hooking a guitar up to a vintage receiver/amp

theblackknight

theblackknight

Mikes off! No recording!
Ive heard many people say that it is bad to hook a guitar to a vintage receiver/amp because sudden loud music bursts can hurt it, etc.(or am I wrong?) I was just thinking that if I hooked a guitar up to the 'mic' input on my 939 and then hooked up my ct-f9191 to the tape 1, I could press the 'record' button without a tape in and then depress the "rec limiter" button with the other konbs set accordingly. Would this limiter keep these loud bursts from coming through my amp so then it would be safe to use a guitar and wouldnt damage the receiver?:scratch2:
 
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I used to hook up a Les Paul to a Sansui 8080db's mic and play fairly loud. I was fortunate not to have fried anything. Whatever you do just don't get carried away. But do have fun!
 
I had a bass guitar hooked to a Sansui AX-7 mixer and that to a Sansui AU-G99X amp. It was hooked to speakers that were expendable. The mixer has a guitar input. I was more concerned with the speakers blowing than the amp.

Rob
 
I have done it with a Sansui 9090DB when i was younger.I used JBL l-50's and even my MXR distortion pedal.The key seemed to be moderate volume levels.
 
Use the MIC input and keep the volume at an appropriate level. So long as the amp, speaker wires and speakers are in decent shape with good lead dress on the wiring, you will likely have no problem.

To the degree there's a vulnerable point, it will be your speakers. Sudden, loud transients are more likely to injure speakers than amplifiers.

Fred Longworth
 
Yes, I agree to that. Maybe the idea with the limitter is a good one. I never have tested it, I have no guitar, but it makes sense to me.
Critical are the transients when you reach the clipping, this may blow your speakers.
 
best that i know of is to buy an old ra-900 or ra-990 sansui reverb amp as they are set up for a guitar.i have 2 of the 990's,seen it used very well for a guitar while in the service.
 
Wouldn't it make more sense and be much easier to just buy a nice guitar amp?

There are several in the STL area, heck, I just sold a nice Ampeg a few days ago.
 
yeah, there are lots of cheap guitar amps

I agree that you're much better off with an amp-speaker combination designed to amplify an electric guitar.

That said, a few months back I hooked up my daughter's Danelectro to my incredibly versatile Yamaha CR-800, and it did the job. (There is a very convenient microphone input on the front panel of this receiver.) She rocked out for a while, but she wasn't enamored with the sound. She's into wooden Martin guitar sounds. That Danelectro hasn't gotten much of a workout since she got her 00-15 mahogany Martin.

Doug
 
The amp/receiver should be fine, it is just amping the source. But home stereo speakers are NOT musical instrument speakers (well, JBL were analogous, and I have the 2213 woofers in my L100), and the transients may just rip the drivers apart.
I had a friend who is a superb guitarist and he plugged into my JR-S501 120 wpc going to the pair of CS-99A & CS-88A and it sounded damn fine. I was worried about blowing out some drivers but I was lucky.
 
Nice for dorm room

I shipped my Sansui 5050 across the country to my son at college. It does double duty as a receiver and a guitar practice amp.
The receiver cost me $10 to buy (but $50 to ship!) After it's done it's duty, he'll probably pass it on to a fellow student rather than ship it back.

He runs his guitar into a 'Pod' (a small effects unit / amp modeler), then into the receiver.

Overall, a very practical arrangement for a dorm room- small, inexpensive, reasonable power output, decent sound quality, and unlikely to be stolen!
 
Robisme said:
I had a bass guitar hooked to a Sansui AX-7 mixer and that to a Sansui AU-G99X amp. It was hooked to speakers that were expendable. The mixer has a guitar input. I was more concerned with the speakers blowing than the amp.

Rob
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Yea. The AX-7 is the way to go. It's flexible and allows for so many input/ouput/mix combinations with separate attenuations--plus it looks cool as hell! I have my Fender plugged and it sounds super through my HPM's.
 
Overall, a very practical arrangement for a dorm room- small, inexpensive, reasonable power output, decent sound quality, and unlikely to be stolen!
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Yes, i agree. when i go to college in a couple of years, im not going to bring anything but shitty stuff or BPC. Have had friends get stolen lots of stuff worth $$$$$.:no:
 
Also-

One more Sansui 5050 feature which I forgot to mention-
According to my son, he can play his guitar through the receiver while playing a CD at the same time. So he can practice playing along with the music.
Last year he had a nice Marantz 2245 at college, but this year he decided to use the little Sansui instead.
For what you can buy a 5050 for, it's a real bargain- very versatile, and sounds good too!

Admittedly, though, I’d be reluctant to use any top-of-the-line receiver as a guitar amp. Also, I don't think any receiver would be suitable for actual performances- just for practice.
 
For an electric guitar you would be better off getting a guitar amp, electrics dont sound good through a clean amp,but if its an acoustic or classical it will sound better. I use to play an Ovation stereo classical guitar through my pioneer sx1010 and Heil AMT speakers in the seventies and it sounded very good.
 
Excuse the slight digression, but I picked up a sansui RA-900 reverb amp a coupla weeks ago for $3.55. I believe it puts out only 15w. If I turn the reverb off, will it serve as a normal guitar or mic amp?

thanks,
dennis
 
I didn't realize any of the Sansui reverbs put out any power. My RA-700 as far as I know, which is a stop-gap betwixt the simple 500 and more complex (I think) 900.

I've got an AX-7 myself, built just for the purpose mentioned. I bought it to match up with my AU-317 amps, but haven't used it at all. I don't know if I'd risk hooking up a guitar to it, even though that's what it's made for.

For fear of damaging the speakers- not the amp/gear.

I've got a Marantz 1060 with twin "mic in" ports on the front, as well. I'd imagine these were for either microphones or guitars, ect...
 
Guitar players like certain guitar amps because they're crappy linear amps. The speakers are usually a full range 12" driver. They're made for reliability at loud levels. Hifi gear is none of this.
 
d3imlay said:
Guitar players like certain guitar amps because they're crappy linear amps. The speakers are usually a full range 12" driver. They're made for reliability at loud levels. Hifi gear is none of this.
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Uhhh . . Big speakers driven via reverb. Yea, I have plenty of that. The big secret is to make sure your floorstanding speakers and amp have enough big sound capability to play at moderate listening levels. Folks will smoke their drivers if: 1) They fail to use capable amps and big cones. 2) They don't modify the signal with some reverb or other similarly attenuative effect. 3) They get carried away with the dilusion of being on stage and try to play at concert sound levels.
 
I would think it would work if, as mentioned above, you keep your the picking transients very soft and guitar volume at very low levels. I tried it when I was was younger, with terribly distorted results.

I would use a processor which emulates cabinets and amps to feed the input, such as the Line 6 POD.

POD-large.jpg
 
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