Line Levels?

[dumbassbob]

I have a alot of old rack gear and tube amps,no FX loops and preamps Can I plug a tube preamp into a Amp input? And what is Line Level what does it do who what then ect..Any info would be a help I never know if I am pluging things in right

[km6xz]

What specific models are you trying to interface. Semi-pro gear of recent decades is -10dbv unterminated, old pro gear is +4dbm referrenced to 600 ohms terminated, old broadcast gear can +8dbm, like old tube compressors/limitors or landline interfaces can be +4dbm terminated, at 500 ohms, more modern pro gear is +4db bridging.
Some modern equipment splits the difference and lives in both pro and amateur fields like the Mackie standard of unterminated(bridging) +0.
You have to consider if the units are expecting terminated or bridging inputs from the following unit. Old terminated equipment needs a bridging transformer to feed multiple receiving units. A great many classic old units are not working as intended with higher deviation from spec in level, distortion and frequency response because they are not seeing the design load when inserted into a semi-pro signal chain, so it is good that you ask this question now.

[dumbassbob]

I have Roland srv2000reverbs and Sde1000 delays yamahaD1500 delays and a ART transposer and a SohoQuatro tube preamp BUT MY AMPS ARE OLD fENDERS AND mARSHALLS.i NEED TO LOOK AT THE SPEC SHEETS i WOULD LIKE TO RUN them with proper levels

[km6xz]

OK, those effects are all of the bridging input...high z 10k-50k so they can be mult'ed and the outputs for the Roland are -10 and +4 selectable. If driving the amp at its input the -10 output level would be used.

My question however is why would you want to create such a signal for those amps to then generate its own signature distortion...seems like a sonic mess about to happen? The amps will sound best without any of those modifiers but the effects would be quite useful for developing a tone for recording or using a solid state amp.

[dumbassbob]

I want to have 3 different amp setups (overkill) so I can use my rack gear into a small Carvin 16 channel mixer for my FX sounds (like if I need to do a U2 thing) and then have my 64 Bandmaster for clean,and the 100w plexi for lead tones.I just am not tookeen on useing rack gear and having the right db settings.Like the back of the preamp has a knob and about a 1/4 of a turn there is a knotch is that Line Level? Also I have a rack gear Reactive load called a Power Tool I can plugt my Marshall into that and send it to a mixer or a power amp and it has a FX loop also.One last question can I run a line level Out(amp) into a Instrument(amp) level in, Thanks for your time and help

[Jazz P Bass]

.One last question can I run a line level Out(amp) into a Instrument(amp) level in,

Line level is 10 times the signal (at least) of an instrument.
If the instrument level pot is kept low, it should work out o/k.

[km6xz]

What line level, consumer -10dbv or +4db pro live level? The consumer line level found on the effects he had is centered very well in the -20dbv to +0dbv RMS range of passive pickups. Due to some of his gear being -10 and +4 line level selectable, by using the appropriate connectors he can mix and match the units in series if the wants and still have a good match in unit to unit interface levels. My only question about this arrangement is using a tube amp for such a drive signal which is already greatly modified in harmonic content, so he is not gaining anything using a tube amp over a solid-state amp, probably just adding mud. That signal chain would probably sound better with a high headroom pa amp than a guitar amp that has its own character.

[dumbassbob]

Yes you are right about that I have a few ways I can go I want to use my tube amps and blend in the FX but I am not sure about some of the levels,Like in the back of my Preamp there is a knob, about a 1/4 of a turn there is a mark is that line level And if I hook every thing up will it be too muddy