Are AMPLIFIERS a LIE?! Guitar Direct into Speaker | Too Afraid To Ask

What would happen if we plugged our guitar directly into a speaker cabinet without an amplifier? It might seem obvious, but let's put it to the test and determine WHY amplifiers are so important.
Ask your TATAs in the comment section and perhaps they will become the topic of a future video.
20W Guitar Speaker into 200W Bass Amp - • How to void your warra...
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[@ScienceofLoud]

What would happen if we plugged our guitar directly into a speaker cabinet without an amplifier? It might seem obvious, but let's put it to the test and determine WHY amplifiers are so important. Ask your TATAs in the comment section and perhaps they will become the topic of a future video. 20W Guitar Speaker into 200W Bass Amp - kzbin.info/www/bejne/rKa0cn15ebaXa6c #guitar #amplifier #speaker More from CSGuitars: Gain access to exclusive content at: www.patreon.com/csguitars Join CSGuitars Discord - discord.gg/d7b6MY8 Buy CSGuitars Merchandise - www.csguitars.co.uk/store Website - www.csguitars.co.uk Contact - [e-mail]

[@Gonnasifaherpewarts]

Blackstar has some Tube driven guitar pedals. Do you think one of those might have a more substantial sound plugged directly into a speaker cab?

[@BramMouse]

What would happen if you'd plug into a powered cab, like you would use with an unpowered Kemper?

[@ScienceofLoud]

@@Gonnasifaherpewarts They'll still be outputting at line level impedance because they are intended as preamps, much like the Rat used in this video. They'll still need a power amp to drive a speaker effectively

[@bootstraspbill]

I have a better question; would it damage your home media speakers (such as your PC speakers) if you connect your guitar to them directly? Or with a pedal? Say, whats the difference between a Logitech Speaker (with built in amplifier) and a Marshall Guitar Amplifier?

[@stimpsonjcat26]

You missed some science. A larger speaker with a higher SPL per watt would be much easier to drive than that small orange speaker. I imagine that orange speaker is around 90db at 1w/1m. A good 12" speaker will be around 100db at 1w/1m. I had a horn loaded cab once that was sensitive enough to pick up a radio station when not connected to anything.

[@Tuxman25]

I am enjoying every single video of this guy. Credible knowledge paired with a sense of humor just does it for me. :)

[@bipbipletucha]

Its perfect

[@lichkrieg4898]

watch his super old videos....you'll see this is truly a golden age.

[@downtothewireBAND]

He good

[@marcoabyss]

i'm still not used to the hair cut, especially with the flashback to the long-haired colin

[@MissSchnickfitzel]

Yea its odd lol. But not bad looking.

[@TealScarab]

How long did it take to animate all those representations of a speaker and valve working? I loved how clean and professional they looked.

[@ScienceofLoud]

That was a few hours last night to draw the assets and animate them.

[@ScienceofLoud]

I'm really glad they are appreciated

[@turamvar]

I concur! Really nice touch!

[@matturner6890]

@@ScienceofLoud you're getting better with every video, dood! And you were already really good from the jump.

[@theceoofgibson2563]

I loved them.

[@ksandbergfl9609]

If your effects pedal has a Headphone Out jack, you can plug that directly into a speaker cabinet. The Headphone Out circuit is generally about 300mW-500mW (1/3 to 1/2 watts) and can be a perfectly usable bedroom/practice amp.

[@_oe_o_e_]

It pretty amazing how amplification was such a big discovery in the beginning of the 20th century. Basically we figured out how a small trickle could control a river. I’m not even an EE and hearing how tubes and transistors work makes a lot of sense, because it’s the same simple concepts I learned in elementary school. Wild

[@famitory]

solution: put several hundred distortion pedals in parallel. then you'll have enough total amps to drive the speaker

[@trillrifaxegrindor4411]

or one power amp pedal,its a pedal .it drives a speaker

[@CarsInDimension]

@@trillrifaxegrindor4411 That's exactly what I'm trying to make, pure power amps in a pedal format. I call them PedalAmp, PedalAmp+, and PedalAmp3, 30W, 50W, and 50W w/ a 4" Eminence Alpha speaker, in jointed solid wood enclosures. No preamp or EQ, meant to be used with preamp, amp-in-a-box, overdrive and boost pedals, but they have enough gain to be used for practice, though the tone is hi-fi clean and not super loud. Put a pedal with a gain stage in front of them and they start to rock. The site's not up yet but in a few days check out pedalamp.com.

