Effects processing between the amp and cabinet

[paladin shredder]

I've been thinking it would be pretty cool to do this with eq: go from the amp's output into a parametric eq then into the cabinet. to me it sounds like a cool idea, but also a potentially dangerous one. has anyone tried this or know anything about this? would you have to use a hotplate?

 

[Wolfeman]

hmmmm

 

[NickL]

I think you'd be clipping the living shit out of your eq

 

[devouredremains]

I've been thinking it would be pretty cool to do this with eq: go from the amp's output into a parametric eq then into the cabinet. to me it sounds like a cool idea, but also a potentially dangerous one. has anyone tried this or know anything about this? would you have to use a hotplate?

Why wouldn't you just put the eq in the effects loop? If your idea worked the difference would be very small.

 

[slashvanyoung]

Wouldn't that fry the amp and/or the FX-unit (unless there's some kind of attenuator) because the amp would unleash all it's fookin fury to the FX-unit???

 

[wishtheend]

Yeah, let's pump a speaker load into an fx pedal Seriously, just use the FX loop. However, However, I sometimes apply CurveEQ to the FX Send/Line Out of my head before applying an impulse.

 

[John_C]

you could do something like what you've mentioned.......... but not without considerable expense/soldering and it would probably sound pretty dreadful in the end.
However, here goes:

Get/make a dummy load with a line out (like the hotplate)
Feed that into your FX
Go out of the FX to a standard power amp and from there to your cab, being careful with the impedances
If that all worked perfectly, it could in theory preserve the tone of the amp, stop anything blowing up, and do what you were after. However, chances are it wont work perfectly at all

A better solution:
Take the FX send/Line out from your amp, into the FX and then into a power amp (if you got say a marshall EL34 100/100 then you'd still get the valve power amp roar ) then to your cab. YOU STILL MUST HAVE A DUMMY LOAD ON THE SPEAKER OUTS OF YOUR AMP, otherwise you could destroy the power stage of your amp.

 

[mick thompson]

maybe you could effect it with a big ass spring reverb coil but i dont know, im sure its been tried in the past to effect after the poweramp and they have a reason not too

 

[VH100R]

I don't know why you wold want to do that but...

get a behringer ULtra G DI or what the hell is the name (the big red). I have one. Its made to be connected between amp and cab and it will take a huge load without any problem. then just use the XLR out of the behringer to your rack EQ, then to your mixer/audio interface.

It will do the job for cheap. Again, don't understand why would you want to do that and not use an EQ in the loop or after the signal was recorded.

 

[John_C]

I take it back about it sounding dreadful, there's no reason why it couldn't work very well. But hot plates aren't cheap, and marshall power amps are even more expensive. Anything other than a decent valve (or very characterful solid state) power amp would defeat the point of the exercise anyway so cheap solid state power amps are out of the question.
If you've got the money though, it'd make an interesting project!

 

[John_C]

would the behringer unit be safe to use with power amps? I've heard that they respond to load very different to solid state

 

[Exocaster]

Get/make a dummy load with a line out (like the hotplate)
Feed that into your FX
Go out of the FX to a standard power amp and from there to your cab, being careful with the impedances
If that all worked perfectly, it could in theory preserve the tone of the amp, stop anything blowing up, and do what you were after. However, chances are it wont work perfectly at all

There's absolutely no reason that shouldn't work if the gear is set up properly. That's part of what the HotPlate is designed to be able to do. Running the HotPlate solely as a load and taking the line out into effects/poweramp/cabs essentially turns the head into a giant preamp.

A better solution:
Take the FX send/Line out from your amp, into the FX and then into a power amp (if you got say a marshall EL34 100/100 then you'd still get the valve power amp roar ) then to your cab. YOU STILL MUST HAVE A DUMMY LOAD ON THE SPEAKER OUTS OF YOUR AMP, otherwise you could destroy the power stage of your amp.

That's all well and good if you want a wet/dry or wet/dry/wet setup, but for a mono setup with effects, why not just go through the loop of the head to begin with rather than bothering with the extra power amp and dummy load? The FX send or line/slave out are from the preamp section.

The whole point of the first of the two above setups is to get the power section to break up A) at a livable onstage volume, and B) being able to apply clean delays and reverbs to that sound. It's really something best used with an old Marshall Superlead or the like, who's gain sound is dependent in no small part on getting the power section to break up. Even if there was an effects loop (why the 1987x and 1959x Superlead reissues have a loop is beyond me) 'verb and delay are going to get garbled to all hell by the very distorted poweramp. It's a totally different beast than a modern high gainer, which are generally designed to have very clean power sections.

The OP's premise is totally do-able, but you need an attenuator with a line out and a separate poweramp, preferably something very clean- VHT, Mesa Strategy, a big solid-state PA amp, etc. And, to be honest, kinda pointless unless you run your power section dirty.

 

[John_C]

Good point, if you're running your power amp dirty then any effects in the middle will be garbled. Didn't think of that with my second method, sorry.... plus it didn't even really answer the OP...... feeling very stupid............

the first idea should work though, good luck (Y)

 

[paladin shredder]

haha, well i pretty much figured my idea would result in things blowing up. i'm just glad they theoretically blew up on this forum rather than in real life

i got the idea while messing around in revalver, because i think you can chain the effects so that you can put an eq after the amp and before the impulse. i remember reading as well someone on here who applied a curve eq setting of a 5150 to the raw metal-zone pedal distortion before his impulse. i just find it convenient that in the virtual world you can apply eq before the cab impulse, thus tailoring the sound of the speaker, and so i thought it would be interesting if this could apply to hardware gear.

edit: fyi, this was just a random idea i had, i don't think i'm actually going to try this seeing as how my electrical knowledge is very slim.

 

[Morgan C]

Iirc Emppu from Nightwish does or used to do this, placing an EQ between the amp and cab. Once and Century Child had somewhat unorthodox guitar tones, very scooped around 2khz.