Respecting Others While You Practice

Editor’s Note: Please be aware that the advice in this article is meant, primarily, for those for have solid state amplifiers (the author himself has a Crate GLX 120).

With tube amplifiers, the situation changes. The speaker (generically, a “load”) should not be disconnected from a tube amplifier without the substitution of a nearly equivalent — but silent! — resistive load. All the power that would have gone into the speaker ends up being absorbed in the power (output) amp transformer (part of tube amp design) and fries either the transformer or something else. It is entirely possible that someone HAS managed to do this with a tube amp and not damage it, as disconnecting a serial EFX loop as shown also removes signal from the power amp stage. That would save the tube amp. But even so, destruction is still possible if: EFX loop is a parallel loop (v. unusual) or the person forgets to reattach the speaker before playing through the amp normally.

Most solid state amps do not have this issue due to fundamental differences in principles of design and operational. In other words, never operate a tube amplifier or any large wattage tube or solid-state amplifier without a proper output load: e.g., properly rated speaker, resistive load or power soak device. Only use this method on a smaller wattage, solid state amplifier.

And always consult the amplifier’s user manual to confirm that no load (no speaker, no resistor, no power soak) operation will not damage the amplifier.

Back in 1975 when I first took up the electric guitar, my family lived in a two-family duplex. Our apartment was situated over a retired couple. She was very ill most of the time and needed her sleep. He was a classical music aficionado. There was neither insulation nor soundproofing between the floors. So imagine their joy when the gangly teen upstairs comes home with a new guitar and amp in one hand, and KISS’ “Alive!” in the other.

Really, they were pretty good sports about the whole thing. I only had to keep my amp and stereo down to levels so low, I swear my hearing actually became more acute. It may be the only instance where someone’s hearing improved from rock music.

Years later when I began playing electric guitar seriously again, I found myself disturbing people once again! I was distracting my sons from the mayhem splattered on Playstation, and my wife had problems focusing on Kiefer Sutherland. Fortunately, and thanks to my friend Kenny, technology has advanced enough to allow me to irreversibly damage my hearing without disturbing anyone in the next room.

Below is a very simplified diagram of how I am able to quietly practice along with sound or video files using a minimum of out of pocket expense. Your only prerequisite is an effects loop channel on your amplifier.

Practice diagram

The first step is to disconnect one of the connections on the amplifier’s speaker. Mine uses a simple spade connector which slides on and off without any metal fatigue.

Next is to run a patch from the SEND jack on the effects loop and run that to the LINE IN connection on my Windows PC. This did require a trip to Radio Shack for the patch cord with a ¼” plug. Plus I needed an adapter to reduce the plug to a 1/8″ to connect to the PC’s soundcard.

The external speaker connects to the LINE OUT jack on the soundcard. PC speakers with their own power supply are the preferred method as I will outline in a second.

Now, plug your headset into the respective jack on your external PC speakers. You may have to tweak your audio properties from the system tray to allow the signal from the LINE IN to be heard. Speakers with their own power supply usually come with their own headset jack as well as volume and tone controls. The headset jack on the front of most PCs has no external volume or tone controls, and adjusting them via audio properties is clumsy while holding your instrument. USB powered speakers may have volume control, but not a headphone jack. Myself I have a set of Hewlett Packards that I picked up at Walmart for less than $20.

Now you can play along with CDs, sound files, or even YouTube instructional videos without driving someone else up the wall.

Although you can run this as loud as you want, since you’re using headphones, it doesn’t take much to seriously damage your hearing. So be sensible and keep the volume at a point where you can clearly hear what’s going on. If you can hear someone in the same room you’re in talk to you (without yelling), you’re fine. If your headset is at the distortion point, or your neighbors can hear what you’re doing, turn it down. Also, driving your amp’s signal into the PC at too high a level may also run a damaging amount of voltage into the system bus. Again, use sensible levels. If you want to practice at a Ted Nugent-sized volume, maybe you should look into renting a place.

There are amps on the market now which not only have a place for plugging in your headset, but also an input jack for additional audio sources. However, if you don’t have one of those, this makes for a very adequate alternative.