Question about combining guitar power amps with the guitar pre amp

[Jason Poulin]

this question is geared towards guitar amps

I had recently purchased the digitech 2101 guitar stereo tube preamp and was quite pleased with the effects on it for my live show.

I use it plenty for jamming but only as an effect unit through the a loop section.

the distortion can be cool but next to a JCM2000 it's powerless in live performance.

I was wondering, how much a power amp combined with this unit would improve it's ballziness. How important of a role in the sound will it play?

I've always played on heads and combos so I'm knew to the power amp/pre amp deal but I'm quite interested in them.

any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Jason

[alphajerk]

http://www.matamp.com/gt-slaveunit.html

When power is the only issue, slave out of your current amp into the SLAVE UNIT.
This amplifier replicates the tone of the primary amplifier's EQ settings. The additional
power volume is controlled by the volume pot on the front of the SLAVE.

Made in the same high quality standards of our GT-140 line, utilizing Hardwire and
turrett tag, point to point construction. This is perfect for PA's, Bass players and to
power additional cabinets with m o r e MATAMP power and tone for guitarists too!

[Midlandmorgan]

Using a separate preamp/power amp can offer a lot of versitility, but it does have its own sets of problems.

- Grounding: you gotta make double sure there is only one ground point, or you'll get hum.
- More loadin/loadout stuff: with a rack unit, you need (obviously) a rack for the pre/power and subsequent effects, a stereo speaker setup, connection cables, control cables for the obligatory footswitches, etc...
- Much more weight to lug around

There are several advantages, though:

- Consistent sound from room to room
- Gear is fairly well protected in racks
- Most guitar oriented power amps have both line level in and out, facilitating adding more amps/cabs as needed
- When set up properly, they sound great!

A simpler solution may be to get hold of a combo amp with a preamp out/power amp in jack...plugging your 2101 into the poweramp in bypasses the combo amps pre section, and allows you to use the combo amp as an amplifier and speaker cab, great for smaller gigs. I did this for several years: Mesa Boogie Studio preamp or Mosvalve BlueTube II, with a reverb and echo in the loop, pre output plugged into the power amp return of a MusicMan RD100-112...

[Paul Walsh]

I am into 25 years guitar study, performing, teaching and recording so here's more than 2 cents... I have owned Roland JC, classic Fenders (very nice if it's not buzzing), Messa Boogie MarkIV (very expensive), Line 6 Pod is a great little unit and an industry standard but here's a little tip... Yamaha i88x computer interface (discontinuation in the grapevine, get it if you can, now about $400 American) this unit as a head feeding any sort of computer modeler will give better results than anything I have ever played or heard, period. Sort of like what a '73 SuperTwin always wished it could be but never did due to imperfections in tube design....even the best tube designs never sounded as tubey as the i88x. P.S. Try to get your hands on a Gretch Synchromatic guitar because after all it's s**t in = s**t out. Keep on chuggin. Cheers.

[Byrne]

Dude, VHT power amps. They're built like tanks and they sound awesome. I realize you're new to the power/pre thing, but think of it like this; when you have a combo or a head, everything is integrated. You have more opportunities for tonal variety with a pre/power amp.

I'm not trying to shut anyone down here, but some of the disadvantages listed are a little odd to me. You can fit most power and preamps into a four-space rack ccase. If you want a power conditioner, which I personally swear by, get a six-space and you have an extra rack space for a tuner, wireless, processor, whatever your Slutty heart desires. The rack case basically becomes your new "head". You leave everything hooked up internally and tuck the power and speaker cables in when you're moving.
There is no more neccessity for a stereo setup than there is with a normal head and the weight difference can be negligible. If you really like the options afforded to you bu the 2101 then hook up with a sweet power amp and rock out. I may be newish to the studio side of Sluttiness, but I have plenty of experience with guitar rigs. In fact, if you have any questions then feel free to PM me.

Best luck.

[dlmorley]

Originally Posted by alphajerk

http://www.matamp.com/gt-slaveunit.html

When power is the only issue, slave out of your current amp into the SLAVE UNIT.
This amplifier replicates the tone of the primary amplifier's EQ settings. The additional
power volume is controlled by the volume pot on the front of the SLAVE.

Made in the same high quality standards of our GT-140 line, utilizing Hardwire and
turrett tag, point to point construction. This is perfect for PA's, Bass players and to
power additional cabinets with m o r e MATAMP power and tone for guitarists too!

The link doesn't seem to work...

[octatonic]

Here is one way to do it.

I use a Ground Control Pedal board and a Digital Music Corp GCX to split the signal into two separate signals (Any ABY pedal would do it pretty much just as well if you don't need to change guitar sounds radically)

The signal is split between a Fender Prosonic (2 channel amp) and a Pod Pro XT.
The Pod Pro XT is set up to have two basic sounds that are similar to the Prosonic (I use the Matchless DC30 emulation for clean and the Engl Powerball model for crunchy).

If I am using delay I set the Pod Pro to be 100% wet so that you are only hearing the delayed sound with all the other effects tailing behind it.

I have volume pedals for both rigs- so I can switch between 100% Prosonic or 100% Pod- the POD also have a whole bunch of looping devices added to it that splits the signal a couple of times so I end up with a bunch of independent loops.
The ground control is controlling everything so switching channels on the amp occurs at the same time as the patch change on the POD.

This way you get the sound of a tube amp dialed to 10 (or in my case, 6) with the wet effects added and no loss of tone.

I use a Gallien Krueger 800RB amp for the wet guitar tones to a 4x12.

If you're interested in how it sounds have a listen:

http://www.lotusthrone.com/Scape1.mp3