Nooby question?

[adamlunt]

So I'd been looking for a good preamp pedal for a more "tubey" sound from my MarkBass LM3 / Ashdown ABM210 setup and I eventually got the Blackstar HT Boost which works really well.

It has a "low gain" output for use with solid state amps, and a "high gain" output for use with tube amps, so obviously I'm using the low gain output.

My real question is would this pedal potentially harm my amp if I set the output gain too high? (I have noticed the amp head gets physically warmer when I'm at band practice)



I know it might be a really silly question and I don't know if I've even put it in the right category (amps/effects) but I'd really appreciate some more advice because I don't think I'm using the pedal to its full potential, and I'd like to be able to achieve more growly distorted sounds from it as well, without causing damage to my other equipment.

[icastle]

The amp head will get warmer during band practice - you'll be using it at a higher volume level than you are when you're at home.
Nothing to worry about there, it's perfectly normal.

If you use the High output socket with a SS amp you'll just introduce distortion quicker - essentially your Boost pedal will be more of a Distortion pedal.
The only thing I'd suggest is that you turn your amp down before trying it the first time in case you get an enormous volume boost.

[HowieBass]

I don't know the amp head but it'll have a Clip light that tells you if the combination of input signal level and amp gain are overdriving the input stage, so if it's lighting up often, rather than occasionally, then you know to turn the amp gain down.