[@mr.nobody68]

@@CarsInDimension I don't want hi-fi clean. I want Angus Young. Low pre amp gain with the power amp section distorting like a MF

[@CarsInDimension]

@@mr.nobody68 I love tube amps too, this is just another tool for the toolbox. Use your pedals to establish basic gain and EQ structure and then a pure power amp to drive the speakers.

[@godzilla964]

I think you mean series, not parallel.

[@iBoss818]

Colin: 5:07 Talkbox pedals: allow me to introduce myself

[@jonathanwapner6262]

That speaker cable looks heavier than the Micro Dark.

[@5urg3x]

I’m not sure if you’ve done this already but it would be great if you could make a video about the differences between guitar amps and bass amps, and cabinets...plugging a guitar into a bass amp and cab, for example, something like that. Cheers 🍻

[@laa0fa502]

I genuinely thought it was gonna sound like an acoustic... what is wrong with me

[@someguynamedrob581]

Well, with the mic gain turned up, you weren't 100% wrong.

[@laa0fa502]

@@someguynamedrob581 yeah I'm basically a scientist

[@jonathanmartin3375]

Eddie Van Halen used to run his pedals between the amp head and the cabinet. He's put a power soak after the head, then the pedals, then a power amp after.

[@srubel59]

Colin I've been reading your responses to comments here. You're a legend sir! I hope these folks appreciate how much time you put into this channel in just responding to comments alone! Amazing!

[@matthewf1979]

Tubes are a high voltage, low current device. You need a transformer to turn that high voltage/low current into low voltage/high current to drive the speaker. Some/most solid state amps use transistors to drive speakers directly because they are already a low voltage/high current device. There’s all kinds of impedance matching going on inside the amp too.

[@triledink]

Make a guitar amplifier out of an empty whiskey bottle.

[@jarrusjenkins]

Orange really didn't do the micro dark any favours by pairing it with that speaker..... With a proper one.... it's sounds brilliant...

[@jeffleecust]

One of the funniest set ups I had for a while was a Zoom GX1ON plugged into a set of powered 2x3” computer speakers. Since the speakers were active and had their own internal amp, it worked and actually did not sound bad, just a digital fingerprint on all sounds.

[@davidasher22]

I was actually surprised to hear anything when you used the distortion pedal.

[@alexosborne3642]

"You can't place pedals inbetween an amp and speaker cabinet" That sounds like a challenge

[@nickritcher4583]

Please try and get back to us

[@mcshaggyswildadventures3952]

You can place a compressor/limiter that you make yourself out of a lightbulb and have it in a pedal. It’s been done. Even on KZbin. Works alright. Good luck, friend.

[@jameschristensen1658]

You ever do it?

[@emptyMan0]

An active bass can drive headphones, I used to practice like that.

[@WinterSpire]

I used to do that too!

[@schwenke069]

I read the title, I intentionally pushed play, I agreed with what would happen. And then ... the instant you started playing ... my first instinct was to turn my phone volume up. Got me. Nice job.

[@Ishkybibble]

I’d love to see a TATA about speaker magnets and whether they actually impart “colour” on tone.

[@trillrifaxegrindor4411]

try 3-4 different speakers.they definitely color tone more than different amplifiers.....one of the pedal makers demos 10 different amps through the same cabinet,they all sound basically identical

[@riddhimannmukherjee5956]

Can you make a TATA video on "What's the difference between high gain, overdrive and distortion?" I've seen tons of new guitar players, who can't differentiate between these three. It'll be helpful for them. Fantastic work however 😊❤️

[@jacobbockover1628]

When I was like 12 (1987) I used to plug headphones into my overdrive pedal late at night

[@Wheresthepepsibismol]

Did it work

[@IamMusicNerd]

The more interesting question for me is… could I use studio monitors instead of a cabinet, as the output directly from the amp? Or vice versa, connecting a cabinet as the output from a DI box? I know it technically works either way, but what are the pros and cons of each setup vs doing it the traditional way?

