How To Add Speaker Out & Amp In Jacks To Any Guitar Combo!

[@rock2blues59]

Jack be nimble, Jack be quick. Great mod. That's some great music to work by.

[@musicalmiscellany]

Thanks for watching. I thought that blues instrumental would be perfect and the timing couldn't have been better. Glad you noticed.

[@id.unknown1283]

That was very useful and a good solution/new purpose for all those half broken amps people have floating around. I'm suffering from shed envy, mine is more of a shack where lizards live and broken down cardboard boxes are stored.

[@musicalmiscellany]

I didn't think about it that way but you are 100% correct. This would be a good way to repurpose a combo with a fried amp or a blown speaker. Quick and dirty! It sounds like your shed needs a little updating. LOL. Mine is pretty dusty but it works.

[@mcentertain]

Super Cool!! Many Kudos for keeping the DIY culture alive ✊

[@musicalmiscellany]

Thanks for checking it out. I appreciate the comment.

[@kj.melgoza]

Great stuff really! Time to make this champ go wild!

[@musicalmiscellany]

Thanks for checking out the video. I hope it was helpful.

[@midi_in]

what a great idea! I want to do this to my combo now. Thanks.

[@musicalmiscellany]

Ha ha. That's exactly why I do these vids. I want others to become a musical mad scientist like me...er us. Thanks for checking it out.

[@RickBeall]

Very cool! So you can can send the head to another speaker, or plug another head into this. Both with the same simple mod. I wish I had thought of that! I installed a switching jack in my combo, so by default its a combo, but if you plug in the cable, the local head is disconnected and it uses the external head. But I like your mod better. Also, you are using TRS jacks everyone already has.

[@musicalmiscellany]

@@RickBeall thanks for checking it out. It makes the combo really flexible. The jacks are 1/4” mono (TS).

[@jamesmackay4529]

That’s great!

[@musicalmiscellany]

Thanks for checking it out.

[@alwayslearning8365]

Very cool. Thanks

[@musicalmiscellany]

You're welcome. Thanks for checking it out. I just wanted to share.

[@bduff5004]

Way cool. I like your style!!

[@musicalmiscellany]

I appreciate that! Thanks for checking out the vid.

[@andr3spcc]

Nice tutorial brother!

[@musicalmiscellany]

Thanks for checking it out. I make these vids hoping they help someone else. I appreciate the comment.

[@JeremyLeech]

This is exactly what I'm thinking of doing to one of my amps, so I can use a cab sim (Friedman Mic No Mo, or a Aiken Gold Brick)

[@musicalmiscellany]

I hope the vid was helpful. Thanks for checking it out.

[@garydesrosiers5692]

Nice mode,i have a peavey vyper 75 which didn't have an output to go directly to a board for recording so i came across a 1/4" jack that had four lugs almost like a toggle would and i hooked it up and when i wanted to record i would plug a cord in and run it to the board and it would cut the speaker in the amp off and send the signal to the board

[@musicalmiscellany]

That sounds similar to the mod I did on the Orange combo. There's a lot of cool mods you can do with these little amps. Thanks for checking it out.

[@bearshield7138]

cool much coolness indeed

[@musicalmiscellany]

Thanks for watching. I think it should be helpful for somebody.

[@IScreamedWolf]

I got a no name amp from the 80s that has two channels but no footswitch. Any recommendations?

[@musicalmiscellany]

I'm not sure I understand the question. Recommendations for what? Thanks for watching though.

[@IScreamedWolf]

@ sorry I was unclear lol. I’m trying to figure out if it’s worth it to try and wire a jack for a foot switch and if it’s a fairly standard process

[@musicalmiscellany]

@ Do the two channels have separate inputs and volume controls? Or is there a single input with a channel switch?

