Looper's Delight Archive Top (Search)
Date Index
Thread Index
Author Index
Looper's Delight Home
Mailing List Info

[Date Prev][Date Next]   [Thread Prev][Thread Next]   [Date Index][Thread Index][Author Index]

Re: Dummy Loads, Line Outs, and thangs like that



doug,

>I know you have much experience with Rivera amps and racks of gear, 
well..... i use one rack w/4 single-space units in it.....
i do use a rivera m100 head, quite often, which was modified by paul 
rivera 
sr.

>so
>I
>thought you'd be a good resource for this question.
we'll see!
8-)

>I have a Knucklehead 100 watt.  I also have a GR-1, 
gr-1 is a roland synth-gtr unit w/hex-pickup?

>2 EDPs, and some other
>stuff, that encourages me to run a stereo setup. 
right.
 
>My current preference
>is to run stereo into 2 JC-120s.  But...  I *love* the tone and 
>flexibility
>of my Rivera, and am exploring ways to get it into my setup.
gotcha.
  
>My goal is to
>treat the Knucklehead as the tone shaper of my guitar signal, while 
>keeping
>my synth guitar and stereo capability.
there is at least one alternate path --- if yer willing to haul everything 
around:
dual mono or 3-point stereo:
gtr> knucklehead> dedicated knucklehead cab
(line out of knucklehead> small mixer)
(gr-1> small mixer)
(edp's on fx sends @ small mixer)
(small mixer out> power amp ins of 1 or 2 jc120's)

this separates the tone and soundsource of the gtr from the synth and 
loops 
etc; in this case, if you have (for example) a thd hotplate, you can 
control 
(& balance) the overall output level of the kh w/the controls on the 
hotplate 
(www.thdelectronics.com) while sending a consistent level to the 
loop-dealie.
(NB, though: using the hotplate to drive your kh cabinet at only 
'whisper'-levels will not allow the kh speaker cab to contribute to your 
sound.....)
 
>I'm toying with the idea of doing
>this:
>Guitar -> GR-1
>GR-1 Guitar Out -> Knucklehead (preamp) -> KH Effects Loop with a few
>goodies -> KH Effects return -> KH power amp -> KH Line Out -> GR-1 Guitar
>Return
okay.....

>GR-1 Stereo Outs -> the rest of my stereo setup, including an EDP on each
>side, ending into two JC-120s
sounds reasonable, but then you'll not be getting the best out of the 
knucklehead through the 'high-efficiency' jc-120's, i think.....

>This will require me to have a dummy load on the Rivera. 
right; and most dummy-loads still require the amp to be connected to an 
actual speaker cab..... 

>1st question
>- any
>experience with the common dummy load devices?  Any idea which will give
>me
>a true dummy load, while maintaining the beautiful tone of the Rivera?
quick answer:
well, there's no quick answer to that.
if you wanna maintain the sound of yer kh, yer gonna need to play it 
through 
a suitable spkr cab.
i have, myself, a few pathways to that end:
1) my current setup uses the thd hotplate: very good-sounding & reactive, 
very flexible w/a variety of selectable spkr-output-levels and one pure 
dummy-load,
2) my rivera m100 has a built-in switchable dummy-load, which does the job 
well so long as the line-out eventually ends in a suitable gtr spkr-cab, 
and
3) a switchable dummy-load w/compensated line-out made by mark bartel (of 
toneking amplifiers) that functions much like the rivera, but in a 
transportable box.

i don't know if this'll help ya, but over the years i've developed this 
system as my 'direct-recording' rig:
gtr>pedals>toneking comet 40 amp & cab>thd hotplate(set at -12dB, so 
there's 
still some gtr sound in the room)>ada ampulator (reactive power tube 
tone-shaping)>small mixer (loops, fx, etc)>ada microcab2 (speaker 
emulation)> 
recorder.

>2nd question - do you have success with taking the Line Out from a Rivera,
>running it through rack gear, and going out to other guitar amp(s)?  
that has worked for me, in the past, but:
i would think that jc120's are not gonna be the perfect match for what i 
presume is the KH's original tone.....
but:
experimenting is the *only* way to find out what might work for ***you***!

>Is
>my
>tone gonna sound like doo-doo?  I can't really test this until I have a
>dummy load.
as far as i can tell, the 2 major available choices would be:
1) the thd hotplate (which i quite like, myself), and
2) the palmer stuff..... ( available at http://www.palmerdirect.com/  )

hope that helps!, and sorry if it doesn't.....
best,
dt / splattercell