Hi everyone,
I just got a Fryette Power Station 100 and I’m honestly full of doubts.
I’m starting to realize I won’t be able to do everything I had planned with this device. I’m afraid I didn’t inform myself well enough and was poorly advised…
The simple part — and what I find most useful — I understand well: being able to play my tube amp heads silently, using the reactive load to send a signal to my audio interface without needing to connect a cabinet, and using my own IRs.
The problem is my desire to use the 100-watt power amp section of the Power Station.
I was excited about trying to take the preamp outputs from my amps — rack units, pedal-format preamps, or even tapping the preamp out from my heads — and blend them with the Power Station’s tube power amp. I thought that since the PS-100 is both a reactive load and a tube power amp, it would be an all-in-one solution… but I’m starting to see that’s not the case.
It seems like it can only do one thing at a time. The Line Out and XLR outputs seem to be exclusively tied to the reactive load section, while the Speaker Out is linked to the 2x6550 power amp section.
So, here’s my concern: I want to connect my preamps or amp preamp outputs into the Line In of the Power Station to use its power amp section but still run silent, without any cabinet connected. But as I understand it, the Power Station can’t act as a load for itself — meaning it can’t protect its own power amp when nothing is plugged into the speaker output, right?
So, for these kinds of hybrid setups, does that mean I need a second load box to protect the Power Station’s power section?
In that case, I suppose I’d have to take the Speaker Out from the Power Station, connect it via speaker cable to the input of a second load box, and use the Line Out from that second load box for recording or IR processing. Is that correct?
Could someone please confirm?
Is there any way for the Power Station to protect itself without connecting a real cabinet?
I’m very interested in using the power amp section of the Power Station — but without using the Speaker Out, since I play at home with my own IRs.
For example, one of my amps is a PRS MT15. I wanted to send its preamp signal to the Power Station’s Line In, to use its power amp, and at the same time connect the MT15 to the Amp In of the PS-100 to protect it with the reactive load (since I don’t use a cab at home)… but it looks like doing both of those things at once is simply impossible using only the Power Station?
Any help or confirmation would be hugely appreciated.
Thanks so much!