[@IScreamedWolf]

@@musicalmiscellany single input with a channel switch

[@musicalmiscellany]

@@IScreamedWolf If that's the case, it shouldn't be too difficult. You'll need to open up the amp and take a look at the switch. Chances are it has 3 wires going to it. If that's the case, you could just take those wires and connect them to the 3 prongs of 1/4" TRS jack. Then plug in your footswitch to the TRS jack and it 'should' work. I'd probably test this with some alligator clips and ensure it works before drilling any holes. Needless to say, you'll need to do some prototyping to figure out which wire needs to go where and if you can leave the original switch in the circuit or remove it, but honestly... it doesn't seem particularly complex (granted I haven't tried it so I'm speaking theoretically). If this all sounds daunting to you, just take the amp to a repair shop and tell them what you want to do. They should be able to figure it out.

[@tonibarski4283]

Just came across your channel, great video , is that you playing guitar ? is very good .

[@musicalmiscellany]

Thanks for checking out the video and the channel. It's a one man effort. I'm the actor, director, editor, producer, and promoter.

[@sadzidsmajkic6181]

Great idea! I have a 1x12" combo amp that I want to use either as a combo or as an extension cab. It's easy to drill a hole and add another connector and hook up the speaker. However I don't like the idea of plugging and uplugging cables from the speaker everytime. I like your idea with jumper cable. Can I add a regular on-off switch to disconnect the speaker from the combo amp while using it as a cab. Or (because every speaker has 2 connections on both + and - leads) to leave them both on all the time, since I'll be powering only one amp at a time! Thanks !

[@musicalmiscellany]

While it’s absolutely possible, I’d be cautious about adding a switch to a power connection. Your switch would have to be commensurate with the amps power output. So if you had a 50W amp, you’d want at least a 50W rated (I’d probably use 75W) switch. Also you’d have to make sure it was well grounded / insulated so you don’t get a jolt when you switch it. Just be careful if you’re gonna go that route. Also, this vid might interest you. kzbin.info/www/bejne/b3q0nax9q85_gLssi=PU4InZHvZsp30NxM

[@sadzidsmajkic6181]

Thanks a lot man!

[@RJsCave]

very cool. Question, Is it possible to wire a combo to work as a combo while also powering an extension cab? can speakers in both the combo and the extension cab be working at the same time? I'd like to build a small cab with 1 8" in it to compliment the tones I get from a 20 watt solid state combo.

[@musicalmiscellany]

@@RJsCave Yes. You could follow this tutorial and then create a y-cable that goes to both speakers. The you’d plug in both cabs to the amp output. You could create this cable to be series or parallel depending on the impedance you desire. Does this make sense?

[@RJsCave]

@@musicalmiscellany I think so. as for the cab, I'll be connecting to an 8 ohm combo so 2 4 ohm speakers in series or would a single 8 ohm speaker would work? I also have a 4ohm combo I'd like to connect a single 4 ohm speaker cab to as well.

[@musicalmiscellany]

@@RJsCave 2 8-ohm speakers wired in parallel would result in a 4-ohm load. 2 8-ohm speakers wired in series would result in a 16-ohm load. So if your amp was 8-ohm stable, you’d want to use series wiring. It’s really more about the stability of the amp than it is about the speakers.

[@pietroanania]

Extension Speaker and external speakers in guitar amplifiers :what is the difference in sound?

[@musicalmiscellany]

@@pietroanania thanks for checking out the video. That’s not an easy question to answer though. It’s going to depend on the amp and the speaker

[@TheMedjunior]

Great video mate. It would be awesome if there is a way to add an fx loop, i have a funder champion 40 and unfortunately the dsp has a hiss, can be easily solved with an eq pedal , but i presume that would required an unbuffered fx loop with a send and return. It would be great if you can show us how can that be done.

[@TheMedjunior]

Or wait a second … wouldn’t what you did on the video be an actual fx loop ??? 😂

[@musicalmiscellany]

Adding an Effects Loop to a circuit is a lot more difficult than a mod like this. You'd have to do an analysis of the circuit because you're effectively inserting a signal out/in into the input path. Each amp is going to be a bit different. I/O mods like the ones in this vid deal with the output path which is much different.

