Using Slave Output

[Treillw]

I was playing last night and the sound guy didn't have a microphone, so he plugged me into the system using the slave output jack on the back of my head. I'm new to the Mark V and high end amps in general and didn't really know this was possible. That is what the slave jack is designed for, right? I just want to make sure something isn't going to blow up. Is there anything that can cause damage that I have to watch out for when hooking the amp up this way? Lastly, what are your opinions on the tones generated this way as opposed running it though a microphone?

Thanks

 

[SteveO]

The slave out is a line-level tap off of the output transformer, so it won't hurt anything to run it into a board.

It's not meant for this, though, as it has no speaker emulation and can sound pretty nasty run directly into a PA. It's meant to drive an additional guitar power amp and guitar speaker cabinet.

 

[Radiohead]

I use the Slave out to drive a Wet / Dry / Wet rig. Slave Out into my Axe Fx (Fx Return). I have a patch set up with Fx Loop - Various Effects as desired - Recto Cab Sim - Output into PA System. Incrediable tone with no tone suck of the MArk V fx loop

 

[dino2sf]

I also use it for wet/dry/wet set up. I send the slave through my gmajor2 then stereo out to my Mesa 2:Fifty power amp with a Thiele 1x12 on each side. SOUNDS GREAT

 

[Treillw]

The slave out is a line-level tap off of the output transformer, so it won't hurt anything to run it into a board.

It's not meant for this, though, as it has no speaker emulation and can sound pretty nasty run directly into a PA. It's meant to drive an additional guitar power amp and guitar speaker cabinet.

Just curious, you said that it sounds nasty because there is no speaker emulation. Wouldn't the PA speakers serve that purpose? How are they different from the cabinets speakers?

 

[SteveO]

The slave out is a line-level tap off of the output transformer, so it won't hurt anything to run it into a board.

It's not meant for this, though, as it has no speaker emulation and can sound pretty nasty run directly into a PA. It's meant to drive an additional guitar power amp and guitar speaker cabinet.

Just curious, you said that it sounds nasty because there is no speaker emulation. Wouldn't the PA speakers serve that purpose? How are they different from the cabinets speakers?

PA speakers are full-range, which is why they have tweeters or horns. A guitar cab just has (typically) 12" speakers in it with no tweeters, so the highest frequencies (above about 4kHz or so) are rolled off by the speaker. Plugging a guitar amp into a PA speaker will give you a nasty, buzzy sound like a swarm of bees.