Peavey F800B - Booster question

[Bernardduur]

Hi all!

I am currently owning one of these HUGE amps.

A friend of me has the booster and wants to use the F800B in combination with his 800 booster.



It puzzles me........

The F800B has no booster output, but on the schematic I can spot a booster track. It is directly taken from the speaker out (in front of the zobel network) and attenuated with small resistors.

When I compare the amp to the schematic, there is a connector located on the board that fills that point. That connector can be used to add a booster amp (although there is no jack or any kind of connector on the chassis of the amp).


I was always under the impression that the Peavey 800 Booster should be used as a poweramp and thus needed to be connected to a preamp, but when I follow the schematic, the booster poweramp needs to be connected to that attenuated speaker out signal.

Is that safe? I've never seen such a thing in my life .

Attached is the full schematic of these amps!

F800B - F800G complete.pdf

[Enzo]

The booster expects a line LEVEL signal input. it has no idea where the signal comes from. A preamp out is usually a line level signal, but you can just as easily make one from stepping down the speaker signal. What matters is the amount of signal, not where it comes from. The booster out taken by stepping down the speaker signal is valid. I looked on the owner manual and do not see a booster out jack on the F800B,, but one could be installed.

[Bernardduur]

The booster expects a line LEVEL signal input. it has no idea where the signal comes from. A preamp out is usually a line level signal, but you can just as easily make one from stepping down the speaker signal. What matters is the amount of signal, not where it comes from. The booster out taken by stepping down the speaker signal is valid. I looked on the owner manual and do not see a booster out jack on the F800B,, but one could be installed.

Thank you for this answer. The reason I asked the question was that a. there is no booster output on the amp (although it is clearly mentioned in the schematic and there is a usuable connector sitting on the board) and b. that the whole idea of using a stepped down speaker output signal looked weird to me. Then again, that resistor network is always in line with the speaker output as it is on the board, so no damage can be done by try and using it.

I'll add that booster output so my friend can try it!


Does anyone knows the story behind this booster output? I've never seen anything like it on an amp, although I must say that Peavey has more models with such a mention / has more booster amps

[Enzo]

That board may be used in several models, not just this one. So the booster out is on the board, but not used in this model.

Tapping off the speaker line for a line signal is not Peavey's idea, it is an old trick.

They called them booster outs in the old days - the signal was sent to a second amp to boost your sound. Later they stopped calling it booster and went to "line out" wwhich is the industry term.