guitar distortion pedal image
Rafael G
Can I only use my distortion pedal with a power amp?
Guitar ---> distortion pedal(metal muff) ---> power amp
If not, then can I use a multi effects pedal, like a line6 POD?
But my amp doesn't have an output, what can I do?
Answer
Okay, I'm a little confused. A power amp is usually a rackmount unit that accepts a line level plugin and has outputs for powering speakers. A guitar amp is actually a combination of a preamp and a power amp, and if it's a combo, speakers too.
So if you don't have an output.... then what do you have?
First, if it *is* a power amp and you just haven't seen the speaker outs (or are talking about some other kind of outs), then what you should know is that power amps have a flat frequency response - what comes in is basically what comes out, just much louder. Usually the speakers they plug in to are relatively flat too... at least compared to guitar amp speakers.
Guitar speakers have a roll-off on the top end, ie, the highest frequencies get chopped off. This is because when you amplify and distort a signal you generate a lot of (usually very nasty) noise in your upper frequencies. The easiest solution is to use a speaker that rolls those off, leaving us with a nice smooth sound.
Speakers used for sound reinforcement and home entertainment and music reproduction are called full-range, full-spectrum, flat response, etc, meaning that they try to reproduce all frequencies. What this means is that if you put an unprocessed guitar signal into them, you'll hear a lot of nasty noise. You'll need to process your signal with something that will emulate that speaker... either a speaker emulator, or a multifx pedal or processor that does the same basic idea.
Accordingly, multifx processors tend to sound very good when used with these types of amps and speakers - Line 6 POD's, for instance.
You can run your distortion pedal into something like a POD, then into a power amp, sure. That will give you the distortion sound you want, the processing necessary to sound like it's coming from an actual guitar speaker/amp, and then on to the power amp.
If you have some other configuration, then ... well, I dunno. I could throw random stuff out there, but it won't necessarily help you.
If you do have a guitar amp, and you're talking about plugging into the fx return in the fx loop, so that you bypass the preamp and go straight to the power amp, then sure, you can try doing that. Again, though, part of what the preamp does is shape your tone - including rounding off some of those high frequencies. Sometimes with certain pedals it makes things muddier, sometimes it's better to go straight to the power amp, sometimes its not.... really depends on the amp and on the pedals.
I was actually messing around with this yesterday... Plugging into the input jack on my Crate Power Block versus plugging into the line in jack, which bypasses the preamp. I have a preamp installed in the guitar, so I have the juice to do that, and I was pleasantly surprised that the sound was still pretty decent - the Crate is actually a fairly "transparent" amplifier, with minimal coloring, as long as you don't push it too hard (then it starts to sound like poo).
Hope this helped!
Saul
Okay, I'm a little confused. A power amp is usually a rackmount unit that accepts a line level plugin and has outputs for powering speakers. A guitar amp is actually a combination of a preamp and a power amp, and if it's a combo, speakers too.
So if you don't have an output.... then what do you have?
First, if it *is* a power amp and you just haven't seen the speaker outs (or are talking about some other kind of outs), then what you should know is that power amps have a flat frequency response - what comes in is basically what comes out, just much louder. Usually the speakers they plug in to are relatively flat too... at least compared to guitar amp speakers.
Guitar speakers have a roll-off on the top end, ie, the highest frequencies get chopped off. This is because when you amplify and distort a signal you generate a lot of (usually very nasty) noise in your upper frequencies. The easiest solution is to use a speaker that rolls those off, leaving us with a nice smooth sound.
Speakers used for sound reinforcement and home entertainment and music reproduction are called full-range, full-spectrum, flat response, etc, meaning that they try to reproduce all frequencies. What this means is that if you put an unprocessed guitar signal into them, you'll hear a lot of nasty noise. You'll need to process your signal with something that will emulate that speaker... either a speaker emulator, or a multifx pedal or processor that does the same basic idea.
Accordingly, multifx processors tend to sound very good when used with these types of amps and speakers - Line 6 POD's, for instance.
You can run your distortion pedal into something like a POD, then into a power amp, sure. That will give you the distortion sound you want, the processing necessary to sound like it's coming from an actual guitar speaker/amp, and then on to the power amp.
If you have some other configuration, then ... well, I dunno. I could throw random stuff out there, but it won't necessarily help you.
If you do have a guitar amp, and you're talking about plugging into the fx return in the fx loop, so that you bypass the preamp and go straight to the power amp, then sure, you can try doing that. Again, though, part of what the preamp does is shape your tone - including rounding off some of those high frequencies. Sometimes with certain pedals it makes things muddier, sometimes it's better to go straight to the power amp, sometimes its not.... really depends on the amp and on the pedals.
I was actually messing around with this yesterday... Plugging into the input jack on my Crate Power Block versus plugging into the line in jack, which bypasses the preamp. I have a preamp installed in the guitar, so I have the juice to do that, and I was pleasantly surprised that the sound was still pretty decent - the Crate is actually a fairly "transparent" amplifier, with minimal coloring, as long as you don't push it too hard (then it starts to sound like poo).
Hope this helped!
Saul
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