[@witeshade]

It might be worth checking out a pedal like the earthquaker Acapulco Gold. If I'm not mistaken it uses an lm386 which is an actual power amplifier chip, so I think it actually be able to make a decent output.

[@Agar4Life]

I've done it, and it works. Doesn't sound great, and if you have an LM386-1 it's patchy whether it's enough, but an LM386-4 will.

[@PushSueAside]

I loved “I think I know what’s going to happen” ....that might be a fun series?!? Cheers Colin

[@DMSProduktions]

DONE this b4! You CAN hear it, but it's SO quiet it's pointless. Using a set of HEAD PHONES however, will give you some sound, but it's still very small!

[@Centar1964]

A guitar pickup CAN drive a speaker...your problem was an impedance mismatch...guitar pickup in the thousands of ohms and the speaker at 8 ohms...basically zero power transfer...BUT if you connect the guitar pickup to an impedance matching transformer like an audio output transformer and then connect the speaker you would get a low signal in the speaker...it works...try this> connect 2 speakers together in separate rooms with a long cable...one person shouts into one speaker, another person in other room will hear sound from their speaker, a very simple intercom.

[@HughManatea]

I never thought it would do anything, but I genuinely never even pondered this at all so I honestly did not know this would happen.

[@PeybolpeyboL]

There's only on more question now: how many boost pedals does it take to drive a cone???

[@ScienceofLoud]

It's not just a case of increasing the signal many times, it's also about efficient power transfer and for that impedance needs to match. No matter how many boosts you have they will not output an impedance to match a speaker, so will never effectively drive a cabinet.

[@Bleats_Sinodai]

Absolutely stunning explanation! As an Electronics technician, I approve 👍

[@Briansgate]

I love my Orange Micro Dark! and I love that you keep using it on your channel, as well!

[@littlezentz]

My speaker boxes have built in amps. And instrument jacks. I have nothing against using an amp but I have threeboxes like this and its cool to know it works in a pinch

[@thegamerg47]

Wait a minute if Colin is right handed, then why is his animated self in the intro LEFT HANDED

[@jasonweber7426]

A video on DI guitar tones and how plugging straight into the mixing desk works would be interesting

[@jpbguitar6470]

Notification/Discord squad!

[@nizodizo9549]

I used to use a Danelectro Fab Tone pedal as a headphone amp. It sounded bad but worked. You should try that. I would do that myself but that was twenty years ago and I am not buying one now just for that.

[@robraaiii]

Love the channel. And the accent. And hearing you actually say the words “don’t have the power” near the end there... well that was just priceless.

[@Crunchifyable2]

If you take a headphone output and attach it to a guitar speaker you get a pretty decent volume for bedroom practice

[@troyjeffrey4311]

Taking something that appears obvious and explaining it in a way we can understand without feeling stupid. This is CSGuitars way.

[@abelskeeper269]

My Digitech Valve Fx preamp's headphone out, will power an1x12 cab. It's not loud mind you, but it does work. I don't do this for long periods of time either, but still, it works!

[@NoahNobody]

I remember when I was a kid, I could plug my guitar into my hi-fi amplifier as it had a quarter inch input hole. The sound was great.

[@skarfie123]

This video was so helpful! Even though I knew it would be too quiet, the extra tips about speaker cables and frying pedals were new to me.

[@Yupppi]

You can do the tube amplifying differently as well, can't you? Like almost all do signal at grid today, but some old amps didn't, did they? And I think some heavy duty amps with lots of gain stages do the last stage differently as well. Just forget which way it was, from plate or cathode. Great episode! I think this was very clear for all the beginner guitarists who are confused with all the rules of connecting amps. Just like the one about output impedance connections.

[@rendyandrian7149]

Question for next TATA: why we can't use electric guitar strings for acoustic guitar and vice versa ?

