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Cable From Pre to Power?

You need to read the manual for both the pre and the power amp, to determine whether the output of the pre and the input of the power are either balanced or unbalanced. Unbalanced is a TS (mono) 1/4" plug/jack, same as is used on basses and the input of bass amps, and you can use any instrument cable to connect them. Balanced is a three-connector plug/jack, either XLR (mic type) or TRS (stereo) 1/4". A regular instrument cable will usually not work in that case.

There are some exceptions, where a power amp may have input jacks that can accept either balanced or unbalanced inputs. Also, some power amps that have that ability will work at the same levels with either type of connection, but some will receive an unbalanced connection at a lot (6dB) lower level than a balanced connection. So again, RTM.

The ideal situation is where the preamp and the power amp are both balanced, or both unbalanced.
 

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