Hey Dennis,
Looking at the manuals for these two, I would recommend putting the TC M-One in the effects loop of the TCA 500 amp. Several reasons for that, including the low input impedance of the M-One and its tolerance for high input levels. The M-One has balanced inputs and outputs, so you’ll just lose a bit of level (6 dB each way) but you can make it up as noted below.
You will need three cables. If you have the M-One Standard model with ¼ inch input and output jacks, all three cables are standard tip-sleeve (TS) guitar cables. If you have the M-One XL model with 3-pin XLR jacks, see my note at the end for a different cable. For the M-One Standard:
1. Run a TS cable from your steel (or volume pedal, or the last effects pedal in your chain) to the Input jack of the TCA 500 as usual.
2. Run a TS cable from the EFX Send jack on the back of the TCA 500 amp to the Left Input on the back of the M-One.
3. Run a TS cable from the Left Output on the M-One to the EFX Return jack on the TCA 500.
4. Set the EFX Send level knob on the back of the amp to +4 dBu.
5. Set the EFX Return level knob on the back of the amp to -10 dBu. This is where you will make up the 12 dB loss in the balanced-to-unbalanced transitions, plus a bit (14 dB gain here.)
5. Set the Dry/Wet Fader on the front of the amp to Full Wet. You may want to change this later, see the amp manual for details, but use Full Wet to test your setup.
6. Set up the amp and M-One according to their manuals, and you should be in business.
NOTE: For the M-One XL with XLR in/out jacks, you will need three cables:
- one standard tip-sleeve (TS) guitar cable (for amp input)
- two balanced XLR to unbalanced TS cables. You can buy these or make them, and they look like the diagram below. Both ends are male. The XLR end goes to the M-One and the TS end to the TCA 500 in Steps 2 and 3 above, otherwise the process is the same.
Best regards, Mike
