Dave da Dude Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 I need to get an attenuator so I can play my amps in the house!! I'm goin' crazy not being able to use them Can I use one attenuator through an A/B/Y box and then to my JC-55 AND Randall Tube Pro AND 15" Bass speaker? Dave the Frustrated One Gotta' geetar... got the amp. There must be SOMEthing else I... "need". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werewolf by Night Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 Hmmmnn... you don't mean that you want to use the attenuator on the (Roland?) JC-55, do you? Being a solid state design, the JC shouldn't require attenuation, nor would it benefit from it. (And I believe that most, if not all, attenuators out there are tube-amp specific.) If I understand you, you want to use both amps through one cab, and an attenuator on the output of the Randall, right? (Or, have I missed the boat here? Is the Randall a preamp that you want to use through the JC-55?) Using one ss- and one tube-amp into one cab presents some monkeywrenches... Perhaps you could find an arrangement using something like the Headbone switchers from Tonebone that would work for you. They make multi-amp/one-cab switchers in two models, one for tube-amps, and one for ss. Palmer also makes some products that might help you out here, but at least two pieces of pricey gear would need to be used together, maybe more. Add to all of the above the attenuator of your choice... You might be better off getting a second cab, and a good attenuator that suits the Randall and whichever cab you decide to run it through. (Tonebone also makes some very excellent A/B/Y one guitar/multi-amp switchers; probably the best out there now. Hope I've been of some help here, and not just dashed your hopes, Dave! (By the way, anybody ever tell you that ya look a lot like Dusty Hill?) Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave da Dude Posted May 21, 2004 Author Share Posted May 21, 2004 Okay, that's a good piece of information - I don't need to use the attenuator with the Roland Jazz Chorus 55 Combo 2 x 10. The Randall Tube Pro is an all tube combo 1 x 12. I want to take the extra speaker output and run it to a (dead amp) bass combo with a 15 inch speaker as an extra speaker for the tube amp. I'd like to A/B/Y the solid state and tube amp (with extra speaker) and be able to play at low volume (but full tone). Any help would be appreciated, the chain sequence, etc. I'm also thinking of an additional A/B/Y or an A/B/C/D to use, and not use, the efx loops of both amps and avoid the "tone sucking" of the efx (w/o "true" bypass). Dave the Obsessive Gotta' geetar... got the amp. There must be SOMEthing else I... "need". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werewolf by Night Posted May 22, 2004 Share Posted May 22, 2004 O.K., you'll need to know the impedance of those speakers, and what their combined impedance will be, in either series or parallel; that will help you when choosing an attenuator. (See Myles here; he's got a lot of experience with attenuators and speaker emulators and all that.) You do mean that you want to use the 15" and the 12" together, simultaneously, right? (If you decide you only want to use one or the other, then all you need to concern yourself with here are the impedance of the one you want to use, and- of course- the impedance(s) that the amp will work with.) As for switching between amps, speakers, effects loops, etc. etc., you should be able to find anything you need between those to links! Best of luck! Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave da Dude Posted May 22, 2004 Author Share Posted May 22, 2004 Caevan, You do mean that you want to use the 15" and the 12" together, simultaneously, right? YES I'm hopin' it'll be awesome. Thanks for the info. I'll check out the speakers and then get to Myles. Thanks again, Dave. PS What are the pros and cons of running the speakers in Series and Paralllel? Gotta' geetar... got the amp. There must be SOMEthing else I... "need". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werewolf by Night Posted May 22, 2004 Share Posted May 22, 2004 The extra speaker jack on your amp is probably wired in parallel with the main speaker-out; but, there're all kinds of arrangements out there. Double check, and then check again to be sure! In parallel wiring- ("+" to "+" and "-" to "-")- if they both have the same impedance rating- they will have a combined impedance of half of the rating for an individual speaker. That is, two 8-ohm speakers wired in parallel will have a combined impedance of 4-ohms. In parallel, if one speaker blows, the other one will still be working. This allows a little extra safety against running your tube-amp into no load, or "infinite"-ohms. It also allows you to finish playing should this occur at a gig, and then correct the situation to one of the correct impedance again. In series wiring- ("+" to "-" and "-" to "+")- the impedance of two speakers of the same impedance would be doubled. That is, two 8-ohm speakers wired in series will have a combined impedance of 16-ohms. In series, if one speaker blows, the other one is cut-off from the output. But series-wiring may, in some cases, be the only way to arrive at the impedance you want. Hope that helps! Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave da Dude Posted May 23, 2004 Author Share Posted May 23, 2004 Thanks for the info. Looks like I have to find out if the amp can handle the 4 ohms of resistance with the speakers hooked in parallel. Dave Gotta' geetar... got the amp. There must be SOMEthing else I... "need". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werewolf by Night Posted May 23, 2004 Share Posted May 23, 2004 There are often switches for selecting impedance on newer tube-amps; also, many have multiple-taps on the output transformer, allowing for rewiring for different impedances. Sometimes the extra jack on an amp is intended to be fine with another speaker connected of the same impedance. Since you plan on pushing the amp kinda hard, with an attenuator, you might be best off knowing for sure; I hate to defer more work to Myles yet again, but you should ask him about all of that. And/or get some info from Randall (or just on that particular Randall, regardless of where you get it from). If you were to make a mistake... it is much better to have too high of an impedance, than too low. Meaning, if the amp wants to "see" 8-ohms, and you were gonna err with either 4-ohms or 16-ohms, 16-ohms would be safer for the amp. Going under the optimal impedance harshly overworks the output section, while going over just loads it down more. Kinda like an imaginary car engine, with you stomping down on the gas pedal: if it's in gear, fine. If it's in gear and you're going up hill, fine, just a little hard work. If the transmission isn't even connected, the engine'll redline real fast and probably overheat and suffer damage. Does my analogy make sense? When you've got all of this sorted out, and you get an attenuator and/or some switching gear of any kind, let me (and everybody) know how and what and when and where and all of that! Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werewolf by Night Posted August 30, 2005 Share Posted August 30, 2005 So, Dave- dude- how'd this all work out for ya? Keep us posted, man!! Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werewolf by Night Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 > B U M P < So, Dave- dude- how'd this all work out for ya? Keep us posted, man!! Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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