[@joeking433]

Can you just use a 6 or 12 inch pedal patch cable instead of wiring up two jacks to speaker wire?

[@musicalmiscellany]

@@joeking433 instrument cables are typically shielded (low voltage) where speaker cables are not shielded (high voltage). So there is a difference between them. Some people say they’ve used an instrument cable for a speaker cable and had no problems… but the general thought is you should not do that. I wouldn’t risk it.

[@conartist267]

Thanks so much! Do you have to match the ohms of the speaker?

[@musicalmiscellany]

Thanks for watching the vid. That's a simple question with a really long answer. I'll do my best to keep it concise. The power amp section inside the combo amp will determine the minimum impedance. So, you'll want to reference the vendor's documentation (or possibly even open a support ticket with the vendor). It's going to vary from amp to amp. If the power section is 4 ohm stable and the internal speaker is 8 ohm, you can safely plug in a 16, 8, or 4 ohm cab to the speaker out jack. However, you wouldn't want to plug in a 2 ohm cab because that could fry the output transformer. In other words, never go lower than the minimum. If the vendor states the amp is 8 ohm stable and it has an 8 ohm speaker, I definitely wouldn't plug it into a 4 or 2 ohm cab as that could damage the circuit, but 8 and 16 ohm cabs should be fine. If you don't know the stats on the internal amp section, it's safest to just assume its minimum impedance matches the internal speaker (which I why I say that in the video). I hope all of that made sense.

[@ronb7481]

Exactly what I was looking for, and it's simpler than expected, no switches, though I don't understand why the wires attached to the speaker of the black amp couldn't just be soldered right to the terminals instead of using connectors. Also, there was no explanation as to why speaker cables are different from instrument cables. Just gonna throw that out there with no explanation?

[@musicalmiscellany]

Thanks for checking out the video. You could solder the wires to the speaker jacks if you want. That would work fine. I like to use connectors like that because it's easy to modify later if you change your mind (or think of something else as I often do). About the differences between speaker and instrument cables... I didn't go into this because it's a rabbit hole w/opinions. The difference is, instrument cables are shielded, and speaker cables are not. Additionally, speaker cables tend to use heavier gauge wire (rated for high wattage) where instrument cables use lighter gauge wire (rated for low resistance). The shield is there to help reduce interference with low voltage signals (e.g. audio) and also keep the signal strong over distance. With high voltage signals (power), the shield can cause issues. There are some that say they've burned out an amp's output transformer by using an instrument cable as a speaker cable. Then there are others who say it doesn't matter and swear they've used an instrument cable as a speaker cable (or vice-versa) for years with no issues. Believe what you want, but I'm inclined to think they're different for a reason and I always try to use them accordingly. Thanks again for checking it out and sorry for the long reply.

[@j.jackson-lightnin9297]

What I want to know sir, is how do you wire your amp combo so you can use your combo speaker and have an external output to add an extra external speaker also while still using your combo amp and speaker ? I know the two speakers have to end up being the right ohmage for the amp. Thank You. I like your videos.

[@musicalmiscellany]

You'd do this mod and then use a y-cable so you can plug both speakers into a single jack. Easy as pie. Even simpler, if your external cab has an 2 jacks (as many of them do), just go from the amp to the external speaker and then from the external speaker back to the internal speaker. Done.

[@Boroffski]

Just spitballing here… Would this work with a power attenuator, which then also has an effects loop? I kinda want to make my Crush 12 a little more fun…🤔

[@musicalmiscellany]

Hmmm. I'm not sure I'm fully following the question, but it wouldn't make a lot of sense to attenuate a power signal going to a speaker. You'd effectively need a resistor that matched the power output. So, in the case of a 50W amp, you'd need a 50W resistor and I can't imagine how hot that would get at high attenuation. You'd be better off to attenuate the input signal or just turn the volume down. Also with an effects loop, that would need to be in the input path, not the output path. Sending an output power signal to a pedal would sure fry it. Again, maybe I'm misunderstanding the question.

