Conference napalm::guitar

    I hope you don't mind, but acting as moderator of this notesfile, I
    changed the title of your note to something that would make it easier
    to find.
    
    To try and answer the questions you asked:
    
    The Line Out jack is generally a line level output which can be used to
    go straight into a mixing board or recorder, so that a mike in front of
    your speakers is not needed.  It can also be used to send signal to a
    another power amp, for building a more powerful rig.
    
    The gain control is generally used (on a guitar amp) to set the amount
    of preamp distortion which the amp will produce.  Ie increasing the
    gain will yield more output and more distortion.  It can also be used
    to compensate for different level input signals.
    
    Hope this helps,
    Greg
                                                        

    Thanks,
                      Heres a few more, what's the purpose of limiters?
    crossovers and bi-amping?.....

    Limiter: an electronic device which monitors the level (signal
    strength) of a signal.  When the level reaches a threshold, usually
    controllable by you by means of a knob, the limiter prevents the
    signal from getting any louder.  Sort of a safety valve for expensive
    speakers and amps and can also be used in recording to prevent 
    distortion.
    
    Crossover: takes a signal and splits it into two or more signals, 
    according to frequency.  For example, one can use a crossover to 
    take the bass frequencies from a signal (say 125Hz and below) and send
    it to amps/speakers suited for bass frequences (like 500watt BGW's and
    15in speakers).  The frequency at which the split(s) occur is usually
    adjustable.  There are crossovers that work on line-level signals (such
    as the signal that comes out of a mixing console) or speaker-level
    signals (if you opened up one of your stereo speakers you might see
    a bunch of coils and capacitors...that's a speaker level crossover
    because it 'listens' to the power amp).
    
    Bi-amping: Use a crossover to send appropriate frequencies to
    appropriate gear.  To do that you need two amps: one for highs and one
    for lows.  A sound system or guitar rig set up like this is defined as
    'bi-amped'.  You can extend this concept: tri-amping or quad-amped.
    
    Sorry to be so long winded. 

Line out;

	Here's how I like to use mine. I send it to the
	mixing board, panned hard against the location of my
	guitar amp. I add quite a bit of reverb, and EQ it for
	the high end. It tends to give me a dimensional reverb
	sound, that makes my rig sound much bigger than it really
	is.

	Well, I lied a little bit. It's not really a line out,
	but an effect send. I don't use the return. Same thing 
	though.

	Also, I use this for recording, sometimes miking the
	guitar amp speaker as well. Using the line-out alone,
	enables you to aviod having to use a microphone.

Rick

    
    I have some very similar questions to those raised by the base note.
    
    1) Line Out - A fact I've noticed in most musical amplification seems
    to be the lack of any, what I would call, 'clean' outputs. For
    instance, for optimal quality of recording on hifi systems the output
    from the amp is taken before the stages with volume/tone controls. With
    guitar/keyoard etc kit, the outputs seem to be controllable by all
    volume/tone controls (line out) and the 'quality' seems to suffer. Why
    is this?
    
    2) Secondly, use of built in gain seems to me to be a black art. The
    amount of distortion seems to be affected by guitar volume control,
    gain setting, amp volume control. Furthermore, I can never seem to get
    the same overdrive sound twice! I have a Strat and Fender Champ (valve) amp.
    Being a valve amp do I need to play LOUD to get a good predictable
    distortion? Should guitar volume control always be at max? 
    
    Richard

    
    Re: .5
    
    Line out:  
    
    In a stereo system, the idea is to have clean reproduction and no
    coloration.  In guitar amps this is *not* the idea. On a stereo, the
    *tape* outs are usually pre-EQ/volume and *line* outs (used for slaving
    other amps, inserting EQ/processor devices) are post EQ/volume, as on
    guitar amps.  Some guitar amps *do* have pre-EQ loops although post -EQ
    loops are more common.  Many bass amps have pre-EQ direct outs so that
    the sound board can recieve a "clean" bass signal unaffected by the
    stage amp settings. The *main* reson for a line out (other than an FX
    loop) is to slave another power amp, so you would *want* the preamp
    colorations.
    
    							Brian

    
    More questions....
    
    You said "the main use for Line Out (other than for FX loop) is...."
    
    What do you mean by this? Take Line Out feed through an FX box and then
    what? FX loops have always confused me. I've always assumed these were
    out/in jacks in, what you refer to as pre EQ stage.
    
    I have an Alesis Microverb III unit. I always feed guitar straight in
    to this and then feed the output into the amp. Should I be making use
    of the Line Out somehow?
    
    Richard

    Back before the days of digital FX all over the place, some amps had
    *only* line outs, which were used for recording, slaving other amps,
    etc. and some amps had *both* line outs and line *ins* which could be
    used as an FX loop, or to bypass the preamp and allow using the amp as
    a slave.
    
    Now that FX loops are common, you often see jacks for FX out/in *and*
    line out/in.  Usually the line out is after the FX in, and can be used
    as a second loop.
    
    							Brian