Ra-200 tube driven

[lucas opbroek]

Hello forum folks,

I recently acquired a Yamaha RA-200 amplifier, and I'm really happy with its sound; however, I miss the overdrive sound of real valve amplifiers a bit. Can I connect a tube amp head to the input of my transistor amplifier (RA-200)? I'm concerned about overloading the circuits of my transistor amp.

Regards,
Lucas

[ezbass]

You’re as likely to damage the tube amp too, as there will be no speaker connected. Unless you have a line out from your tube head and a dummy load on the speaker output of that amp, the answer is, AFAIK, no. Get a tube driven, overdrive/distortion pedal, that should sort it.

[Dad3353]

11 hours ago, lucas opbroek said:

Hello forum folks,

I recently acquired a Yamaha RA-200 amplifier, and I'm really happy with its sound; however, I miss the overdrive sound of real valve amplifiers a bit. Can I connect a tube amp head to the input of my transistor amplifier (RA-200)? I'm concerned about overloading the circuits of my transistor amp.

Regards,
Lucas

 

The 'real' overdriven sound of a valve amp comes, not from its pre-amp, but from the power valves, which produce those pleasing overtones when pushed hard. That's why valve amps are cranked loud, if that sound is required. The only way to get it 'really' is to have a valve amp and turn it up a lot, into a very good, solid cab or cabs; this can result in shattered windows, and buggered ear-drums. In the '60s, we knew no better, but there's no excuse these days. Either buy a very good modelling amp, or use a 'Tube Screamer'-type pedal. It's much, much lighter, eats far less electricity (and so is good for the Planet...) and 'that' sound can be had at reasonable volume levels. As it happens, I'm not a fan of disto, dirt, crunch et al; I like a nice clean sound, so my valve amps don't get pushed in that way. Our 'trick', back then, to get that sound without going deaf was to put the 4x12 cab flat on the carpeted floor, speaker side down, so as to allow the amp to be turned up and not go deaf. Yes, a cranked valve amp can be glorious, in the right hands, but it's a very expensive game.

The previous answer is correct; you can't play a valve amp without its speaker load (unless it's been specially designed for that, which is rare...), and it's impossible to get 'that' sound as an input to a solid-state amp. Get a pedal; start with a Tube Screamer (the clue is in the name...). Hope this helps.  

 

Douglas

[EliasMooseblaster]

Pedals are probably the best route - tube screamer clones are available pretty cheaply these days. If that doesn't quite do it, there's a whole host of preamp pedals which you could comfortably run into the Yamaha. Joyo, Caline, and others do budget clones of the Tech21 "character" series, which I've found very serviceable for recording and/or getting vintage tones at sociable volumes!

 

Do you have the tube amp already? Might be worth looking at load boxes / power soaks if you want a way to run it at lower volumes (or even into headphones). Thomann do a pretty good one in their Harley Benton range.

[randythoades]

On 27/10/2023 at 12:30, lucas opbroek said:

Hello forum folks,

I recently acquired a Yamaha RA-200 amplifier, and I'm really happy with its sound; however, I miss the overdrive sound of real valve amplifiers a bit. Can I connect a tube amp head to the input of my transistor amplifier (RA-200)? I'm concerned about overloading the circuits of my transistor amp.

Regards,
Lucas

Not attempting to be argumentative, but if you are looking at attaching a tube amp into a transisitor amp, why not just either use the tube amp you already have, or get one that you can use at a lower volume? Seems that actually your Yamaha isn't actually doing the business for you, so just move it on and get something that does. There are plenty of small power valve amps for not a lot of money.

I actually prefer to use transistor amps so would be inclined to just use a pedal if that was the sound I needed.

As mentioned above, I have got a couple of the Joyo character pedals (the Tech 21 clones) and they do the business when that sound is called for.

[Kiwi]

On 03/11/2023 at 15:38, randythoades said:

I have got a couple of the Joyo character pedals (the Tech 21 clones) and they do the business when that sound is called for.

The American Sound is one of my all time favourites.  I have two of them and they work for bass as well!  Their Dynacomp is pretty good too, it took over from an Effectrode PC2A.

 

I would ditch the Yamaha and get something else.  Blues Juniors are pretty good value these days.  Or you could consider a Joyo tube amp, they make a few depending on taste.  Or there's a Chinese company called Grand who make cheap hand wired Tweed clones amongst other models.  I have two Princeton Tweeds by them and I think they're sold under another name in the UK.  Peavey Bandit 1x12 combos - the older red stripe ones, are solid state but do really nice overdrive using valve emulating transistors and they can be picked up for peanuts now.

 

[EliasMooseblaster]

1 hour ago, Kiwi said:

Peavey Bandit 1x12 combos - the older red stripe ones, are solid state but do really nice overdrive using valve emulating transistors and they can be picked up for peanuts now.

 

See also: Vox Pathfinder. They don't have any explicit valve emulation, but they do break up quite smoothly for a SS amp, especially if you've got a good, subtle overdrive pedal to push them with.

 

(Also chuffing loud for a 15W SS!)