[@MrFranci5]

Question? Can you use both speakers together?

[@musicalmiscellany]

Thanks for watching the vid. That simple question has a really long answer. Here's the short version... if you had an 8-ohm speaker inside the combo amp, as well as an 8-ohm external speaker cabinet, and the amp was 4-ohm stable... then yes it would be doable. You'd probably have to make a custom cable but still, it would work. However, if the amp was only 8-ohm stable (and you had the same speakers), running both speakers would likely burn out your amp's output transformer. So is it possible... maybe? It just depends on the amp and the speakers.

[@fearlessfreddy1000]

Thanks for the great HACK. Got more ? Blessings from the Emerald City

[@musicalmiscellany]

I've always got another hack up my sleeve. I think this is a really good one though. Thanks for checking it out.

[@markkempster7367]

Perfect!. Thanks for pointing me to this vid. To connect two speakers, am i right in thinking that that i just attach the red speaker wires from both speakers to the same female jack, same with the black wires?. Cheers again. Nice cigar box playing btw :)

[@markkempster7367]

Also, forgot to ask. As my twins amp is knackered, can I use the input jack that the amp already has, would it be mono?. Detaching it from the amp first obviously.

[@musicalmiscellany]

Long answer to an easy question... If you wire both positives and both negatives together at the terminal that will result in a parallel connection. If you want a series connection, wire the positive terminal to the positive of the first speaker, then wire the negative of the first speaker to the positive of the second speaker, and run the negative of the second speaker back to the negative terminal. Both will work perfectly... the difference between the two wiring schemes is the resulting impedance. If both speakers are 8-ohm, a parallel wiring scheme will result in a 4-ohm load. A series wiring scheme would result in a 16-ohm load. Provided your amp is 4-ohm stable (check the manual to be sure), parallel would likely be a bit louder. However, if your amp is only 8-ohm stable, you'd risk frying the transformer so I'd probably go with series in that case. I hope that all made sense.

[@markkempster7367]

@@musicalmiscellany many thanks. I've just had a look and as it is, one speaker has it's leads jumping to the other speaker, then there's just two wires connecting into the old amp section. I'll have a fiddle after work. Again, really appreciate your time replying. Electronics is like voodoo to me :p

[@musicalmiscellany]

@@markkempster7367 Electricity can be a bit daunting but it's pretty simple actually. It just always wants to find the least resistance between the voltage source and ground. Don't be scared of it, but always respect it. Good luck.

[@markkempster7367]

Wise words, thank you. I'll be super careful. Thanks again dude :)

[@Texas059]

I have two PA speakers Passive 12 Inch 2-Way PA/DJ Loudspeaker Cabinet - 700 Watt Full Range PA/DJ Band Live Sound Speaker can I use those two external cabs for electric guitar? Your opinion

[@musicalmiscellany]

@@Texas059 you never know what it’s gonna sound like until you try it. It could be glorious or it could be terrible. One thing to keep in mind… PA Speakers tend to be power hungry so make sure you give it enough juice. I actually used a PA speaker (with a power amp and a small mixer) for a keyboard rig years ago. It sounded pretty darn good… but amplifying keyboards is a lot different than amplifying guitars. Good luck.

[@laplantamichay]

couldn't u do this w just one TS Jack, using the other pin?

[@musicalmiscellany]

I'm not sure what you mean by "other pin" but short answer... no, there's not a way to do the same thing with a standard TS jack. You could wire a mono jack in parallel with the speaker but then the internal speaker would keep playing when you plug in an extension cab. If you wired a mono jack in series with the internal speaker, neither speaker would work until there's a plug in the jack.

