Valve pre amp questions

[diviy]

If I move over to a tube pre amp a lot of them i have seen have about four intputs and a set of preouts for amp
But I cant figure out how to connect my headphone amp and
cassette player as the pre amp has only four outputs no line in or line out any ideas ?

Gerry

[Light Dependant Resistor]

Hi Gerry
Your description is describing a preamp as having 4 inputs, it would be very common to
have one stereo input as phono and three then line level inputs. It will also have a stereo output
for connecting to a power amplifier.

If we look at what you need, firstly for your cassette deck - one of the three line level inputs will be OK
to use to hear tapes, but invariably you may need to tape the sound occurring from one of the three other inputs
so a line level output is also needed.

Here a fixed level circuit which was very common in the 1970's and 80's on amplifiers is needed.
Now I am unsure if a soldering iron and circuit diagrams is part of a normal day for you, but you could
easily find a electronics kit, to do what you need. It would also require a schematic of the amp you intend purchasing.

I am sure though if you looked around you could find exactly what you need, as tape outs and monitors are an old
but still respected circuit, many of them providing modest equalization to suit actual tape recorders.

A Dynaco pat valve preamp comes to mind. These come up every now and then on eBay or other sites

Lets look at headphones . For headphones the preamp is a good place to locate a headphone socket.
The most common way for amplifier manufacturers is just to use a fixed resistor of suitable value
in series to each headphone ie Left and Right positive ,to reduce the level. A fairly crude circuit but it works.
This once again could be added to any power amplifier by arranging resistance for each channel, and a headphone socket.
Quad for instance suggested such a circuit when using the 405 with headphones.

I think though shopping around you will find what you actually need.

Cheers / Chris

[Firebottle]

Depending on how many inputs you actually need, one or more of the line input sockets could be re-wired as fixed line out, from the top of the volume control.

Alternatively additional sockets could be fitted for the same purpose.

[diviy]

Cheers guys at least I know it can be done :)

[Infinitely Baffled]

Cheers guys at least I know it can be done :)
If you are not keen on doing it yourself, contact Jez Arkless on this forum (Arkless Electronics in the Trade Section). He does all that kind of stuff and most likely would not need you to provide a circuit schematic to do the job. IB.