Hey Fellas,
I recently purchased a Palomino V8 amp after trying it out in the store. I was very surprised at how good it sounded and the price was excellent for a class A tube amp. However, upon receiving it, I realized that it had a line out jack and not a headphone jack. I live in a small apartment and it would be really nice to be able to hook up some headphones without the built in speaker being on (like a headphone jack on a normal combo which kills the speaker). Is there a simple way to rig up a headphone jack which will kill off the speaker? Also, would it be possible to just add a switch to the speaker so I could use the line out without the speaker on? I have some skills in electronics, but I'm not sure if it is as easy as wiring in a switch. :D
Thanks for the help.
The amp panel layout is:
[Line In] [Gain] [Tone] [Vol] [Line Out] [Pwr Light] [Pwr Switch]
One option would be to not modify the amp but use a device built for the purpose. Weber has a good one called (oddly enough) "Headphone Tap-50 Watt" listed under "Resistor-Based Models" down the page a bit. Always a good thing not to give manufacturers a reason to void your warranty.
http://www.tedweber.com/atten.htm
There are more attenuators there if you'd care to look at all of them. Perhaps you could get away with just an attenuator and not worry about headphones at all if the volume were lowered enough? Anyways, congrats on the new amp! Enjoy!
Cheers!
Strat
The easiest path is indeed to use an external device, assuming that the speaker is connected through a plug to the amp. Many of the weber attenuators also have a headphone/line-out mechanism, I think.
Since this is a tube amp, it always needs some load. So, if you want to modify it to have a head-phone out, you will essentially add a resistive attenuator (dummy load) with some sort of circuit that taps off from across that dummy load, and you have to wire it such that when you plug in the headphone, this circuit is activated instead of the speaker. If you make a mistake, your amp could be damaged.
(In a sense, you bought too much amp for your apartment :-))
--vink
"Life is either an adventure or nothing" -- Helen Keller
I've got a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and have been struggling with the same problem. In my apartment, I've got the volume under "1" and the tone is about as dead as can be. Recently I've just been plugging my headphones into the "Line/Phones" jack of my Boss ME-50 and it works alright. The "tone" is pretty ishy, but it gets me through.
Needless to say, I cherish the opportunity to turn the Hot Rod up to even 4 or 5 when jamming in a non-apartment environment.
King Harvest has surely come.
Thank you.
Sorry for reviving this thread. I was going to ask a similar question. (not so much due to living space. More to do with wanting to practice very late at night without waking wife and kids up). However, i thought i'd do a quick search to see what hits i got back from this forum. And this one popped up.
This piece of kit is exactly what i need. My Fender Super Champ XD has a line out which i too assumed was going to work as a headphone jack when i first bought this beast. To my dismay it turned out not to be the case. So my practicing was limited to a much shorter window of time to play. Then i went hunting for mods to my amp. No joy there. Then finally this Headphone tap pops up. The headphone tap is perfect and i'd say it's a steal at $65. My wife will be so pleased, :lol:
Going to be ordering me one of these babies shortly :)
I have an AC30 version of this headphones amplifier I bought a couple of weeks ago. It really is great for quiet practice when you can't use your normal amp.
hello,
could you please more specific about that headphone tap @ $65 ? Where could I find it, what mark is it ? MAny thanks (from a non english speaking swiss guitar lover).
You can find the Headphone Tap at the bottom of this page on the left.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
You know, for about $35.00 more you could get a Peavy Vypyr 15. Or for $30 at GC one of those Vox headphone amps that plug into the guitar then to your headphones.
Personally I'd resist modifying a tube amp to put a headphone connector in.
I am using a Vox headphone 'amp' with some standard apple earphones, and it works well. It's not the world's best sound, it's also a bit noisy, but it does its job just fine. It also has a line-in connection, so I often plug in my ipod to play along. great for playing in all sorts of places, like out in the garden in the sunshine.
I also recommend the Line6 products - I've got a TonePort UX2. Sure, you need a computer to connect it up to, but it gives up lots of different sounds etc. Also has a play-along feature and headphone connector.
Or - if you can afford it - get a practice amp (Vypyr, Cube, etc), they are always useful especially if a friend comes around for a jam.
