Q's for pedal builders/techs about load resistance, and exploding power amps

[Built to Refill]

Currently I'm interested in buying that Lovepedal 1/2 watt vintage amp. The clips sound great, and it's dirt cheap. If there were just a way to run that through one of my powered mixers without blowing anything up I'd be in the money, but I'm not sure I can pull that off ..

My only hope at this point is this Hughes and Kettner Redbox Pro. It's essentially a fancy DI box that has an onboard cab simulator. If you're not familiar, then here's the basics ..

You can plug into it going speaker out or direct out from your amp. By going direct out you're bypassing your amp's onboard poweramp, by going speaker out you are not, and thus you're sending a big load through the box. Since the Lovepedal 1/2 watt doesn't have a direct out, I'm going to be sending a big load through the box.

Here's what the Redbox manual says (pay special attention to what's in bold: "connect the speaker out jack of your amp to the RED BOX PRO IMPUT. Connect the RED BOX PRO THRU output to a speaker or a load resistor. (CAUTION: Never operate a tube amp without sufficient load, you may destroy it). Set the switch to SPEAKER OUT. The RED BOX sends the power amp signal at mic level with the desired speaker simulation via the XLR output ."

When it says "send pa signal at mic level" does that mean a level at which I could plug into my powered mixer, and through that into speakers without exploding the Lovepedal 1/2's power amp section and the powered mixer I was running it into? Or does the "mic level" irrelevant to the load, and regardless of how managable the volume, the load still needs to be resisted?

There's another part of the manual that says "When you choose to patch your guitar's signal via the amp's speaker out, ensure you connect a speaker cabinet or some type of load resistor to the RED BOX PRO THRU jack .. "

Now, that states very clearly not to do what I'm suggesting (however I'm still hoping one of you will tell me the manual's wrong), but it does make mention of this "load resistor" thing. What the hell is a load resistor? Is it something I could put between the Lovepedal 1/2 watt and my powered mixer to prevent explosions?

This is giving me a headache. 

[Johan]

I have one of those ( red box pro..) and what the manual is trying to say, allthou perhaps not very clear, is that it doesnt present a load to the amp itself ..If your amp needs a load ( speaker or dummy ) on the output the way most amps do, you still need to keep the speaker or a dummyload connected to keep the amp happy..the "Input" and "through" are just parrallell jacks, the speakersimulation is tapped through a transformer so it doesnt load or affect the signal between amp and speaker.

..just connect a 8ohm / 1watt resistor on the amp's output to keep your little 1/2watter from frying and you'll be fine...

johan

[A.S.P.]

is: "

that Lovepedal 1/2 watt vintage amp

" a tube-amp?

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

is: "

that Lovepedal 1/2 watt vintage amp

" a tube-amp?

I doubt it, seeing as it runs on two 9v batteries. But I don't know for sure.

[A.S.P.]

so, when it`s not a transformer-output tube-amp,
it probably doesn`t need a (dummy-) load...