a power amp? The idea is that I could use some
effects between both, similar to an effect loop. This kind of setup is
usually achieved with PAs I guess, but will it work with a second amp
without damaging any of them?

Yes if the amp indeed has a headphone out that is designed for it, i.e.
using it won't strain the amp itself, you can indeed freely patch that on to
a second (slave) amp. Or, maybe even better if you can even try to run the
headphone output into the other amp's loop return so as not to cascade two
preamp stages. But it will work fine, and often yields great sounds. I've
even used amps (low powered ones) with no headphone outputs with L-Pads so
that I've used them as preamps only. (Like I sometimes do with the Valve Jr.
head - I run it to an L-pad device and from there to a 100W PA amp and a big
cab, and similarly I've done comparable systems also previously. Works
really well.

The only thing you need to make sure is you don't kill the slave amps input
with too hot a signal. the HP out is probably pretty darn hot compared to
guitar signal, so make sure you start with the volume off and be very
careful with adding volume. Even better if your slave amp has a line level
input instead of instrument level; use that if it has one.

But besides possibly driving the slave input way too hard by accident,
there's no danger I know of. If the headphone output is indeed too high
impedance and/or way too hot, you'll notice it right away. Also I'd
recommend powering all the devices from a single power strip and if/when
there is hum involved, first try to flip the power plugs the other way
round...sometimes it helps to have the power in the same phase in all
devices. But some people here will be more knowledgeable in these issues.

Cheers,

Dee


.

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