Amp to amp?

[the watcher]

Is it possible to safely drive one amp with another and how would I do it?

I recently bought an old Orange bass head, it sounds great but lacks the necessary wattage for the band I play in.

Would I be able to effectively use the whole amp as a preamp and send the signal into my 500w solid state head for extra power?

[i love sharin foo]

If you have two inputs, run your cable into whichever one you want to use, just like normal. Then run a second cable into the second input, with the other end into the second amp you want to use. I do that with an old Orange Overdrive 120 and a Green Matamp 120 everyday. You may create some ground loop noise with both running at the same time though. If that is the case, get ahold ahold of one of the 3->2 prong ground lift adapters.

[the watcher]

Yes, I have 2 inputs on the Orange.

One is called 'normal' the other 'deep'.
So if I've got this right I plug in as normal into the 'normal' input and then run a second lead from the 'deep' input into the return send of the second amp?

I didn't know you could run an output signal from an input? Or have I just completely misunderstood?

The other thing is the Orange has a connection on the back that just says 'Slave'. Would this be to run another amp into the Orange, or to run a signal out of it?

[i love sharin foo]

One is called 'normal' the other 'deep'.
So if I've got this right I plug in as normal into the 'normal' input and then run a second lead from the 'deep' input into the return send of the second amp?

Pretty much I think. Run your normal cable (from your pedalboard/ guitar) into your normal input. Take a second cable, plug one end into the deep input on the Orange, and then the other end into the normal input on the front of the amp.

I am not real familiar with using the slave out on these. Check out the Orange forum on PlexiPalace.com. There is some good info there regarding it. You should be able to pull it up pretty easily just searching the term "slave out" or something similar. I think gladmarr has explained it pretty well in the past.

ANy pics of the Orange?

good luck!!

[the watcher]

Thanks for the info.

I'll check out the Orange forum and see what I can find on the subject.

You've already seen the amp, you were the last person to post on the thread http://www.stompboxes.co.uk/forum/viewt ... ?f=6&t=967

I've recently put in some new tubes on the amp, do you think its worthwhile getting it biased to squeeze some more power out of it?

[i love sharin foo]

You've already seen the amp, you were the last person to post on the thread http://www.stompboxes.co.uk/forum/viewt ... ?f=6&t=967

I guess the ole memory isn't the greatest!

Nice amp!

[starlingbrothers]

If in doubt, then don't do it !! I've seen too many amps fried by taking a chance

[Jim Goad]

I don't think jumping inputs will send the output of the Orange to the solid state. I thought jumping inputs from amp to amp was just a way to run your guitar signal to more than one amp so they're kinda running in parallel.
The Slave socket will be either a slave out or slave in. If it's a slave out, you can run that into your other amp's input & that will be your best option. Chances are, It'll be a slave out but I don't know much about Orange amps so don't take my word for it.

I stack 2 amps by running the first one (that my guitar is plugged into) to a THD Hotplate set to the "load" function. Then I use the line out from the Hotplate to connect to the 2nd amp's input & connect the 2nd amp to a cab. I generally do this so I can have the 1st amp on full blast to saturate the valves but bring it down to a sensible volume. It sounds better than running the Hotplate straight to a cab. I'm sure the same principle would work if you want to increase volume rather than decrease it.

[i love sharin foo]

I don't think jumping inputs will send the output of the Orange to the solid state. I thought jumping inputs from amp to amp was just a way to run your guitar signal to more than one amp so they're kinda running in parallel.
The Slave socket will be either a slave out or slave in. If it's a slave out, you can run that into your other amp's input & that will be your best option. Chances are, It'll be a slave out but I don't know much about Orange amps so don't take my word for it.

I see what you mean here. Yeah, daisy chaining them will just run them in parallel. That's what I do with my Matamp and Oranges. If this wasn't the gaol, then I think I misunderstood the first post

[the watcher]

Thanks Jim.

Yes Mr. Foo, I don't think I'm looking to run them in parallel. I'm looking to drive the 500w solid state head with the Orange.

I guess I'm going down the slave / master head route.

I'll slave out the Orange into the solid state, my only concern here is that I might just be amplifying the pre-amp section of the Orange. What I'd really like is to get the power amp section as well sent out.

I've checked on the Orange forum and there seems to be a bit of debate on the old Orange heads as to whether it is just the pre-amp or the power amp section as well that is slaved out when doing this.

I've got a band practice on Sunday, so I'll post back with my findings.