Slaving Sunn 200s into power amplifier?

Bass into input 1. Input 2, cable to next amp input 1. Etc.

 

First of all, don't presume that all the amps you see in a concert picture are actually being used. But it is well-known that acts like Hendrix and The Who did in fact run through multiple amps...they didn't mic the guitars and bass through the PA in the early days, so they needed to carry the room on their own. I don't know about how the Who did it, but I imagine they split the instrument-level signal somehow...with Fender amps, for instance, it was a common trick to just use the second 1/4" input-jack as a sort of parallel output to send the signal to another channel of the same amp, or to a completely different amp.

I saw Entwhistle play three times...every time he had massive, horn-loaded cabs behind him and also off-stage to his side...blowing back across the stage. I have no idea what sort of amps he had, but I believe I've read that he used Sunn's in the era.

 

The 2 jacks are more-or-less just parallel...there is typically a dropping resistor on the second jack so that it can accommodate a higher input signal level, but it's essentially just a split of the instrument-level signal. As such, there is a limit to how many times you can do it before it begins to load the instrument's output too much...a pedal before the first input would help mitigate that effect. A common problem to be aware of is the possibility of the different channels having different input polarity, even on the same amp.

 

The Sunn 200 does not have a pad, but each jack has a 68K series resistor. So you could definitely plug into one Sunn 200 and use the second input as thru to route the signal to a second Sunn 200.

I believe slaving amps has a different meaning. Some amps have a slave out which is essentially a preamp out. You can patch the slave out into a slave amp which is usually just a power amp section with hopefully a volume knob so you can equalize levels. Some amps also had a slave in which is really just a power amp in that bypasses the preamp.

Many modern amps are setup so you can slave two identical amps using a preamp out and an effects return. With these amps, the effects return is located just before the master volume and is switching to bypass the preamp when a plug is inserted.

The idea with slaving is after you the master volume controls are dialed in, the gain and tone controls on the first amp controls everything. When you are running multiple amps off parallel inputs, you have to adjust all of the controls on all of the amps separately.

 

I believe Sunn did offer some products that were just basically power amps that they referred to as slave amps in their terminology. Concert Slave...Coliseum Slave? But I agree with @Wasnex that "slaving" amps typically refers to using a preamp out to drive a secondary, 'slave' (power only) amp and speaker system. It's an outdated term...and somewhat politically insensitive as well, so I'd thank you not use it again. Haruumph!

 

I do believe that Red’s objection was very much tongue in cheek!

 

Parallel input jacks.

Same as Y cord when you run a cord from the 2nd input to another amp.

Always sounds better with curly cords lol

Watch polarity of the amps.

 

somebody survived the 70s

 

Dude I got flagged for being harmful to religious content here on this forum for writing "jesus christ" as a part of my thread which was obviously intended to sound as an "OMG" type of vibe.

I must say, being an European we thankfully still have no such weird sensitivity. Also, being a roman-catholic christian myself (the most old school and strict christianity branch) I guess I offended myself in the first place.

 

Indeed, I live in the Washington DC area and people get offended over EVERYTHING!.

 

Indeed...and that is the most offensive kind of offensiveness.

I just had the censor thingy edit what I felt was an accurate and colorful colloquialism describing a venue to "poopie-hole". So much less elegant. I wouldn't care if was for a general post in a thread, but this was in a PM. Nanny-state....NANNY-STATE, I say! (In reality, I'm impressed with how well this board works, 'mechanically' speaking. I can live with the occasional 'poopie-hole'. And that explains why I've seen that particular euphemism in other threads...no one but parents of 3-year-olds say that, right?)

 

Lol OMG

Sorry man. They cus in commercials now but then offended by common slang.

It's ok usually at normal party's or gatherings you can say it all day. And it's funny.

On the internet or Facebook people become little crybabies

 

Just for trivia value, I used to own one of Mountain's 2000s heads and it was modded on the rear panel with a 'slave' mode switch and input. Flick the switch and the front panel light would turn off, amp would be power only.

 

The expression I really love is 'crybully.' It's when people act tough behind a keyboard while simultaneously complaining about minor things/offenses...