Vox Pacemaker--external speaker?

[Rhodesplyr]

I was returning a solid-state Vox Pacemaker to its owner yesterday, and he asked me a question I wasn't sure about--what to keep in mind if using an external speaker in terms of load, whether to disconnect the internal speaker via its Molex connector, etc... The stock speaker is a 4 Ohm Oxford.

Does anyone have an original Thomas/Vox owner's manual that might contain Thomas's instructions on the use of external speakers?

[Rhodesplyr]

Never mind--I found the extremely short owner's manual online, and it says nothing about what sort of external speaker load would be acceptable.

[Martinduo]

I was returning a solid-state Vox Pacemaker to its owner yesterday, and he asked me a question I wasn't sure about--what to keep in mind if using an external speaker in terms of load, whether to disconnect the internal speaker via its Molex connector, etc... The stock speaker is a 4 Ohm Oxford.

Does anyone have an original Thomas/Vox owner's manual that might contain Thomas's instructions on the use of external speakers?

Hey how are you?
I have one of this amps, regarding the auxiliar speaker, you can plug anyone.
I asked guy who makes tube amps, and he told the load of ohms only affects when using vacumm tubes.
Apparently, solid state amps can take any load whit no problems at all.

I have 2x12 cab with Celestion Classic lead 80.
At first they were working on a load of 4ohms.
Then i switched them to 16... it sounds awesome on 16.
You can get a really loud sound adding a 2x12 to this amp, those 45 watts are really really loud, thou its a solid state amp. I play only w a drummer, wi have a duo, and the volume knob gets up to 3.
When it was working on 4 ohms, i had a really middle-toned sound, had a little more volume also.
But 16, you a get a really musical, warm sound, very very clean.

Hope this is usefull for you, sorry of any mistakes on the spelling or grammar, i donīt have much experience talking about this in english! hahaha

Iīm from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

If you ever get to have one of these, despite the fact that doesnīt work on tubes, itīs a really nice amp, great for recording, great for adding effects, great dynamics w single coils or humbuckers... i had it for 6 years now and i love it, wouldnīt change it for anything.
My gear consists on a Maestro Stage Phasert => Wah GCB-95=> Dan Echo => Voodoo Lab Analog Chorus => MXR Distorion II => MXR Phase 90 =>EHX Poly Chorus => Boss DD-2 => Line 6 DL4.

I use a Luthier made Jaguar out of basswood, maple and rosewood, Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound(br) and Hot(neck) for Jag both of them.
Also a luthier made Mustang body made out of cedar, neck ebony and mahogany, w Di Marzio Chopper on the neck postion and a humbucker taken from a Hamer in the 90īs, never knew what this hb is, but sound amazing.
An de the last axe is a Fernandes R-8, this one has some Wilkinson Single coils on the middle and the bridge and a Fender from a 69 Competition Mustang onthe neck.

By the way, with the MRB, you can get a realy cool QOTSA style sound, and the tremolo sounds amazing too.

Skip Tracer
on that link, under the name Duodeno, you can hear my album, it was recorded using the vox Pacemaker, w and ext cab of 1x12" 8ohms Peavey Black Widow from the 80īs, and distortion is from a Mesa/Boogie V-Twin pedal.

I no loger have the Mesa nor the White Widow!

Good bye,and again, hope this is usefull!

[R.G.]

Hey how are you?
I have one of this amps, regarding the auxiliar speaker, you can plug anyone.
I asked guy who makes tube amps, and he told the load of ohms only affects when using vacumm tubes.
Apparently, solid state amps can take any load whit no problems at all.

The guy you asked was wrong or misinformed himself. Both types of amps can die from an incorrect load. But the incorrect load is reversed. Vacuum tube amps can and may well die if they are operated unloaded. Solid state amps can (in general) be operated with an arbitrarily large load resistance, but can and may well die if their outputs are shorted. Vacuum tubes don't care if their outputs are shorted.

I have 2x12 cab with Celestion Classic lead 80.
At first they were working on a load of 4ohms. ... i had a really middle-toned sound, had a little more volume also.
But 16, you a get a really musical, warm sound, very very clean.

For vacuum tubes, changes of two times either higher or lower can be considered a tone change, not a problem with life. Solid state amps don't change tone with speaker impedance very much.

@Rhodesplyr
I have the service literature on the SS Pacemaker, and it does not say either. However, if it were me, I would change out the external speaker jack for a jack that switches the internal speaker off if you plug another speaker in.

I do not have experience with the Pacemaker, but I do with the bigger brothers in the Thomas Vox line. They are not too forgiving of loads that are too low impedance, and they're reasonably rare. It's not worth the risk to go plugging another external cab into it. The output transistors can be replaced with silicons (they're germanium power devices, I think) and rebiased, but if the driver transformer is toasted, it will have to be hand-unwound, reverse engineered, and rewound, which will be expensive.

I just hate to see these things get unnecessarily sacrificed.

[J M Fahey]

Dear Rhodesplayer.
There's not such info simply because that amp is not meant to be used with an external speaker, just like that.
One reason is that they do not have short circuit protection, so the slightest 1 millisecond speaker shorting (which is very possible, *and* probable with external cabinets), will kill it for good.
Doubly so because of the weak Germanium transistors.
Which can cost $45 to $65 *each*, if available.
As RG says, not worth the risk.