Running a tube preamp into a solid state preamp?

[Pckid212]

Is it possible to run a tube preamp (just for tone shaping) into the preamp on a guitar/bass amp safely?

I'm just learning about tube amps. So don't flame me if its not good to do, lol.


Thanks

[h_a]

I would expect that you simply have too much gain then; means tiny input makes horrible noise.

Doesn't have your unit a power amp input that you could use?

Have fun, Hannes

[Geek]

Guitar? Yes.

That's what many "stompboxes" do

Cheers!

[Pckid212]

Originally Posted by h_a

I would expect that you simply have too much gain then; means tiny input makes horrible noise.

Doesn't have your unit a power amp input that you could use?

Have fun, Hannes

My Peavey TNT100 doesn't have a power amp in but my Pyramid GA800 guitar amp does.

Originally Posted by Geek

Guitar? Yes.

That's what many "stompboxes" do

Cheers!

Sweet!

[badraven]

I have a Line6 Spider Jam (75 watt Solid State) which I purchase 4 or so years ago. I bought it for its recording capabilities. I have never cared for the sounds coming from the amp. There are times when I can get decent tone from it but only when turned up loud and WAY too much overdrive. Someone that likes acid rock would probably keep on hand down their pants playing it that way. Me, I like overdrive as much as the next guy but not wide open. This amp has always sounded very hollow tone wise. Anyway... The amp I normally play (Fender FM212R) is on the bench right now and I am waiting for parts to arrive. So... I am forced to either not play or play the Line6. Yeah, I know...

So I have been learning more about tube amps and on and on. and I had this idea (Ding!)
I use a Bellari MP105 tube preamp for my vocal mic and it works wonderfully. I am quite the green horn concerning amp electronics etc. and have been wondering if anyone ever converted a solid state amp from transistors to tube(s) to create better tone. For all I know, it might be a completely futile endeavor but like I said, I'm ignorant to such things at this point. Then I got this idea, what if I use the preamp like a stomp box. Wouldn't that give some life to the tone, the way it does for my mic? So I tried it... Woo Hoo!!! I love it!

Now I don't have a preamp in or an out on this amp (for some stupid reason) so I am using it like a stomp box. I can't add any gain (on the Bellari) in this setup because I did that with the mic once when I first got the Bellari and after a minute I could smell it doing bad things to my amp. Then I learned that adding gain from the preamp hooked in that configuration is a bad thing. BUT, the gain isn't needed. The preamp is changing the input signal and giving it lots of body and that unmistakeable tube sound. The amp its self is the volume as usual. I then added my TS5 Tube Screamer with the Monte Allums mod kit (Yes it made a kick *** TS out of a mediocre pedal). WOW!
I have observed that for best sound in this configuration you want the effects to be before the Bellari.

I was sure this would be something good tone wise because of my experience with the mic but what I got with the guitar is WAY more than I expected. I gotta tell you, this experience is taking my desire to go buy a Tube Amp down more than a few notches.

I can't wait till my Fender is back on the road so I can try it on that one. That should sound real impressive because that amp sounds ten times better than this Line6 no matter what I'm playing.

BR

[badraven]

Here's a recording through the mic input on my SpiderJam. The mic port can be separated from the distortion of the amp effects, which is what I did here to get a clean of a sound as I can.

For comparison purposes I recorded this with my digital 8 track and mixed two guitar tracks and adjusted the direct connection to the left channel and the Bellari through on the right channel. So you can move back and forth left to right to make a comparison.

The recording isn't picking up the complete picture here unfortunately because my condenser mic took a dump a few months ago. Currently I am using a Radio Shack special - Realistic 33-984c. I've had this mic for 20+ years. Its certainly reliable but that's about all I can say for it. But its good enough for our purposes today.

Apparently I cannot upload a sound file here. Not sure what's up with that but here is a link to my server.

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BR