emailsack Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 Apologies if this has been posted/asked before, but I'm curious about something - I have an '80s era marshall jcm 800 50W head that I was thinking about using as a preamp and running the output into another head's (probably solid-state)clean channel or something to then send to speaker cabs. I've not done this before and am not knowledgeable, it's just a thought I had so as to wring the most I can out of the JCM without destroying everyone with volume. Is this possible? Anyone know of issues or otherwise have experience with this type of setup?? Thanks very much in advance!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock Soldier Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 Were you just gonna not plug the Marshall into a speaker? Cause you can't not run a speaker or you will fry your amps output transformer. Tube amps need to run with a load on them, thats why they make products like the Marshall Power Brake and THD Hot Plate to attenuate the signal to the speaker. A.K.A. TRGuitar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ol Boy Rivers Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 Yeah man. Its VERY possible. Its called " Slaving " Amps, And many artists do it to get a very differnt sound. All you need to do is run an amps Output ( NOT THE SPEAKER OUTPUT ) into the masteramps input ( Now if your running an older amp into this newer amp then it might not have an output that clicks out the speakers and loads it into the ground, Or atleast i think. ) Then plug the master amp into the speakers. Then TWEAK THE LIVING $#!^ o OUT OF EM! I have two marshall 3005 leads slaved, And you can get so many tones its not even funny. BEWARE that when you slave an amp its going to get rather louder then it did before ( This is because the input signal has just been boosted because of the output of a FULL AMP. We need to Get ricochet in here and tell us if 80's JCM's have the self tripping outputs. Never trouble trouble till' trouble troubles you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock Soldier Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 Aren't Marshall 3005's a little 12 watt solid state head? The JCM 800 is a tube amp. It may have an FX loop so you can chain the preamp out to another amp, but I believe you need to run a speaker load with it. I don't think you can just unplug it. Solid state amps are very different from tube amps in this aspect. I believe you can run a solid state amp with no load. Running a tube amp with no load is a recipe for disaster. A.K.A. TRGuitar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ol Boy Rivers Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 TRguitar, yeah there solid state. BUT they have a output jack built into the system that allows the speakers to shut off. ( I know about the rules and laws of tubes and had a few BAD experiances with them ) I say contact marshall with it. They are OK with their customer service and im sure they will be able to answer all of your questions. Never trouble trouble till' trouble troubles you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock Soldier Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 Here is a link to Marshalls site, the pdf for the JCM 800 manual. http://www.marshallamps.com/downloads/files/2203%20Hbk.pdf Page 2 under WARNING! Important safety instructions Under "I" "Do not switch the amplifier on without a loudspeaker connected." A.K.A. TRGuitar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ol Boy Rivers Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 There you go then. Some tube amps have a output that alows you to use the output only and not the speakers. It DOES have an effects loop but it dosent look like it has the ability just to be used without speakers. Gimmi a day or to guy and ill figure out a way you can use it without speakers ( But as TR said you might have to have some sort of Hotplate. ) Never trouble trouble till' trouble troubles you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock Soldier Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 The Epiphone So Cal amp head has a built in hot plate attenuator. You can also run it at 1/2 power, 25 instead of 50 watts, but you still gotta plug a speaker into it. A.K.A. TRGuitar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdrs Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 In the "old days" many did daisy chain marshall stacks (Plexis). Not sure exactly how they did it however. I think it was kind of like jumping the two channels on one marshall head to get more tone possibilities....but, I'm not certain. Don "There once was a note, Pure and Easy. Playing so free, like a breath rippling by." http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=574296 http://www.myspace.com/imdrs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock Soldier Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Well you just go from the line out of your first amp then into an input on the next. The next ones line out goes to the input of another and so on ..... but my point is all amps will have their own speakers loading their respective poweramps. The new ones have line in as well as line out. You would use those in your chaining. I have done this with small solid state combo amps to get more sound and to "clone" the sound of my favorite ones preamp into the next. It works well. I think that emailsack wanted something quite different though. They want to use the Marshall's preamp to drive a smaller solid state amp at low volume to get a cranked sound at a lower volume. As I mentioned above, you can't run a tube amp without a speaker of some sort of load like an attenuator. I know Ricochet has built a device that can do this. It is his patented (or not patented) "Brown n Serve". It puts a load on the Marshall and provides a line level output that can be run into any amp at any volume. A.K.A. TRGuitar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdrs Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 trguitar....when you say line out, you do not mean speaker out, right?? I'm talking about, say, an old Plexi here. I'd like to try this, but don't want to roast any of my amps if I mess up!! Don "There once was a note, Pure and Easy. Playing so free, like a breath rippling by." http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=574296 http://www.myspace.com/imdrs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock Soldier Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Heavens no ... not speaker out. Yeah, the old amps probably don't have a line out. The speaker out would likely fry both amps. You know how the newer amps have effects loops? Effects Send and Return = Line out and Line in. Thats what I was talking about. An old Plexi huh? Cool! You certainly don't want to hurt that one. A.K.A. TRGuitar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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