Safe Signals?

[demonstar]

I was just thinking we all talk about hot signals but how hot is too hot? (In terms of a pedal output feeding an amp.)
Is it different for tube and solid state?

Also what would be a typical pickups output say at 500Hz, 1KHz, 5KHz and 10KHz?
The question on pickup output is more related to SPICE applications when modeling a pedal.

Thanks.

[petemoore]

I was just thinking we all talk about hot signals but how hot is too hot?
  An amplifiers speaker output is too hot.
(In terms of a pedal output feeding an amp.)
  None that sound good...most pedals can't blow up an amp, but depends ont he pedal, amp, strumming style etc.
  Once you get it playing and not blowing up right away, it's all about 'averages', ride the average really high for a long time [say crank everything and wabble-wobble wank-o with all fingers at max striking strength on the strings and see if it's enough to release the smoke !
  Is it different for tube and solid state?
  It will always be different for tubes and solid state. Try the crap out sound of a transistor amps speaker output when the amp clips [try on junk speaker BTW], some amps it may be more difficult to get to do this.
  Also what would be a typical pickups output say at 500Hz, 1KHz, 5KHz and 10KHz?
  Varies and I'm not sure, a lot less than what the average or most  amp can't take.
The question on pickup output is more related to SPICE applications when modeling a pedal.

[mac]

Good question.
I never use fuzz/dist pedals far away from guitar level. Time based fxs are in most cases around unity gain.
Booster... well, they boost. But I never heard of someone blowing an amp using a Rangemaster.
In modern tube amps I do not dare to boost too much. Or in other words, despite the horrible sound, if only the guitar is plugged directly into the amp, would you set Drive and Master at max, and use the neck HB?

As RG wrote some ago, accountants are designing amps, not engineers.

mac

[petemoore]

I was just thinking we all talk about hot signals but how hot is too hot? (In terms of a pedal output feeding an amp.)
  Most amps won't pif and blow, IOW's you have to either hit them so hard they never even 'see' it, or you have to work at it to make them blow.
  If you have a relatively 'unprotected' SS amp, your speakers will hate you for trying, and may blow first, otherwise you can poof an output tranny without too much problem, and with horrible 'stop the damage please, soon please' sounds as you work up to that.
  If it's got all protective like many SS amps do, it may be harder to get it to blow up, somewhat harder to make it sound like total wreck first.
  Tube amps inputs are generally very forgiving for this, too much current in the PS or output section I guess can be made to be a problem.
  I don't play 'find the weak link' unless that link is needed for better sound, which IME is contrare' anyway, here's why; 
  Most these amps are made for guitar level or much higher than guitar level inputs. driven hard they sound good to many people, driven harder...it gets harder to find people willing to hear it...driven hard enough to blow up [I'm talking about a good working amp, solid...everything...no particlularly outstanding weak points like OT tranny or PT], the neighbors would be saying 'what's wrong with that guy' or 'what's wrong with that guys amp?'
  That, or finding the weak link has proven that the amp [or something in it] isn't suitable for the desired input source.
   

[demonstar]

OK thanks guys.

The reason for asking about this is I've been thinking boosters and was just pondering how much voltage gain can an amp take. You've answered my question nicely thanks. I gather from your comments it is not really a concern because nobody wants to run an amp that hard anyway because it doesn't sound any good.