Slaving a practice amp/making a pre amp output

Merijn

Merijn

Aug 21, 2017
42
8
4,551
#1
Hello my fellow TB enthusiasts!

I have read multiple forums about slaving and how to do this using preamp out en power amp in. That way of slaving is quite clear to me. But I have also been reading about coverting practice amps without a preampout into combos or head that do have a pre amp out. Supposedly it is quite easy to pull of but I cannot find any good schematics or explanation on how to do this. Does anyone of you know?

To be clear, I would like to use the pre amp section of my fender frontman 15r and hook it up to a power amp to boost the volume. I know this is possible but I do not know how to do it :)

grtz

Merijn
 
#3
Its an idea that goes back to The Grateful Dead, I think. Their boffins put a preamp 'tap' in between the preamp and power amp in their Fender amps. This allowed Jerry Garcia and co to keep the preamp clean in their Fender amps and then use a clean Macintosh power amp to seriously jack up the volume.

Word of caution: you can track down the schematic for your Frontman and simply 'tap' into the circuit between the preamp and power amp sections. What you want to achieve is completely possible. However your amp might be voiced to work with the size of the cab and driver. It mount sound good, interesting or terrible when run into a different cabinet.

A cool, wreckless thing to do with any practice amp with a spring reverb is to run a 1/4'' output jack off of the reverb mix pot lugs. This can give you a 100% wet reverb signal, and you can use this as a crude piece of outboard reverb gear.
 
#4
IIRC that has an open back (we'll leave that part for another discussion). This should give you access to the speaker leads. You could get a speaker level to line level converter. You could then install a parallel speaker output in your combo.

My immediate thoughts on seeing this idea through.

My first thoughts are why an open back guitar amp? Some of the tone you hear is due to that, and also your speaker is likely on borrowed time. Couldnt you find a pedal or something for around the same investment with a good output level to drive the power amp instead?
 
#9
Axstar said:
Its an idea that goes back to The Grateful Dead, I think. Their boffins put a preamp 'tap' in between the preamp and power amp in their Fender amps. This allowed Jerry Garcia and co to keep the preamp clean in their Fender amps and then use a clean Macintosh power amp to seriously jack up the volume.

Word of caution: you can track down the schematic for your Frontman and simply 'tap' into the circuit between the preamp and power amp sections. What you want to achieve is completely possible. However your amp might be voiced to work with the size of the cab and driver. It mount sound good, interesting or terrible when run into a different cabinet.

A cool, wreckless thing to do with any practice amp with a spring reverb is to run a 1/4'' output jack off of the reverb mix pot lugs. This can give you a 100% wet reverb signal, and you can use this as a crude piece of outboard reverb gear.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, I'll think about trying to create this outboard reverb gear ;-)
 
#10
basscooker said:
IIRC that has an open back (we'll leave that part for another discussion). This should give you access to the speaker leads. You could get a speaker level to line level converter. You could then install a parallel speaker output in your combo.

My immediate thoughts on seeing this idea through.

My first thoughts are why an open back guitar amp? Some of the tone you hear is due to that, and also your speaker is likely on borrowed time. Couldnt you find a pedal or something for around the same investment with a good output level to drive the power amp instead?
Click to expand...

Hi, thanks for the reply. Of course I can use a pedal and I do have some that could create the same effect. Howver, I am just experimenting with slaving an amp. It might be helpfull in teh future if I know how to create a sound without damaging my gear. Plus, I am a nerd, I just want to know about this stuff :)
 
#12
Mingo Sanders said:
Have you tried the headphone jack?
Click to expand...
This was the anwer I was looking for. It worked...however I had a nasty humm coming from my practice amp..It was also present when I plugged in directly. Does anyone have a solution for THAT problem. I know it's not a bass amp but if anyone knows I sure would llike to know...Thanks in advance!
 
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