Pre-amping a head

**powmetalbassist** · #1 05-19-2011, 06:42 AM

Ok so I'm working on buying a Peavey Tour 700 and was looking through the threads. Now I am aware that the Peavey Head is a combination of an amp and pre amp(atleast thats my understanding of how most heads work). I tried sifting through posts and stickeys and it seems most TBer's say Pre-Amp and Power Amp. What is the effect or situation if I pre-amp a Head that already has the pre-amp built in? (a regular head)

Bassdirty · #2 05-19-2011, 07:34 AM

If you already have a head, why buy a pre-amp?

I mean, there are ways of doing it.
Most heads, you can bypass the "built in Pre" and just use the heads "Power amp" section.

Or were you just asking out of curiosity?..like what would happen?

beans-on-toast · #3 05-19-2011, 07:39 AM

You can do what you are proposing if the first pre-amp has an instrument level output. You will be chaining the first pre-amp into the second.

Your tone settings from the first pre will be combined with those of the second. More tone control. But mostly, the reason why people do this is for distortion. If the volume level of the first pre is high enough, you will overdrive the second pre. This is similar to using a distortion pedal at the input of your amp.

Some people go one step further. They connect a dummy load to the speaker output another amp and feed a tapped off signal into a second amp. This provides a rich creamy tone. Randy Bachman of the Guess Who did this to achieve his sustained American Woman guitar tone. This led to the development of the Garnet Herzog which was based on the Fender Champ.

bongomania · #4 05-19-2011, 07:46 AM

Yes, a "head" is a preamp and poweramp in one box. There is usually no need to add another preamp. I wouldn't say "most" people use separate preamp and power amp rigs, but lots do--and the reason is that they get to choose whatever tone they want (preamp) and whatever amount of power they want (power amp), instead of trying to find a head that has both just the way they want it.

If you like the tone and power of the Peavey, you don't need any other devices. If you want more variety, there are ways of hooking up an external preamp to it.

**powmetalbassist** · #5 05-19-2011, 08:14 AM

ok cool guys. Yeah I was just curious. I typically play clean tone (not into the bass distortion thing. Thanks for clearing that up, I figured thats how it all worked, but thought I'd ask to see what everyone else knew. My guitarist had mentioned pre amping me for more tonal control(if I wanted it as an option), but I don't think I need it.

Bassdirty · #6 05-19-2011, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by powmetalbassist

ok cool guys. Yeah I was just curious. I typically play clean tone (not into the bass distortion thing. Thanks for clearing that up, I figured thats how it all worked, but thought I'd ask to see what everyone else knew. My guitarist had mentioned pre amping me for more tonal control(if I wanted it as an option), but I don't think I need it.

+
I would say that the Tour 700 should be fine then.
Great clean tone (with peavey reliability).

BTW, don't take Bass advice from a guitarist.

(That was a joke BTW. )