Linking 2 heads

ixoye777 · Aug 1, 2009

I asked this question at the tail end of another post but it may go un noticed so I'll ask here as well.

I have a Roadster and a Crate head. Can I link the two? Essentially I want to try using the high gain channel on my Crate as a distortion pedal. This is how I think it would work but I don't want to try it until I know it won't cause any ill effect to my Roadster:

Crate on the high gain channel into the front of the Roadster (the Roadster would be on channel 1 or 2 clean) then of course the Roadster into the cab.

Will that work or will it harm the Roadster? The Crate head is 120w if that matters.

fluff191 · Aug 1, 2009

It's all dependent on the impedance loads. Your Crate head will be looking for a load (i.e. Speaker Cab) and the input to your Roadster head will not provide that, amongst other issues. But if you DID hook it up as you say, it would just be a matter of time before the Crate smokes. Might as well turn it on with no speaker cab attached.

But more importantly, why on earth would you want to use your Crate head for a distortion pedal? Thats like wanting to put your bicycle tires on a car.

A pedal is smaller, more compact and better suited. You have an effing Roadster! Keep the Crate in the closet and just explore the Roadster.

And get a boost while you are at it. :roll:

ixoye777 · Aug 1, 2009

fluff191 said:
But more importantly, why on earth would you want to use your Crate head at all? You have an effing Roadster! Keep the Crate in the closet and just explore the Roadster.

And get a boost while you are at it. :roll:

I love the high gain tone I get out of my Crate for some stuff. It does a couple things I just can't replicate on the Roadster. Then again the Roadster does about 400 things the Crate does not

I was just curious if I could use it that way - guess not! Thanks for letting me know.

I do have a boost in front of the Roadster if that's what you mean.

echoes420 · Aug 2, 2009

fluff191 said:
But more importantly, why on earth would you want to use your Crate head for a distortion pedal? Thats like wanting to put your bicycle tires on a car.

+1 :lol:

You can do what you propose here... it just takes an amp switcher that runs both heads to the same cab.

A company called Tonebone makes exactly what you need. There are different ones, so be careful. The one you want is specifically for using a tube head and a solid state head. They have one that is for two tube heads only... and obviously, that's not what you want.

boogieslayer · Aug 2, 2009

i agree with echoes and with fluff..

youve got a roadster man...closet the crate and have fun

if your dead set on using both like echoes said use an amp switcher

:mrgreen:

b0nkersx · Aug 3, 2009

ixoye777 said:
fluff191 said:

But more importantly, why on earth would you want to use your Crate head at all? You have an effing Roadster! Keep the Crate in the closet and just explore the Roadster.

And get a boost while you are at it. :roll:

Click to expand...

I love the high gain tone I get out of my Crate for some stuff. It does a couple things I just can't replicate on the Roadster. Then again the Roadster does about 400 things the Crate does not I was just curious if I could use it that way - guess not! Thanks for letting me know.

I do have a boost in front of the Roadster if that's what you mean.

Yeah, you'd probably destroy both. Even if it did work, though, and your Crate were a distortion pedal, it wouldn't sound the same going through the Roadster anyway. And if you like the high gain tone your Crate produces for some things, you might want to run an AB-Y box and run both amplifiers at once with separate cabinets (as opposed to running them to the same cabinet one at a time as fluff suggested). You could have three different beasts that way. Amp 1, Amp 2, Amp 1+2. Radial makes one for that purpose (as well as just switching heads to one cab), and Robert Keeley makes one as well. Keeley's looks simpler, IMO. Radials has a boost and a drag control thing. I wouldn't want to waste time with any of that stuff in an ABY box, but that's just me.