5:25 non plus to higher powered amp

[royslead]

Ok, I am not sure what I am doing wrong here, but here it goes. I am on the fence about replacing my 1x12 Express 5:25 combo with a 5:50 Plus head. So, to get a feel for a similar (notice, I did not say same) tone with 50 Watts pushing it into a different cab (the one I would use with the head, if I got it), I ran a cable from the effects loop send into my Marshall 9100 (it's a rack mounted, 50 Watt stereo power amp with 5881 tubes). What did I get? NOTHING! No sound came out of the power amp (yes, it was all hooked up right, I know it well, and the cables, cab are all good). Sound continued to come out of the Express combo. It clearly states the effects loop of the Express is a series loop, in the manual. If this is the case, I would expect the signal path would be fully interrupted by putting a cable into the send jack. I know the loop works, as I use this amp all the time at practice, with a series of effects in the loop (delay, modulation, eq). So I am wondering - where did I go wrong? Is the jack/switch to interrupt the path on the RETURN side? Should I try again with just a plain, unhooked cable (on one end) in the return and my set up as described? Has anyone run into this? I do not want to just try that, if no one knows for sure.

 

[SamuelJ86]

Try plugging in a "dummy" cable into the effects return. It doesn't need to go anywhere, it just needs something in that jack. So just take a spare guitar cable, plug it in the return, and don't worry about plugging the other end into anything. I don't know why it's like that, but that's what I have to do with my V.

 

[royslead]

Gave that a try today. The results were the same. Looks like that is something you just cannot do with this line. Still experimenting with this amp and all it DOES have to offer; but I sure like the features of the "Plus."

 

[SamuelJ86]

I'm curious to know if you found a solution for this. I couldn't find anything out on mesa's website about using it with another power amp. I've had good results running my JP2C through my V's power amp via the fx send. But my V doesn't like sending its signal through the JP using the fx. Sounds like crap, but at least it sends something. I guess it wouldn't suprise me that the express wouldn't be able to do this, based on weirdness I've seen from mesa's fx loops. I also gave the manual a quick glance but did not see anything about using other power amps. Maybe a phone call to mesa, just to find out what's going on.

 

[Krek13]

I've got a 5:25 non plus head...I get preamp signal through the fx send jack normally...when I plug a cable into the return the speaker cabinet gets muted...maybe something is wrong with your amp.. just send an email to mesa support..

 

[royslead]

I never found a solution to that issue. Plugging in a cable into the return of the effects loop made no difference. At this point, it's no longer an issue for me, as I purchased the 5:50 Plus I was looking at; and sold the 5:25.