Preamp & power amp question

[JPJ]

I’ve run a few preamp & power amp setups over the years but one thing I’ve never been sure of is how you should set up the ‘master’ volumes. To explain, I fully understand the relationship between the pre & post levels on the preamp as these mirror the function of pre and master levels on any regular bass amp. But where should the volume control on the power amp be set? Should it be 100% and control the overall volume from the preamp post control (unlikely as very noisy), set to zero db on the power amp and control the overall volume from the preamp post control, or run the preamp post control at 100% and control the overall volume from the power amp volume control, or something else?

[Hellzero]

Theoretically a power amp should not have any volume or gain control...

 

So put it full on when there is one and use your preamp master volume.

[Downunderwonder]

The method for least system noise is to work with the biggest signal you can at each stage without overloading the next stage. Accordingly you would turn up the preamp input and various gain controls to get a pleasing sound that only gets louder when you crank on the power stage volume to the required output level.

[Dan Dare]

13 hours ago, Hellzero said:

Theoretically a power amp should not have any volume or gain control...

 

So put it full on when there is one and use your preamp master volume.

 

Agreed. The volume/gain control on a power amp is only an input attenuator (it cuts the signal entering the power amp). It is useful in cases where you don't have a way to reduce the signal strength of what you're feeding the power amp, but if you have a master volume on your preamp, use that. 

[Downunderwonder]

Is the art of gain staging dead in the UK?

[JPJ]

1 hour ago, Downunderwonder said:

Is the art of gain staging dead in the UK?

I blame Nigel Tufnell, now we just turn everything up to eleven 😂