SpiderWars
Well-known member
I recently built a Matchless Lightning inspired amp. Ever since I got a Marshall MG 4x12 as a throw in for a Marshall 2203 deal, I've used it as my amp cart. I work on amps as they sit on top of the cab and I can wheel it around, over to the good cabs/load box/etc. But for initial testing or biasing I just grab a speaker cable and plug the amp into the MG cab below it. So to do initial testing on my Lightning clone I grabbed the speaker cable from my '69 Superlead clone that went to the loadbox. I'm sure you can see where this is going.
So a few days later (last night) I decide to fire up the '69 clone, which stays cranked just the way I play it. But when I turn it ON, the hiss is way louder than normal and all the LED input lights on my rack effects are going very red. I didn't play much but I did play something, a chord or two, before it dawned on me wtf I had done. I don't think I ever fully cranked the guitar volume. Soon as I cracked the guitar volume the rack LEDs went red.
For clarification; I use a Suhr Iso Line Out box for the Line Level signal to the rack. The load box is a totally separate unit that uses it's own speaker cable.
Anyway, the amp sounds fine and crisis averted. But I was a little concerned for a few seconds there. I usually look behind the amp just to verify but this time I didn't. I need to just buy another speaker cable and leave it connected to the MG amp cart.
So a few days later (last night) I decide to fire up the '69 clone, which stays cranked just the way I play it. But when I turn it ON, the hiss is way louder than normal and all the LED input lights on my rack effects are going very red. I didn't play much but I did play something, a chord or two, before it dawned on me wtf I had done. I don't think I ever fully cranked the guitar volume. Soon as I cracked the guitar volume the rack LEDs went red.
For clarification; I use a Suhr Iso Line Out box for the Line Level signal to the rack. The load box is a totally separate unit that uses it's own speaker cable.
Anyway, the amp sounds fine and crisis averted. But I was a little concerned for a few seconds there. I usually look behind the amp just to verify but this time I didn't. I need to just buy another speaker cable and leave it connected to the MG amp cart.