[@marcuschyd9606]

how to turning combo amp like that orange cr to be a pre amp pedal

[@musicalmiscellany]

Turning an amp into a pedal is possible but you can't reshape the circuit board (at least not easily). So in the case of the orange the board is long and skinny. I would be a very oddly shaped pedal if you could even find something to fit it. There are a number of pedal-formatted amps on the market (like the EHX 5mm) so those might make more sense for that kinda of thing. Thanks for checking out the video.

[@geistkrieger869]

Don't suppose you could generate a parts list and some Amazon links for this mod?

[@musicalmiscellany]

Thanks for checking out the video. To do the same thing, you'd need 2 1/4" mono jacks, some speaker wire, 2 1/4" jack ends, and some slide on terminals. I think that's pretty much it.

[@mikel3510]

So is there any way to keep the combo speaker going while using the speaker out? I play rocksmith on the xbox and im trying to use my combo amp instead of the tv speakers, bc with the cable going to the xbox and the hdmi going from xbox to tv or sound bar, theres a delay that cant be fixed. I want to mod my combo so i can send the signal from a speaker out to the xbox without losing the sound from the combo

[@musicalmiscellany]

I’m not completely following but it sounds like you need to send an audio signal whereas this video is about sending a powered signal.

[@mikel3510]

@@musicalmiscellany it's ok I grabbed a DI box, that should do the trick. Thanks for responding, and I like your videos. At least my problem got you some views lol

[@phademusic4744]

Hiya can this be done from a roland cube 40gx to a Marshall 4 x 12 cabinet. I cannot find the speaker impedance for the rowland and I am worried its more than 8 ohms

[@musicalmiscellany]

I haven't ever done this mod on that particular amp but there's no reason it shouldn't work. The internal speaker's impedance is probably marked on the back of the magnet. If it's not, you could simply meter it with a multi-meter. Remember, the impedance of a speaker is theoretical, so it won't be exact. Anything between 2 and 5 is typically a 4-ohm speaker. More than 5 but less than 11 usually means an 8-ohm speaker, and anything more than 12 is probably 16-ohms. You just need to match the impedance of the external cab to the impedance of the internal speaker. Let's say the internal speaker is 16-ohm, then you'd just need to make sure your 412 cab was also 16-ohm.

[@phademusic4744]

@@musicalmiscellany will take a look

[@davidallen346]

Hi, Im hoping you can help help me. I have a 4x12, 8 ohm speaker cabinet. I connect this into Marshall DSL 100 watt head back input 1X4 ohm / 2X8 ohm speaker input. Is this correct? My amp tech told me it was, but he was very angry about it. I need a second opinion please 🙏

[@musicalmiscellany]

I would probably need to see a picture to give advice. I'm not really understanding from the description. If you're looking for a second opinion, you might want to use a forum like Gearslutz or one of the many guitar communities. I think you'd get a lot better responses if they can see it. Good luck.

[@davidallen346]

@musicalmiscellany I explained it the easiest way possible. I'm not sure if there's another way of explaining it? The Marshall DSL 100 watt head l have has 5 speakers inputs, 1x16ohm, 1x8 ohm / 2x16 ohm, 1x4 ohm / 2x8 ohm, The speaker cabinet is 4x12 8ohm which speaker input do I connect it to the 100 watt amp head? I thought you are speaker expert. because of your video. That's why I ask. I can't send you picture. I don't have a direct email link to you

[@musicalmiscellany]

@@davidallen346 Just to be clear, an amp head has 0 speaker inputs. I'm assuming you mean speaker outputs. I'm not trying to be pedantic but these kinds of details matter, especially if you're asking if this can damage your amp (and thus why anyone who understands this stuff is probably going to want to see a picture). I looked up the manual for the DSL 100 online and luckily it includes pics of the front/back panels. Also, it clearly says what you should do on page 11. For a single 8 ohm cabinet you can plug it into either of 2 jacks labeled "1x8 / 2x16", so that's exactly what I would do if I was you.

