Would someone please explain...

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Tue May 18, 2004 5:44 am

"Slaving" an amp. I've heard this all my life, but don't know exactly what or why it is. What is it's purpose, how is it done, etc. Thanks.

admin · Post by **admin** » Tue May 18, 2004 5:53 am

The amp gurus will be on the case shortly.

In the meantime, my take on slaving is using one amp, often a tube head, as the "Master" amp for tone and a second as the "Slave" or power amp to drive the speakers.

This arrangement allows you to provide a blending of the preamp and a power amp. The point is to provide a range of sound effects, of which one is likely to be overdrive or distortion.

rob · Post by **rob** » Tue May 18, 2004 6:21 am

So, if you have a wall of Marshall speaker cabinets on stage, for example, and of course all of them must be powered but you only need one head to plug into.

Could there be anything cheaper to buy, instead of the whole amplifier itself? Couldn't Marshall, for example, just sell the power section for about half the price to just use as "Slave Amps", or would that be too costly?

bails · Post by **bails** » Tue May 18, 2004 12:34 pm

Slaving, or 'daisy chaining' refers to connecting multiple amplifiers together for greater power output. In the old days, four-input Bassmans or Marshalls, could be joined by a cable from the unused input II, to a second amplifer, which could in turn have its unused input connected to another..... A more modern equivalent is to connect the line-out/direct-out to another amp which in turn can have it's line-out/direct-out connected to another......

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Tue May 18, 2004 12:52 pm

So the point was/is, more power, Scotty? Is there not the danger of something blowing up or at least smoking?

mortivan · Post by **mortivan** » Wed May 19, 2004 12:06 pm

No because all amps are receiving the same level input.