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I know you can take down the power of a 100 watt tube amp down to 50 watts by pulling 2 of the power tubes. But, is it possible to bring a 100 watt SS amp down to 50 watts somehow? I'm tired of blowing up Talk Boxes! [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]
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Re: Stupid amp question
get a cheap tube amp for your talk box. -
Re: Stupid amp question
don't worry about the SS amp, you don't need to. This is the tube thing, where if it is not in the sweat spot it actually does not sound nice at all. SS amps are much more linear at this.Comment
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Re: Stupid amp question
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don't worry about the SS amp, you don't need to. This is the tube thing, where if it is not in the sweat spot it actually does not sound nice at all. SS amps are much more linear at this.
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What does this statement have to do with what he asked? Haha...Comment
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Re: Stupid amp question
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don't worry about the SS amp, you don't need to. This is the tube thing, where if it is not in the sweat spot it actually does not sound nice at all. SS amps are much more linear at this.
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Just pull the outside pair of transistors [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
Seriously, SS amps can be manipulated by speaker load alone. This is because as you lower the impedance load on an SS amp, the transistors will deliver more current and more power. As you increase the impedance, the SS amp will deliver less power (because the current has to go through more resistance, less current=less power).
Have you ever seen on an SS amp "Warning: Do not go below X ohms"? That's because if you lower the impedance too much, the transistors will try to deliver more current than they are designed to handle, and will burn up.Comment
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Re: Stupid amp question
So if I run a 100 watt SS amp into the Talk Box (rated at 8 ohms) and the Talk Box isn't to exceed 75 watts, I'll be o.k., since the minimum load on the SS amp is 4 ohms? [img]/images/graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img]Comment
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Re: Stupid amp question
Well, let me ask you this. There should be something in the documentation of the amp like "In order to get the rated power, you need to hook up an X ohm load to the amp."
You could have an amp that the load to get the rated power is 8 ohms, but you could go down to 4 ohm, just don't go lower than that. 4 ohms is the minimum and will excede 100 watts (and the amp can handle this), but 8 ohms is the correct load and the amp will deliver 100 watts with an 8 ohm load.
Another issue is always RMS vs. Peak wattage. An amp can spike above the normal wattage (more common with tube amps). Is your SS amp rated 100 watts RMS (which it can exceed) or 100 watts peak. You often see "peak" watts quoted on cheap PC speakers. The box will say 100 watts, but you know those cheap little speakers aren't putting out 100 watts.
And yet another issue is how the wattage is classified. A Marshall 100 watt amp will put out 100 clean watts, but they easily get up in the 120 watts under distortion. Is you SS amp rated 100 watts maximum, or 100 watts clean?
Since you have a history frying these boxes, I'd say you either need to get a smaller amp to run the talk box, or (you need to research this) have an additional load in series with the talk box to steal some of it's power. For example, if you were to put a 4 ohm speaker in series with the talk box, the speaker would take a lot of the power away from the talk box. An 8 ohm speaker should take 1/2 of the power being delivered. A resistor might work as well, but it needs to be a power resistor to handle the heat-similar to a power soak. Once again, do some research - maybe contact the company who made the talk box and ask them what to do.Comment
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Re: Stupid amp question
Thanks Don, that's good info! [img]/images/graemlins/notworthy.gif[/img]
I've decided to put a few bucks into the old Musicman head I used to use to run my Talkboxes. I fugre it always sounded goos with them, the wattage was correct, and getting the head repaird is much cheaper than buying another Talk Box. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]Comment
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