[@ShockingPikachu]

I don’t know what it is, but I chuckle a little when I see an orange branded product and it isn’t orange in colour

[@emilehobo]

If you hook up the guitar directly to the speaker, the impedance of the pickups are also thus much higher than that of the speaker itself that they end up consuming most of the voltage they produce themselves, a little bit like with a shorted battery. I wasn’t too sure what was going to happen with the active pickups, because I think they have a preamp in them that might decouple the pickups. I really enjoyed the test and your explanation.

[@lukefromtonight]

i am so impressed with your production quality recently, just had to say it!

[@CalvinBacon]

Loving your videos Colin. Found you a few weeks back when I found out that TRS cables are indeed not identical to Instrument cables and I therefore had my studio monitors connected like a fool for the last 6 years 🤣 now that I am upgrading I and soldered my own trs/jack->XLR cables 😁 love your style of teaching and humor 🙏🏼

[@prozystudios1595]

Great video as always! I have a TATA myself; is it true that plugging a bass into a guitar rig bound to break it to pieces? Or is it just an old wives' tale?

[@ScienceofLoud]

Bass into guitar amp is completely fine and will harm nothing. However, as demonstrated in the 'Void Your Warranty' video I highlighted here if you put a bass amp into a guitar speaker you'll have a problem. Bass amplifiers can be up to 1000W which is much higher power than what a standard guitar speaker is rated to handle. People get this mistaken for bass into guitar amp, but the signal from a bass pickup is basically no different to that of a guitar pickup.

[@mindfall82]

I blew a speaker playing bass through a guitar amp when I was younger, but I do it all the time now as long as you don't crank it you'll be fine

[@johndcoffee632]

TATA question: Mixing and matching different speaker wattage. I have a 2x12 and a 4x12. The 2x12 has 2 30w speakers, the 4x12 has 4 75W speakers, all are 16 ohms. I have a 50 watt amp and a 100 watt amp. Would like to use the 100w amp with the 2x12. What's the considerations of mixing and matching, series, parallel, etc. Seems like it might make an interesting vid. Thanks Colin, hope you're well.

[@TrypticOwen]

It would be interesting to see how a powered cab affects tone without a normal amp's preamp?

[@plumbummusic2051]

Maybe plugging the guitar straight into the amp's fx return (if it has one) answers this question, but I'm not 100% sure. Bypassing the preamp makes it sound pretty dark and slightly scooped.

[@joseislanio8910]

@@plumbummusic2051 and very quiet

[@TrypticOwen]

@@plumbummusic2051 I've tried something similar in the past when there was a suggestion to use a metalzone as a preamp in this way and I found there was an extreme amount of signal noise - much more so than running into the front of the amp and not what I was expecting?...

[@user-js3op5lu7y]

In addition, the guitar's and pedal's output are "signal", this means is the voltage changing as the information of signal , no much matter the power and current.And to drive a speaker you need electric energy, amplifier is to give signal much more power to do this.

[@guitarforall]

best guitar channel

[@zackwatson755]

Leaving a comment to help Colin

[@OsLapsosBandaRock]

Very well explained! Something we allready know, but knowledge is never too much. Great video! 👍😉👍

[@crackedspyglass]

5:24 no joke when I was a dumb kid I recorded a solid state Hartke bass head out of a speaker jack. I'm amazed I didn't break that mixer

[@dzhellek]

I think it was audiovox that made a tweeter back in the 80s where the speaker cone was a steel plate. It sounded just okay but what was incredible about it was the damn thing would not fry. It's too bad it couldn't sound any better.

[@cellofellow5115]

How have I only just now heard of this channel?!

[@ianball3972]

What you have just demonstrated is obvious, but .... instead of using a speaker with a large magnet and high mass cone it might be interesting to try same experiment with a speaker from an old transistor radio or better yet an old crystal radio earpiece..... Just for S's and G's :) Cheers !

[@RockOfGreece]

I saw survey you took and I WAS SCARED :( because you asked what kind of content we like and very few people voted for science-electronics stuff. But these are always your best videos

[@salembendeck]

I plugged headphones into my guitar once and it was quite faint but perfectly audible

[@KevinRibelMusic]

Always a pleasure to learn with you mate!

