Advantages of a Mcintosh

[mijknahs]

Ok. So basically, i will have 1 RCA cord running out of the input i have the tap modded to, straight to the mac? Im going to email a tech. I will send him a link to Waldos sight and tell him to look under Post Alembic Preamp Tap. I dont mind dropping the vibrato, and I want as little noise as possible. So when this is all done, what will I need to use it? Just a normal RCA cord?

If you go that route (using the vibrato RCA jack) you MUST pull all the power tubes from your Fender amp. Otherwise you will ruin your output transformer.

Yes, just a normal RCA cable (single / mono) from the Fender to the McIntosh. Then conncet your speakers to the McIntosh with the appropriate ohm load.

Also, some of the Post-Alembic tap won't work if you use the vibrato RCA jack. The Post-Alembic tap requires the use of a 1/4" stereo jack in order to shunt the power section when you use the preamp tap.

[Jerry1996x]

So I connect the speakers to the Mac? How do i do that? Uhg. I need to learn these things haha

[mijknahs]

So I connect the speakers to the Mac? How do i do that? Uhg. I need to learn these things haha

Yes. The McIntosh is replacing the power tubes (power section) of your Fender amp. The power tubes will no longer be needed.

You **really** need to get an understanding of these things before you even start opening up and working on an amp or you're bound to get into trouble. The worst that could happen is you could electrocute and kill yourself.

[Jerry1996x]

Absolutely! I would never try to do this stuff myself, i would probably kill myself. I just want to know what to tell the tech, and then how to set it all up haha. But how would I plug the cab into the mac?

[redeyedjim]

The McIntosh has speaker outputs, typically in the form of a terminal strip. You need to make up a speaker cable that has spade connectors on one end and whatever connector your speaker cabinet uses on the other (1/4" male tip/shield (mono) connectors are the most common). Attach the spade connectors end of the cable to the McIntosh's speaker outputs, and plug the other end into the speaker cabinet. If you want something more flexible, use a 1/4" female connector instead of using a 1/4 male connector on the cabinet side of this cable, and then you can use a standard speaker cable between the amp and the cabinet, in whatever length you need.

[Jerry1996x]

Ok, so basically I have to have a cord that has the wires exposed on one end and attach them individually to the terminal strip. then what exactly? what is on the other end of that exactly? Sorry to keep asking questions. I appreciate all the helpfullness from you guys

[mijknahs]

Ok, so basically I have to have a cord that has the wires exposed on one end and attach them individually to the terminal strip. then what exactly? what is on the other end of that exactly? Sorry to keep asking questions. I appreciate all the helpfullness from you guys

Yes. You can connect exposed wires directly to your McIntosh. Just screw them down under the correct ohm conncection.

It depends on the speaker cabinet connection. What kind of connections is on your speaker cabinet? Does it use a 1/4" cable? Banana plugs? Speaker cable with bare wires exposed?

[Jerry1996x]

Its a Hard Truckers JG-1 and has a 1/4" jack. Do the wires have to go in any specific order in the terminal? And is this cord something I buy? Or make? and if make how simple is it to do?

[mijknahs]

Its a Hard Truckers JG-1 and has a 1/4" jack. Do the wires have to go in any specific order in the terminal? And is this cord something I buy? Or make? and if make how simple is it to do?

If the speakers are wired together correctly, then it doesn't matter how the wires go to the McIntosh (positive/negative doesn't really matter). If you have a 1/4" speaker cable (not an instrument cable) you can remove one end to expose the 2 wires and just hook it up that way. Or you can get a short speaker cable extention cable are remove the "male" side to expose the wires, hook those up tot he McIntosh and then plug in the normal speaker cable to the "female" 1/4" plug. That would be easier to disconnect if you need to move it. But if you're just going to leave it at home and not move it around, then it doesn't really matter just screw the bare wires on to the terminal strip.

[redeyedjim]

Here's a (crappy) picture of my MC50 I happen to have on my laptop:



You see the amp end of the speaker output cable. The other end has this Neutrik 1/4" female jack (p/n NJ3FC6):



About $6; Amazon link Note that this is a stereo (TRS) jack, but that doesn't matter as you only need to use the tip and either the ring or shield connection when you wire this up.

There are many of these connectors available and the above is only one example, but it's a pretty good one.

I made the cable using some spare 12ga or 10ga speaker wire I had at hand. It took about 10 minutes, including time for the soldering gun to heat up.

[Jerry1996x]

Ok so let me recap...
The speaker cable goes directly from the speakers to the Mac terminal, the RCA jack on the the mac goes to the modded preamp tap. Is that right? Or did i miss something.....

[mijknahs]

Ok so let me recap...
The speaker cable goes directly from the speakers to the Mac terminal, the RCA jack on the the mac goes to the modded preamp tap. Is that right? Or did i miss something.....

That's pretty much it. Think of it this way. Your guitar signal goes into the Fender amp (preamp) the signal gets taken to the new modded RCA jack. Then it goes to the MAC and gets amplified and goes directly to the speakers.

You are totally bypassing the "power amp" on the Fender amp and using the McIntosh as the power amp instead.

[redeyedjim]

Ok so let me recap...
The speaker cable goes directly from the speakers to the Mac terminal, the RCA jack on the the mac goes to the modded preamp tap. Is that right? Or did i miss something.....

Yes, that's about all there is to it. You connect the output from your preamp to the McIntosh amplifier's input jack, then run a speaker cable from the Mac's speaker output terminals to your speaker cabinet.

[Jerry1996x]

Awesome! Sounds simple now that I have a bit of a grasp on it. So theres nothing plugged into the cab itself? Just the speaker. Sounds good! And look what I made in case I ever get confused

http://s1145.photobucket.com/albums/o51 ... layout.png

[Jerry1996x]

OH! 1 last question.... Can I make the speaker cable I need out of the cable thats already in the cab? In other words seperate the 2 cables to attach to the Mac?