i noticed on the engl fireball 60w theres no line out or preamp out to record with. my question is it safe to connect the speaker outputs to a pc line in for recording? a while back i hooked the speaker output on my fender like a serious dumb ass to my brand new 32band eq just to see if the alternating the signal pathways would alter the sound much and sure enough (i even foreseen it!) as soon as i hooked it up the volume it must of been to0 much power and the eq never worked again. i burned it up.

it gives these options for speaker outputs
Outputs:
Speaker Outs (2 x 8, 2 x 16 Ohms), fx loop, (parallel to serial adjustable), dual footswitch jacks (Z-3 or Z-4).

i know i could probably just use the send in the fx loop to line out to a pc but ive had amps in the past that sounded really thin out of the send.

i want to buy one and this is making me concerned.

any info about this is totally cool beans!

btw: i dont have any cabs i just buy amps to record straight in with them.
i dont play live.

:T

An FX Loop Send is basically a line out. You can use that(I'd suggest also getting a speaker emulator). Speaker outputs only go directly to speakers or attenuators! You will probably fry anything you plug them into otherwise. And if you operate your head without it attached to a load(speakers or attenuator) it can damage the head aswell.

If you don't have any cabs and don't want one. I'd suggest an attenuator like a Weber MASS or THD Hotplate. It will safely allow your head to operate and provide you with a signal that is low enough to run direct. This will also help it to not sound so shrill like it would out of the FX Loop Send.

Or... An Iso cab. Rivera has a promising looking one on the way. Basically it's a speaker cab that is isolated and silent, with a suspended mic in it for recording.

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if i did use the fx loop send as a line out would it pass through the tubes first,
so it would be the full sound, or at least as close as it could get it.
i'm puzzled why they would make such a great amp such the fireball/powerball and not engineer proper line outs. it seems silly to me. but im still learning, so maybe alot of amps dont have line outs.

thanks, your info about the attenuators was very helpful

Hooking up speaker outputs into ANYTHING that isn't a cabinet or an attenuator is a BAD IDEA.

What you need is a DI box with cab simulation for direct recording, like a Palmer PDI-09(I have one). Behringer and Hughes & Kettner make similar ones for guitar amps too. Make sure you get one for guitar amps since they have speaker simulation, if you use regular DI boxes they will sound like thin fizzy shite.

They can go in your fx loop and some can be used between the speaker output of the amp and the cab, that way it captures the sound characteristics of the power amp too, resulting in a fuller sound.

This is how I use my Palmer with my Fireball and it produces some really nice sounds, and you don't need to turn up the volume real loud to get a signal(just average TV volumes at the lowest attenuation level). It's a really nice alternative to miking cabs, especially live since it doesn't have to be loud and doesn't pick up surrounding noise.

One thing, even though DI boxes have an attenuation switch, keep in mind they are NOT ATTENUATORS, you still need to hook up your amp to the cab via the passthrough on the box(with another speaker cable, not a 1/4" guitar cable!!). The attenuation switches just control the volume of the sound going out through the XLR connector so the sound doesn't clip in your soundcard/recording interface/mixer etc.

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