[@christopherrollason1369]

One thing I have wondered, why does a Metal Zone sound better in the return of the fx loop than it does in front of an amp?

[@pyratoothNL]

There are discussions on the 'net that the Metal Zone has all the characteristics of a pre-amp, so taking your guitar into the pre-amp section to boost the signal first, then applying the zone in the effects loop means the character of the pedal is not affected by the "colouring" of your pre-amp.

[@bwgti]

Very good answer to this question. Everyone knows the answer But I bet some young guitarists do not the basics of "why" the answer.

[@mouthfulacoque3580]

Your review was the only reason i needed to buy a micro dark. Took me 5 years, but still. This is my first amplifier too

[@jf6868]

Love your channel sir! 🍻

[@WimRijksen]

Well I must say, personally I do love a much larger currant, such as gooseberries.

[@juliansedor7101]

I use a shielded speaker cable as an instrument cable because at the moment it's all I've got. I'd never use an instrument cable as a speaker cable, except for science of course.

[@juliansedor7101]

To anyone who may ask, yes, it is a speaker cable. Yes, it is shielded. They exist.

[@trillrifaxegrindor4411]

there are a few select pedals that work like an amplifier... they are called POWER AMP PEDALS ,i just use an amp but yes,there are pedals that will drive a 4x12"

[@WeyounSix]

whoa your R in "CS Guitars" was much more English this episode than Scottish lol

[@benjaminfowler4513]

That whole intro was waaay toned down what's up with that lol?

[@lasvegasira]

Interestingly, a tube amplifier doesn't increase the current until it gets to the output transformer. The vacuum tubes increase the signal by increasing the voltage with every gain stage and the power stage, then the OT converts it to an increased current for the speakers. Meanwhile solid state transistors amplify the current, which is why there's no need for an OT in a solid state amp.

[@valuedhumanoid6574]

I will say this though. You can plug your guitar into stereo amp and play through it. When I saved up enough to buy my first guitar I didn’t have the money for the amp. So I plugged into my dads Kenwood home stereo and got a decent clean tone. But I never tried using a pedal into the stereo system, so I don’t know if that would work. Perhaps the great Collin can answer that?

[@katryanaorange2092]

Oooh it works ;) just need an external power source to power up the pedals.

[@thewhalenorman]

Good video as always! Love watching these

[@scottreynolds6317]

Love the vid Colin!!!! Great explanation!!!

[@jhansitadikonda2050]

I'm a huge fan of your work I really enjoy it And learning some new things also

[@jhansitadikonda2050]

Thank you so much for the ❤️ man thank you so much

[@PierceThirlen2]

I have wide bandwidth low impedance pickups on my guitar that can actually drive a high efficiency speaker. By low impedance I mean the pickups measure about 8 ohms impedance.

[@bradmiddleton412]

This video made me think of a TATA. You mentioned how you can't put pedals between the amp and the speaker, but what about talk boxes? Do they not belong between the amp and speaker? Or do they go somewhere else in the signal chain?

[@sparrowssong3112]

The Norwood Reaper shows no mercy.

[@dorgsan]

I actually play direct into studio monitor

[@trillrifaxegrindor4411]

thats a powered speaker guy,different animal altogether

[@markhammer643]

Nicely done, sir!

[@leocana]

Had not watched that original video tearing the tweed out of that poor orange cabinet. It did hurt to watch, indeed.

[@CS_Mango]

I once plugged my bass I to a jbl Bluetooth speaker. Interestingly enough the box noticed the weak signal and amplified it enough so it was audible. I know that is not like plugging the bass directly into a speaker. But interestingly enough.

[@bradball42]

I have a boss ME-20 it has a headphone output u can plug into any AUX and it works great if you have good speakers

[@kenariaaa4373]

I was here expecting a different question and my question was Why do u need an amp if u already have an active speaker??? Is it a tone thing??? I also had another question that might be related to the question above n that is, why is it bad to use the phones output to connect ur amp to a mixer or a speaker???

