aaronlyon Posted February 27, 2018 Share Posted February 27, 2018 On a whim I plugged the headphone output from my Helix floor unit into my 4-ohm, 2x12 speaker cabinet. Instant practice amp. The headphone out drives the cabinet perfectly well for low volume practice--no amp required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HonestOpinion Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 On a whim I plugged the headphone output from my Helix floor unit into my 4-ohm, 2x12 speaker cabinet. Instant practice amp. The headphone out drives the cabinet perfectly well for low volume practice--no amp required. Interesting to know that works. Wonder if it might do damage eventually though to the Helix's headphone amp by making it work too hard. I know the headphone output expects more than 4 ohms of resistance. Any electrical engineers want to weigh in on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinon2 Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 I know the headphone output expects more than 4 ohms of resistance. Any electrical engineers want to weigh in on this? Don't need one... it's a bad idea. An amp is an amp. If you supply a bigger resistance load than its expecting, you'll lose some power, but you won't blow anything up. A smaller load however, will eventually fry things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VirtualGuitars Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Just because you can doesn't mean that you should. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbuhajla Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Don't need one... it's a bad idea. An amp is an amp. If you supply a bigger resistance load than its expecting, you'll lose some power, but you won't blow anything up. A smaller load however, will eventually fry things. This^ 4 ohms is much less than headphones (around 20-250 ohms depending on model). That's quite a bit less impedance. I am not an amplification expert by any means, but I would not try it for very long. There are lots of cheap solid state amps out there to drive a cabinet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleezye1 Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Dropping ohms is bad m'kay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigJayBrian Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 I remember reading that dropping ohm is bad on tube amp, but actually not a problem on SS amps. I wonder if that applies to the headphone output Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremyn Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 I don't know the circuit details of the Helix headphone output, but if it is not properly protected against short-circuit conditions, then it may end up driving excess current (beyond the rating of the output amp) into the load. That could eventually cause the amp output stage to fail. Solid state amps don't have a problem with driving higher impedance loads, they just get quieter as they can't usually drive high enough voltages to get the full power across to the speaker. On the other hand, tube amps with output transformers become inefficient outside of their nominal impedance operating range. If you leave the output transformer winding incorrectly terminated (ie. with a short circuit or with an open circuit) then the transformer can be damaged (and/or output tubes due to flyback). It is never advisable to significantly mismatch the impedance on a tube amp, as the amp can be damaged. Some amps protect against catastrophic failures to some degree and will pop a fuse. But, older style amps will just end up with blown tubes, fused circuitry, and melted windings in the output transformer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigGT Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 The headphone jack is stereo so if you're using a normal ts cable to connect to the speaker then you'll be shorting one channel out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBD_123 Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 I've found this an ideal solution to running headphones, studio monitors and mixing in PC audio output (eg. backing tracks) with Helix. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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