Quad Pre + Road King

[Areola]

I was looking at getting a Quad Pre to throw into my Rig alongside my road king.

My plan was to permanently turn on the Series FX loop (which i dont use anyway) on Channel 1 of my Road King and put the Quad Pre into the FX Return of the RK. If i fed the signal permanently into both the RK's preamp and the Quad Pre.

If my understanding is correct, then using the Series FX loop button would then be like an A/B switch to change preamps.

Does this makes sence? also, will this cause damage/problems?

 

[joe web]

i´m not very familiar with the loop-options on the RK but this should work.
the return jack leads the signal directly to the poweramp section. so you can attach any preampsignal to that jack.

 

[Areola]

it was something like 2am when i posted that, so I didnt explain it well.

recap

I split my guitar signal, line A goes into my Road King as per normal, line B goes into Quad Pre. The output of the Quad goes into the FX return of the series channel. When I hit the series FX Loop, the signal from line A ends up by going nowhere and the signal from Line B finally has a complete signal path.

This way I don't send my signal through 2 preamps. It also adds a potential 8 new sounds to my amp, because every channel on my Road King has a different power tube set up.

The thing that actually has me worried is not having a load. I realised its only a pre-amp, but does there need to be any kind of load (even something small) so the amps don't **** themselves? Also when I hit the FX loop button on this set up, the RK preamp will cut out, right?

 

[Dead Moon Rising]

The thing that actually has me worried is not having a load. I realised its only a pre-amp, but does there need to be any kind of load (even something small) so the amps don't sh!t themselves? Also when I hit the FX loop button on this set up, the RK preamp will cut out, right?

You don't need a load on a FX send. It sould also work when you hit the send so let us know how it works. I'm curious to know.

 

[Areola]

Well, i won the ebay auction. $800 Australian. Pretty cheap considering to buy a Recto Recording Pre new it costs $3200 in stores here.

Anyways, next day off, I'll go pick it up and try out the FX loop thingy.

I (for a short period of time) ran my DVD player out from an RCA -> Jack lead into the FX return of my Road King just to see how loud it would be and what the tonal quality of the speakers are for that kinda audio. I was rather disappointed at the volume but the tonal quality was alright. It'd sound better though my 1516b cab with the 10" and 6" speakers.

I was actually thinking of using my 1516b as the centre speaker and the subwoofer (with the 15") and running my 4x12 cabs for left and right front. I've also got an ampeg 8x10 so I could get a 2nd one of those and have the most kick ass home theatre setup ever.

 

[phil110567]

Hi there !

Please tell us what's your feeling about it when you've tried!

I did the same with my studio preamp in my RKII.
It works great and gives a nice additional lead tone to my setup (better than those of the RK in my opinion).

I use the studio pre in RK's channel 4 vintage setting 6L6 + EL34 with a 2x12 roadster cab + a custom open cab with weber speaker (old JBL clones)

I've tried the different outputs from the studio preamp and I finally chose the FX send of the preamp (it seems to be better than the other). Maybe is it interesting to try with the quad...

 

[Areola]

To be perfectly honest, I'm just having trouble setting up my Quad.

I've got the sound coming through, I'm not that simple, I'm just having trouble getting the Rythm 1, Lead 1 and EQ 1 all sounding nice and relative, with appropriate amounts of boost in each stage, and again on Channel 2. I've got 1 good sound per channel, but that's about it.

How do other people set-up their Quads?
eq:
Rythm 1 - Clean
Rythm 2 - Pushed clean
Lead 1 - Crispy Dirt
Lead 2 - Major Dirt
EQ - Solo boost

Or is it more popular to use the EQ as a permanant added tone shaper? Or maybe even use it to cut the level to clean up the all out dirt of the Leads.
Suggestions!!

I now have 3 channels on my road king excluding solo boost (as the clean channel is now dedicated to the Quad) and essentially 6 channels on the Quad. Its almost too many sounds!! haha

I will ALWAYS use my Ch 3 setting, which is kinda like a big muff buzz. and Channel 2 which has a similar tone, but its a lot less harsh, and has a lot les defined high end. More low end grumble. Channel 4 is used for a crispier style of tone, which I should probably switch over to the Quad for, as I have been chasing a tone created from a Mark. Which means I have a spare channel on the RK. I am in shambles.

I really use those 3 sounds (with volume/solo boosts):
Big Muff
Bassy Big Muff
Crunchy

Any suggestions on ways to optimise my rig?

 

[joe web]

to me the quad sounds only good, if i switch in the EQ.
i´m not really happy with the quad-sound without the EQ.
totally different on the studio pre, which sounds good everytime, no matter if i use the EQ or not.

 

[MetalMatt]

I used to have the Quad running though my Road King power section... it is was one bad mofo. I now have it running through a Mesa 50/50 power amp (the old one). I'm still a little "green" with the Quad but here are my current settings.

Output A: 5
Output B: 0 (off)

CH1 (R1& L1)
Volume: 8 Treble: 7.5 Bass: 3 Mid: 5 Master: 3-5* Lead Drive: 5 Lead Master: 5.5
CH2 (R2& L2)
Volume: 8 Treble: 7 Bass: 2 Mid: 5.5 Master: 7 Lead Drive: 6.5 Lead Master: 5.5

Bold = Pulled
*Master for R1 with humbuckers is around 3. With single coils it's bumped up to 5.

Not sure how Mesa's Eq "values(?)" are set up... So lets just say the top line is +5db and the lowest line is -5 db.

EQ1 set for LD1
80(+1) 240(-4) 750(+2) 2200(+3) 6600(+1)

EQ2 set for LD2
80(+3) 240(-3) 750(+1) 2200(+2) 6600(+3)

I also have a mix of JJ, Mullard, and Tungsol 12ax7 in the preamp. All Mesa in the power amp. So far I like what I hear, I might mess with the preamp section a bit more.

Enjoy... or not