Egnater Tweaker 15 Preamp/Effects Loop Question

[brutusbuck45]

Hi y'all. I'm new to forum and new to my Tweaker 15. I love the tone of the preamp section of the Tweaker. For bedroom/practice levels, the output wattage is just right. So here is my question- there may be the need for higher output wattage/volume in the future and I was curious if the use of the effects loop send into another power amp is reasonable without the chance of frying the Tweaker head due to lack of output load? I realize that all effects loops are not built the same and there is a hazard warning of running this amp without a speaker load. However, if the effects loop return is not engaged, will the power section still be in use and potentially damage the Tweaker head?

Thanks for having a look at my question.

~Brutus

 

[webrthomson]

Hi y'all. I'm new to forum and new to my Tweaker 15. I love the tone of the preamp section of the Tweaker. For bedroom/practice levels, the output wattage is just right. So here is my question- there may be the need for higher output wattage/volume in the future and I was curious if the use of the effects loop send into another power amp is reasonable without the chance of frying the Tweaker head due to lack of output load? I realize that all effects loops are not built the same and there is a hazard warning of running this amp without a speaker load. However, if the effects loop return is not engaged, will the power section still be in use and potentially damage the Tweaker head?

Thanks for having a look at my question.

~Brutus

You can use the loop send to output the preamp into a larger amps power section (i.e. in the return of the larger amp loop) effectively using it as a slave amp. This will feed the sound you like (well the preamp anyway) into the larger power section you want to get to amplify it, in fact some people do this as they like the differing section tones working together, this is exactly what Metallica did to their Boogie Mark IIC+'s, into Marshall 100 watt power sections, while recording Master of Puppets.

BUT you will need a load on the power section of BOTH amps - the smaller amp (even if the volume is at zero) is expecting a load on the speaker output and if you don’t supply it you are going to damage your amp!!!

 

[bruce egnater]

Actually you can connect the Tweaker as you described but with a few caveats. You MUST keep the master volume at '0'. You do not need to connect a load/speaker to the Tweaker because there is some internal protection under those conditions. Failure to have the Master at '0' could possibly damage the amp so you will do this at your own risk/peril. There will be another minor complication. Since the Master volume is after the loop, when you use the send to go to the other amp, you will not have a master volume knob. The way the "big guys" safely slave small amps into big amps is to use a load box on the little amp with a line out to go to the other amp. That way you get the full tone and functions of the small amp from the line out on the load box. In the case of the Tweaker, so much of the cranked tone is contributed by the poweramp/tubes, I'm afraid you will be missing some of the juiciness of the power amp from the effects end out. Because the Tweaker is only 15 watts, you don't need a very high power load box. Check THD, Weber, BadCat etc for a suitable load box.

 

[brutusbuck45]

Hi y'all. I'm new to forum and new to my Tweaker 15. I love the tone of the preamp section of the Tweaker. For bedroom/practice levels, the output wattage is just right. So here is my question- there may be the need for higher output wattage/volume in the future and I was curious if the use of the effects loop send into another power amp is reasonable without the chance of frying the Tweaker head due to lack of output load? I realize that all effects loops are not built the same and there is a hazard warning of running this amp without a speaker load. However, if the effects loop return is not engaged, will the power section still be in use and potentially damage the Tweaker head?

Thanks for having a look at my question.

~Brutus

You can use the loop send to output the preamp into a larger amps power section (i.e. in the return of the larger amp loop) effectively using it as a slave amp. This will feed the sound you like (well the preamp anyway) into the larger power section you want to get to amplify it, in fact some people do this as they like the differing section tones working together, this is exactly what Metallica did to their Boogie Mark IIC+'s, into Marshall 100 watt power sections, while recording Master of Puppets.

BUT you will need a load on the power section of BOTH amps - the smaller amp (even if the volume is at zero) is expecting a load on the speaker output and if you don’t supply it you are going to damage your amp!!!

Thank you for the response.

 

[brutusbuck45]

Actually you can connect the Tweaker as you described but with a few caveats. You MUST keep the master volume at '0'. You do not need to connect a load/speaker to the Tweaker because there is some internal protection under those conditions. Failure to have the Master at '0' could possibly damage the amp so you will do this at your own risk/peril. There will be another minor complication. Since the Master volume is after the loop, when you use the send to go to the other amp, you will not have a master volume knob. The way the "big guys" safely slave small amps into big amps is to use a load box on the little amp with a line out to go to the other amp. That way you get the full tone and functions of the small amp from the line out on the load box. In the case of the Tweaker, so much of the cranked tone is contributed by the poweramp/tubes, I'm afraid you will be missing some of the juiciness of the power amp from the effects end out. Because the Tweaker is only 15 watts, you don't need a very high power load box. Check THD, Weber, BadCat etc for a suitable load box.

Bruce,

I greatly appreciate you taking the time to address my question. I do love the Tweaker- great design and tone! I'll look into a load box for future use if I decide to go that route. I'm a bit familiar with a few of the Weber products (Micro Mass attenuator). I suppose I was under the impression that attenuation can effect the overall output tone. I tend to use mostly a clean setting and prefer that natural speaker "break up" as opposed to high gain output (think Jerry Garcia's tone). Thanks again for your insight and I look forward to trying more Egnater products in the future.

-Jeff

 

[webrthomson]

Actually you can connect the Tweaker as you described but with a few caveats. You MUST keep the master volume at '0'. You do not need to connect a load/speaker to the Tweaker because there is some internal protection under those conditions. Failure to have the Master at '0' could possibly damage the amp so you will do this at your own risk/peril. There will be another minor complication. Since the Master volume is after the loop, when you use the send to go to the other amp, you will not have a master volume knob. The way the "big guys" safely slave small amps into big amps is to use a load box on the little amp with a line out to go to the other amp. That way you get the full tone and functions of the small amp from the line out on the load box. In the case of the Tweaker, so much of the cranked tone is contributed by the poweramp/tubes, I'm afraid you will be missing some of the juiciness of the power amp from the effects end out. Because the Tweaker is only 15 watts, you don't need a very high power load box. Check THD, Weber, BadCat etc for a suitable load box.

Thats really cool - I didnt know you could set the volume to zero and not load it - nice!

In terms of load box - I use this for exactly this function (and run the DI into a DAW at the same time

http://dennismarshall.co.uk/load_box.htm