help understanding the Slave Output

[Enchilada Jones]

Is the slave output between the power tubes output and the transformer output?
I'm just trying to learn what is the difference between the speaker output and the slave output since the description says it includes the power tube output my first uneducated thought was 'that is speaker output'...obviously that can't be because if you plug the speaker output into the mixing console you have problems where as, the Slave Output can be sent there...

So is it the case that until the power tube signal passes through the output transformer it doesn't have any real power to drive a speaker but it does have all the characteristics of the power tubes working? Even the characteristic of power tubes being driven to the point of distortion yet safe to plug into the mixer?

Thanks!

 

[LPJunky]

It's taken from the speaker wires essentially scaled down.

 

[Enchilada Jones]

It's taken from the speaker wires essentially scaled down.

Is the output transformer the device that provides the scaling? As in a tap from a winding way 'upstream' relative to the tap that feeds speaker outputs? Or is there something else in the signal path (I'm not sure how it all works, just guessing here)?

 

[SteveO]

Here's how it works:


Power tubes to the output transformer.

Eight ohm tap on the transformer to the two eight ohm speaker jacks.
Four ohm tap on the transformer to the two four ohm speaker output jacks.
Line-level tap on the transformer to the slave level and then to the slave out jack.

So, if you use the slave out you are getting a signal after the power tubes, but at a level low enough that it won't blow up what you're plugging it into.

 

[LPJunky]

Well, if you want to be exact the signal is taken from the 8 ohms OT tap then goes into a variable resistance to ground. (I'm not making this up its from the schematics).