Cr120 speaker loading

[tdemarre]

Hi folks this is my first post in what feels like, and probably is, 5 years!?

Anyhow here we go...

As the cr120 is solid state do I still need to load it?

So.. I want to use it as a preamp atop another combo.... I appreciate is not the usual way of doing things and I do have 2 1x12 ppc cabinets into which I could and should connect the cr120. However i just want to be awkward....

TD

[Jondog]

As far as I know it needs a load connected.
Side note, and not knocking you for it, but lately there seems to be alot of people wanting to use a load box with their solid state amps. Never really understood it.

[Mr Mustard]

The manual says you need a load but you have to wonder if it really does. Being solid state and all...

[Jondog]

The manual says you need a load but you have to wonder if it really does. Being solid state and all...

Its class D I think. Class D needs a load.

[bclaire]

As far as I know it needs a load connected.
Side note, and not knocking you for it, but lately there seems to be alot of people wanting to use a load box with their solid state amps. Never really understood it.

Yeah.... what's up with that?

[pedecamp]

Load is only for tube amps, a solid state amp needs no speaker load.

[Rlw59]

This isn't a Micro Terror thread, but Orange's on-line manual for the Micro Terror says a speaker must be connected when headphones aren't in use.

But I've looked up the output chip. It's Class AB, and the manufacturer gives no warnings about it needing speaker loads connected.

The other day I accidentally ran it with the speaker cable unplugged and it didn't fry.
-----------------
The Micro Dark headphone out doesn't turn off the speaker out. The manual says it's ok to have no speaker connected when using headphones, but with no phones you must have a speaker load.

That makes no sense. With phones plugged in, the preamp is still sending signal to the output chip, and the output chip is powered on. So either you always need to have a speaker load, or you never need a speaker load.

(Normal solid-state Class A, Class B, Class AB never needs to have a speaker load.)
------------------
Class D sometimes but not always needs a speaker load. It depends on the design of the output noise filtering.

The Class D Terror Bass amps have impedance switches. That's because Orange used the simplest, cheapest, most crude filter design -- the speaker voice coil is used as a choke. Without the proper speaker load, the power amp will oscillate and overheat.

The Crush Pro's don't have impedance switches and can be run with a variety of speaker impedances.

I'm not at all sure they're Class D. But even if they are, the impedance flexibility suggests that they have better output filtering that doesn't use the speaker as part of the filter.

So most likely, they don't actually need a speaker load.
----------------------
There's a modern trend for manufacturers to warn that solid-state amps need speaker loads even when they don't.

I suspect that's the KISS Principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid). Rather than confuse people with the operating differences between tubes and transistors, it's safer to just tell everyone to always connect a speaker.

So that if they get a tube amp after growing up with transistors, the habit of having a speaker load will be habitually ingrained.