[@davidallen346]

@musicalmiscellany If the amp output is lower than the speaker ohm, than it might cause damages. If this case, the amp has 16ohm, the speaker cabinet is 8ohm That's what I had done previously, connect the 8ohm 4x12 cabinet to the amp output 1x8 / 2x16 ohm and it sounded weak not full. This one amp tech, who did the bias told me it was incorrect I needed it to connect to the amp head speaker output, 1x4ohm / 2x8 ohm for the 4x12 8 ohm cabinet. I think you're referring to a single speaker cabinet. I'm mentioning a 2x12 & 4x12 8ohm speaker cabinets. The cabinet says 8ohm on the label.I'm not sure, why there's so many speaker outputs for this particular Marshall DSL Head. This gets complicated for the user. There's series / parallel option supposedly. I guess I can go to a local guitar center and ask. I just figured I can get second opinion from a guitar amp expert. Thanks for your help

[@davidallen346]

@musicalmiscellany OK I downloaded the Marshal DSL 100 Amp head Manuel. It says 1x4 Ohm or 2x8 Ohm connects to a single 4 Ohm speaker cabinet or two 8 Ohm speaker cabinet. What about typical traditional half stack 4x12 8 Ohm speaker cabinet? I'm assuming, that's what I'm supposed to use for the half stack 4x12 - 1x4 Ohm / 2x8 Ohm cabinet is the 2x8 Ohm output for Marshall DSL 100 watt amp head. It would be easier to understand Marshall DSL manuel if it included the 4x12 speaker cabinet description

[@ajhwb]

Nice work bruh, what's the in modification blues song?

[@musicalmiscellany]

Thanks for checking out the video. I don't remember the song title. I was a royalty-free blues song I found online.

[@ivanm9186]

Question no one asked yet here: what Ohmage is this? 16? 8? How would one know? ;)

[@musicalmiscellany]

I guess I didn't really talk about impedance in this video but I did in the previous one if you want to check that out. kzbin.info/www/bejne/b3q0nax9q85_gLs The short answer is you need to look at the documentation that came with your amp. If you're not sure, just check the impedance of the internal speaker and assume that's the amp's minimum impedance. With this amp, the internal speaker is 8 ohm as is the extension cabinet so it worked out great.

[@TheCyberMantis]

Oh no! It just lost half it's "tone" with those extra connections! 😳

[@musicalmiscellany]

I follow you line of thought, but - by that logic - every head/cabinet pairing in existence has also lost half of it's tone. A vintage Marshall JCM800 into a 412 cab uses this same wiring scheme and I think you'd have a hard time arguing the speaker cable absorbed 50% of the amp's tone (or even 5% of the amp's tone).

[@TheCyberMantis]

@@musicalmiscellany That was a joke. You must not spend any time on those guitar gear forums. 😆

[@musicalmiscellany]

@@TheCyberMantis I thought you were one of those guys and not somebody poking fun at them. LOL. Sorry... I'm slow. Thanks for checking out the vid.

[@cchgn]

NO! I don't want an "eithe /or" I want to play BOTH my combo amp, AND an extended cab.

[@musicalmiscellany]

Okay. Just follow this mod and create a y-cable to go to both the internal speaker and the external speaker. NOTE: you need to figure out whether that y-cable should be wired in series or parallel based on the impedance of the speakers and rated stability of your amp.

[@lyledouglas8324]

Just un hook the speaker and runyour amp head to the speaker itself. No B. S.

[@musicalmiscellany]

@@lyledouglas8324 sometimes the simplest solution really is the best. 🤣 thanks for checking out the vid.

[@XwpisONOMA]

Can you please stop moving your hands and head that much and while you are at it frame your shot not so close to you. Just saying!

[@musicalmiscellany]

Okay. Thanks for watching.