Old combo head as preamp?
 

Would this work? I've got an old peavey practice amp that I'm thinking about pulling apart so I can use the head as a preamp. Its a Peavey 110 Max combo amp.

as long as you aren't using the speaker output of it into whatever is next in the chain, sure. but you MAY find that what sounds good at low volume won't translate so well at higher power levels.

So would I have to use the Headphone jack on it for whatever is next in line?

Can you bypass the pre? Is there an effects loop or anything? If so, the answer is yes.

No loops or anything. What you see in the pics is all it has as far as jacks go.

if it has a line out, (peavey liked to label them "preamp out", making it easy) that would be best. i'd even stay away from using the headphone output, actually. you dont want to risk frying the input circuitry of anything behind it. somebody smarter may say it's ok, but i'm not going on record suggesting it ;)

The only output besides the headphone out is the actual output to the speaker.

hmmm. i'm not sure there's a way to do it without buying a line reducer. Parts express and other places like that often sell a transformer that converts a speaker level output to line level. this is an option. i've expired my knowledge on this. maybe somebody else has a better way, or at least knows for sure if the headphone output is an acceptable option. good luck.

Mmk, Good to know. Just trying to figure out if it would be worth trying or not. I dont want to fry anything, thats for sure.

here's what i was talking about. this might not be perfect, i don't know what power that amp has. but you get the idea. there may be a product out there somewhere made a little more for your application than this one.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=266-002

Hmmmm....according to the manual, the headphone output is .075 watts into 8 ohms (75mW). That equates to about .83 volts into 8 ohms. I'm sure you could run that into a power amp. You won't burn the power amp up by trying it. It might be a perfect match. Sorry, can't think anymore. My pillow is calling. Good luck!

Thanks for looking into it. I may have to give it a go then. I'll most likely be running it to another combo amp. I would use the eq on it, but the way its set up I can't get a strong direct out signal unless I run it as pre-eq. I figured this might give me a tad more tonal control without having to buy anything. I would probably make it so I could hook it up to the old cab for practice purposes.

Here's another thought... I have the predecessor to this one, the Minx. Just for fun I took the head out of the combo, and took the speaker wires and connected a female jack output. I then hooked the jack to a regular speaker cable to a 410 cabinet. Very surprised at the volume and bass from that little guy. And of course if you don't like it the head can go back into the box the same way it came out.

Instead of ruining a perfectly good Peqvey why not look around for a used Peavey bass head. You'll find they're very cheap and last forever. And you can still have your Peavey Max 110 for private practice.:bassist:

I have been doing this for my bedroom rig for a couple years now... a 15 watt prac amp ripped out of a combo, and twist the output wires to a cut up speaker cord. Plug into any cab, it sounds fine. Good enough for practice.

I don't have any extra money to spend at all. Got a baby on the way and my hobby spending has basically been cut off.