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Slaving amps... good or bad idea?


giblett123
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Afternoon all!

I'm after some advice on a technical question as I have nil technical knowledge..!

I have a TC electronic BH550 and a couple of Genz focus 112 cabs, sounds great and a lot of bang for my fairly limited budget, suits me well... I also have a spare BH250 Head that I no longer use, I had thought about moving it on but someone suggested that I could put another cab on it and slave it up to my other head.....

Is this a thick idea that could fry my rig or just sound crap? if not then how would I do it? Both heads have an XLR balanced out, could and xlr to jack run from my 550's xlr out into the 250's input and power a third cab?

this is all just a thought etc and if it is a stupid one I hope some will tell me!

Cheers
Chris.

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Yup this will work - I'd suggest putting the BH250 on top of the rest of the stack nearer your ear. This will mean that you'll be able to balance the volume between each amp with more perceived volume output before the BH250 runs out of steam. Your BH550 with two cabinets will go noticeably louder than the 250 plugged in to one of the same. Not a problem if your gig is never louder than the 250 will go when up by your ear..

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[quote name='giblett123' timestamp='1463920393' post='3054940'] slaving amps. . . . [/quote]
I did this last Thursday where I was the house bass player for a local Jam night.

I used 2 TH500's and 2 Super Compacts, joined together with a lead from the Send on one into the Return of the other. That makes 1 pre amp and 2 power amps.

What a great sound! I knew it would be. From out front it sounded very full and beefy.

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[quote name='giblett123' timestamp='1463923456' post='3054975']
Sounds like a plan, I'm using 2 x 112 at 8 ohms each on the BH550, in theory I could run a 12 eg and eden at 4 ohms off the BH250....?
[/quote]

Yes, a single 4 ohm cabinet or a pair of 8 ohms off the Bh250. Thinking about it, the more speakers connected to the Bh250 will make it seem louder. It's the best way to shift more air. Then the whole task becomes redundant as you may as well save the hassle and get a pair of 2x12's to run off the BH550 such as the K-212 cabinets!

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[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1463930700' post='3055069']
I did this last Thursday where I was the house bass player for a local Jam night.

I used 2 TH500's and 2 Super Compacts, joined together with a lead from the Send on one into the Return of the other. That makes 1 pre amp and 2 power amps.

What a great sound! I knew it would be. From out front it sounded very full and beefy.
[/quote]

So is that each amp connected to one speaker Chris? Been thinking about doing similar with my set-up for bigger gigs. Also, does that mean that whatever eq is on the first amp (the one sending) automatically comes through on the second - as in, irrespective of whatever eq is set on the second amp?

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[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1463939729' post='3055169']
So is that each amp connected to one speaker Chris? Been thinking about doing similar with my set-up for bigger gigs. Also, does that mean that whatever eq is on the first amp (the one sending) automatically comes through on the second - as in, irrespective of whatever eq is set on the second amp?
[/quote]
Hi Lozz,

Yes. . . .

I had 2 separate TH500 + SC rigs. Plug your bass into the first amp (the send amp) then that amp has the functioning pre. Plug the instrument cable from the send on this amp into the receive on the second amp.

The second amp (the receive amp) is only a power amp, the receive socket joins the circuit just before the power amp stage, so bypasses the second pre.

Sorry, the explanation gets a bit convoluted but in practice it's very easy.

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Ok! I've now tried this! and it works!! Good noise and loud as hell, it proper makes my trousers flap! One question, when the second head it switched on it get a buzzing... now I'm assuming that this is because I have the second head sat on top of the first and it is picking something up from its innards (Can you tell I have no technical knowledge)? Is there anything I can put in between them (apart from daylight) that will help with this?
ta.

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+ 1 on that, I had a spare TC BH250 that I was going to sell but the price on them drops so fast etc.... So I picked up an ex demo 4 ohm Eden 1x12 and the rest is history! Have to admit, I'm quite chuffed with the sound & oomph, it's also still transportable! :)

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