[@glenclifton4563]

Thanks again. Great explanation!

[@ZetaFuzzMachine]

Could you mod a MetalZone to drive a speaker??? That would be ... you know... Metal!

[@gaetan4164]

I have another stupid question : why do we need preamps in amplifiers ? Like, why can't the guitar-level signal go directly to the power amp ? I understand why it would be needed if you want to interact with studio gear which expects line level, but why replicate that inside an amplifier ? Sure, you want some gain and EQ, but these can be done at guitar level.

[@garethprice8764]

Wooo, love your tatas matey!

[@fiedel]

I'm going to nitpick here and note that the answer is rather "impedance matching" than "current!" (that is the Ohm thing, not the Ampere one), but since all relevant speakers today are very low impedance due to some major design constraints involving pesky physics and nasty mass inertia, it's well adapted enough to the reality to not be really wrong :) There are some high-impedance speaker designs used in tube radios produced during or shortly after WWII, when copper was somewhat scarce and expensive, that were built to cut the the need for an output transformer, which likely would achieve a rather decent volume with just an effect pedal. Which, then again, technically are amplifiers, so the answer still stays at NO.

[@iberiksoderblom]

But, since you shortly touched the subject... What's a FX-loop for and why use it ? I plug my guitar in to the one end of my pedal-setup, and from the last pedal to the amp. Its simple...

[@dzhellek]

3:07 I was going to say amperage. I think Trebek would have allowed my answer.

[@toro5280]

What happens if you plug the guitar into a stereo or a surround system? They do have built in amplifiers right? Or am I missing something? I am honestly asking, I am a layman.

[@Yash-vq9hl]

Did you get the answer? I'm still in the same situation.😔

[@toro5280]

@@Yash-vq9hl Yes, I tried it. The sound was in only one channel and the volume was really low. However I ran the guitar through my multieffect and then through the stereo and it was much better and stereo too. Nowhere near the volume of a guitar amp, but for home use if you don't wantto disturb the neighbours, butdon't want headphones all the time, actually quite usable.

[@popebryanii7224]

COLIN!!!! SHOW US HOW TO MAKE GUITAR CASES!!!!

[@ytfejk5736]

dude, you are awesome. love every video. keep on rockin

[@JC-11111]

Hey Colin! What's inside a mini humbucker? You never really see vids or hear people talk about winding those. Can you do a TATA on those? 🙏🎸👍

[@bobwasherenotthere]

4:11 wait. That’s illegal How are you running your amp without a speaker load?

[@ScienceofLoud]

It's a solidstate power section. The amplifier was chosen to allow me to do this safely.

[@FormulaXFD]

Ehhhh this one has a number of issues going on... It isn't a matter of current, it's a matter of power (of which current is a component). Take a 7.5kOhm pickup that outputs 1Vrms amplitude into a 7.5kOhm load and you have 133uW. Take that same pick up and drive an 8ohm load, you get 2.13mV of signal and less than 1uW of power. This is why impedance transformers are a thing. The RAT being able to 'sort of' drive the speaker makes sense to the earlier part as well. Typically a pedal has to drive a transmission line impedance of 600 Ohms. The output driver can therefore at least drive 1/10th the load the example pickup could. 8/600ths is more than 8/7500ths. Figure a 1Vrms signal into 600 ohm, and the RAT has a power ability of 1.6mW (20dB more than the pickup alone). Use a 600:8 ohm transformer, and the current increases from 1.66mA to 14.4mA, while the voltage drops to 115.47mV. Power stays the same, but the drive capability is now matched. Further, that DMM has a 3dB bandwidth spec of 500Hz, so it won't measure most of the signal.

[@ScienceofLoud]

I'm aware of all of this, but this makes the most visually obvious demonstration. It's simple to show the orders of magnitude change without getting bogged down in the complexities of reality, providing enough for even those who don't know anything about electricity to understand how these devices differ. Sometimes it's not about being technically correct, it's about the best way to communicate a concept.

[@bluefluteman]

Thank you so much for your most excellent videos! I have learned so much watching them.