Re: Guitar rig advice wanted

[Dave Stagner <dstagner@icarus.net>]

You could try making a "line out" for the guitar amp.  It won't capture
the sound of the speaker, but it should get the basic flavor of the amp,
at least (it also won't silence the speaker, if that matters to you).  

Get a little project box.  It needs on 1/4" jack going in, and two 1/4"
jacks going out.  The input jack should be connected to the regular
speaker jack on your amp (use the same grade of wire for this that you
would for speakers!).  For the two output jacks, wire them in parallel.
Put a 1000 ohm 5 watt resistor in series with one of the jacks.  This is
the line out.  You should be able to plug it directly into mixers,
effects, etc.  Make sure the speaker is plugged into the other jack!  It
is bad for tube amps to not receive a proper load.  

This circuit should have negligible effect on the sound of your amp and
speaker, and require no internal modifications that might hurt the value
of your vintage amp.  It also gets all the sound of the amp/speaker
interaction and the power tubes, which is what makes classic amps sound so
great.  It won't get the last bit of "air" from the actual cone, but it's
close.  It'll cost you about ten bucks in parts at Radio Shack, and a
little bit of time with a soldering iron, and requires almost NO
electronics knowledge!  

Try it and see.

-dave

By "beauty," I mean that which seems complete.
Obversely, that the incomplete, or the mutilated, is the ugly. 
Venus De Milo.
To a child she is ugly.       /* dstagner@icarus.net */
   -Charles Fort