D.I. recording - can I play my ENGL Savage without a cab?

smy1

smy1

Member
Apr 8, 2006
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Hamburg, Germany
www.faderhead.com
I have recently been recording most of my guitars direct from the FX Send of my Engl Savage 120 into my preamp and then using impulses for the cab sound. All the time a cab was connected.

I was wondering if I need something like a THD hotplate/loadbox to reamp or record with my Savage when I am NOT connecting the amp to a cab AND the amp is in standby?

Since the poweramp-section is not active and my signal is coming straight from the preamp, there shouldn't be a problem without a loadbox or a cab, right?

Or am I making a fundamental mistake?
 
I've had amps in the studio on standby with no-load many times, and things have been fine. Just have to remember to keep standby on.

Does the fx loop out still output a signal even when the amp is on standby?
 
Hi guys, i looked on the forum and i got after this thread..
I wanted to ask you something about this particular case, which is similar to mine:
I've got an engl savage 120 and i want to plug it to my audio interface.
I wanted to ask if someone is expert in doing things like this since i've read it can damage my amp if i do not keep a cab connected, then i read it's not necessary if the amp is in the standby mode...
I wanted to be completely sure before trying it by myself, anyone can help me?
 
As long as it's on standby, no cab needs to be attached.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think most Engl's don't cut the preamp tubes out when in standby, so you should still be able to use it to record.

I would still have a cab connected just in case the standby gets flipped. Or pull the power tubes out.

BTW- No need to bump a thread from 4 years ago, this has been covered hundreds of times on this forum. A search would have showed that.
 
Sorry to feed to the 4 year old thread.....but is this possible to do with a 5150? I was under the impression that you ALWAYS had to have a cab connected, even if the amp is on standby.
 
Wolfeman said:
As long as it's on standby, no cab needs to be attached.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think most Engl's don't cut the preamp tubes out when in standby, so you should still be able to use it to record.

I would still have a cab connected just in case the standby gets flipped. Or pull the power tubes out.

BTW- No need to bump a thread from 4 years ago, this has been covered hundreds of times on this forum. A search would have showed that.
Click to expand...

Thank you man for tour answer!
I've searched about this particular case but i didn't find exactly what i was looking for so, before risking my amp, i wrote here
 
Hey guys :3 I guess i'll go for the same question here :$

I Bought my own 3ch Dual Recto solo head yesterday, and i also want to know if i can run it directly With NO LOAD
on its speaker outputs and in Stand By Mode.

PiCs0804.jpg


Is someone certain about this matter? 100%?

Thanks a lot for any info!
 
It depends on how the amp is designed. If the standby cuts out the B+ completely, that means the preamp isn't getting any juice either. So in standby you won't need a load plugged in, but your preamp isn't going to work to output anything anyway.

The best thing to do if unsure of how the amp works, is to ALWAYS have a load plugged in, whether on standby or not. Keep it safe.

Here is what you can do with most amps. Have a speaker cab plugged in for a load. Not in standby. Amp works normally, outputting sound through the speaker cab. Now run a cable from your FX loop send to your interface. Now you have a proper load on the power amp, you have your preamp output going to your interface, and no sound will be coming out of your cab for silent recording (assuming the FX loop is series, not parallel).

On an amp like the SLO, this wouldn't work too well, since the loop is BEFORE the tone controls. As you can see it all depends on the amp. Best thing to do is read the manual and follow the manufacturers suggestions.

On my amps, I simply ground the cathodes of the power tubes only, so the preamp section still works while the power tubes are taken out of service. SO no load is needed when in standby, but the preamp is still good to output sound. This is the way some Engls do it as well. Now remember, this will probably change the way your preamp sounds a bit, since the voltages will be different going to the plates of the preamp tubes(they will be higher since the load from the power tubes in no longer there).
 
wolfeman; you're right.
I got a Cab for a couple of hours and tested this.

On my mesa, I turned it on and left it on Stand by.
Connected the guitar into the FX loop and Sent the signal to my Daw.

Thing is; signal is completly Raw. But when i compared it visually [Direct DI, and trough Head]
They certainly looked different. And sounded a bit more crispy.

But that's it.

I guess i'll have to buy my Cab ¬ ¬

[Tested it WITH and WITHOUT cab, so yeah, it does work without cab ON STAND BY]
 
You can also pull the power tubes out, and then you can flip off of standby with no load connected. But like I said, the preamp may sound different.

Try it, may even make it sound more brutal.


Disclaimer- I am not responsible for broken amps due to anyone trying any of these methods out. If you don't know what you are doing, don't do it!
 
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