ht5 power amp

[rafael84]

Hi everybody!!
I'm a bedroom player and Im amazed with the sound I'm getting from my equipament. I'm using a ht5 head (old version, no reverb). the signal chain is: Korg pitchblack tunner, Boss ns-2(four cables), Mxr wylde overdrive, Seymour Duncan twintube classic as preamp,boss dd3, and then it goes to the ht5 return, and then to orange ppc 108. For bedroom levels, its the best set I ever got. To get a nice sound form the ht5 alone, I would have to use a 12' speaker and the volume would be too loud for my neighbours
I would like to understand why the volume drops so much when using the duncan twin tube direct into the return ofthe ht5. I'm not complaining because I love the good tone at low volume, just curious. If I use an ht pedal as a preamp in the return of the loop, would I get the same result???
Another thing: when I plug it into the return, all the controls are deactivated, except the volume controls (I set then with diferent volumes so I use the chanel changeon the ht5 as a clean volume boost). Thats good because I can raise my preamp volume to a sweet spot and use the ht5 voumeas a master. But wasnt the volumes of the ht5 suposed to be before the loop??? I heard that the ht5 uses some solidstate parts. Is it before or after the effects loop? Just curious.
I'm seriously considering get another ht5 to use a stereo set (I have a core 20, and I dont like the distortions, but love the stereo effects).
Thanks everyone!

[thephantum]

When you use the twintube as a preamp, you are bypassing the preamp on the HT5 (a.k.a. - slaving). Since the tone stacks on the HT5 are built into the preamp , those controls will do nothing when the amp is in slaved configuration.

As far as the volume difference, my guess would be that the twintube puts out a lower signal level than the HT5 preamp does. Again, that's just a guess

Most of the solid state parts are in the preamp, which is before the loop. However, there are lots of exceptions. The EO is purely solid state and that's after the loop. The PI is as well and many consider that to be part of the power amp.