I recently purchased a PS-2A. I’ve been mostly using it in Silent Mode with the speaker cable detached, It’s not a huge deal to plug speaker cable in when powering it on to use attenuation. I had the PS-2A (previously an OX) connected to one speaker and then used a de Lisle to switch amps. It had the downside that I could only attenuate the amps through that one speaker, even though I could silently record any of the amps. I recently upgraded the switch to the version with an attenuator loop (de Lisle Amp-Speaker Selector V3 with Loop – de Lisle Guitar Co.). It works great. Attenuation is beautiful and now can be used with any speaker/amp combination. Great to get my Falcon at a decent volume in studio through its own speaker!
However, there is one little hang up. As I had hoped, with no amp going to a speaker selected (“0”) and with the desired amp selected on “Send” (to PS-2A), there’s no sound through the speaker. Silent recording works, but there seems to be an impedance mismatch. The amp sounds like it’s driving a speaker with a higher impedance like a 4 ohm amp hooked up to a 8 ohm speaker, for instance. Basically the amp drives at a much lower volume. This is confusing because all of the attached amps and speakers are 8 ohm. If I unplug the speaker cable from the PS-2A, it sounds correct.
Any ideas as to what’s going on here? Worst case scenario is I go back to unplugging the speaker cable from the PS-2A when not powering it on for Silent Mode.
I’m not too familiar with the unit you’re using with the PS-2A. I’m guessing there is a load that is connected in that unit when you are switching it to 0. It’s probably there to protect the heads attached. Since I can’t see from their site what that load is, I would be guessing. Does their literature show what the load is rated at when you are at 0? The PS-2A is at 8 ohms, your amps are at 8 ohms? What ohm rating is the unit’s protective load rated at?
The PS-2A is loading your amp down, the line out is tapped from the “amp in” jack. There should be no change in sound. Can you take a short video of the set up, trace the ins and outs and show an example of what’s going on. That may help a lot.
Thanks for the reply Terry! I emailed de Lisle asking about the impedance on the protection load with a link to this thread. All the amps and speakers are 8 ohm and PS2-A is also set to 8ohm. Only one speaker is connected (from the Return of the switch).
I will record a video of the trace and give some audio samples in the next day, but in the mean time I made a quick little wiring diagram. I will get the video and audio made in the next day or so!
Sounds good. I’ll be able to work up a solution for you with more information. I also asked the lead service and support technician to take a look at the thread. We’ll get you going.
That load protection of the V3 would not be a problem here. The Return jack connects directly to the selected speaker or remains open if no return speaker is selected. If disconnecting the cable at > the PS-2A fixes the issue, it sounds like the Fryette may have some internal function related to the output jack. That seems to be the case if you refer to page 6 of their manual:
“IMPORTANT: The SPEAKER 1 jack has an open load protection feature. If no cable is connected to this jack the Power Station will remain locked in BYPASS/STANDBY mode regardless of the frontpanel Standby switch setting. This is done to prevent potential damage to your valuable vintage amp should the speaker cable become disconnected while in Bypass mode.”
I suspect the issue is related to the above.
This what i got back from de Lisle via email if this helps. Might i just use Speaker 2 input?
If what he’s saying is correct, when you set the de lisle switcher to 0, it’s open with no load for the PS-2A. Being that the Power Station has amplification, it would mean that the PS-2A is being run with no load.
Your amplifier is protected by the reactive load in the Power Station, the Power Stations amplifier is not protected while using the de lisle if it is set to 0 with an open circuit with no load. I’m guessing they didn’t account for reamplification units being used in the attenuator loop. The attenuator loop may be for non-reamplification units unless you are running another load device as a “silent speaker” on one of the open cabinet slots.
Your amplifiers in the switcher have load protection, just not anything for the loop. I would place the Power Station as one of your selectable cabinets with this unit. That, or disconnect the “SPKR out” when using it in silent mode. This isn’t an issue with our unit, it’s the design of their attenuator loop. I’m not saying it’s designed improperly or it’s a bad product, I’m just saying the design may not have taken products like the Power Station into account.
There isn’t a crazy circuit in PS-2A that “senses” the load in that manner. There definitely isn’t a circuit that would change your tone like that. Without taking a look at their product, I can’t see what’s happening in the unit. I can only go by the information you posted from them.
It’s coming together. Replacing OX with PS-2A has been huge. Doing IR in Logic. Better sounding load and more flexible! Sounds better when playing amps in room to mic up. Just win win all around.
A bit (A LOT) messy. Have Benson Vincent, Gibson Falcon, and Ampeg PF-20T into PS-2A for silent recording. Now the Benson Cab, Falcon Speaker, and Ampeg 2x10 can be swapped in via switch. Benson Vinny Reverb for loud in my room.
