what amplitude a signal going to guitar amp

Question

hello,I'd like to make a sine wave generator that I can play through aguitar amp... or bass amp for that matter... I imagine the signalcoming out of a guitar into an amp is pretty tiny... I was wonderingif anyone could tell me around what amplitude range I should make mysignal so that it's comparable to that of a guitar or bass....also, is there any kind of impedence matching or anything I need tocheck with the amplifiers input impedance and the circuit I'm making?I would guess not, because I just tried to measure the resistancelooking into my amp... and it's like a meg.... but i hear a lot aboutimpedence matching and speakers being 8-ohms and 4-ohms and such....much thanks!

RichL · Accepted Answer

Output from guitars can be as low as 10 mV and as high as 1 V or larger (especially in the case of active pickups or active circuitry). But for passive pickups somewhere in the 50 to 200 mV range is typical.

As for impedance matching, don't worry about it. Impedance matching is important for power transfer -- like when you go from your amp's output transformer into speakers -- but is irrelevant at the other end of the signal chain. You're interested in good *voltage* transfer basically, which means that you should try to keep the output impedance of your device well under 1 megohm, which by the way is a typical input impedance for most guitar amps.

panfilero · Answer

rcool, thanks that's exactly the info I was looking for!

Tom · Answer

In article , panfilero  wrote:For what it's worth, 0db is defined as 1 volt, peak to peak, across a 300 ohm load.

Jim Thompson · Answer

Huh?  0dBm = 1.5492V P-P across 300 Ohms.                                        ...Jim Thompson-- | James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     || Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      || Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    || Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             || Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  || E-mail Icon at  |    1962     |              I love to cook with wine     Sometimes I even put it in the food

krw · Answer

He didn't say "0dBm".  He said "0db", whatever that is ;-) 0dBV is 1Vrms (impedance not specified).

Jim Thompson · Answer

Yup.  "itsme" is now "itshistory" ;-)                                        ...Jim Thompson-- | James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     || Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      || Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    || Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             || Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  || E-mail Icon at  |    1962     |                        Liberalism is a persistent vegetative state

John Larkin · Answer

dBs are relative, so 0 dB can be anything.John

RST Engineering (jw) · Answer

All of which does nothing to enhance the OP's knowledge.

Try this and try Google next time before asking a question. Google

electric guitar pickup voltage level

and see how many answers you get like this one

answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080609130810AAnq2T5 - 29k -

Jim

-- "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." --Aristotle

"Jim Thomps>

krw · Answer

Perhaps not.  Misinformation doesn't enhance the OP's knowledgeeither.Why?  Doesn't interest me.

what amplitude a signal going to guitar amp

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