I have a modeling guitar pre-amp (called the V-Amp, similar to the more famous POD from Line 6) and I would like to explore what its effects actually do from a signal perspective. My idea is to feed sine waves of various frequencies into it from a function generator and then view the output through an oscilloscope.

The issue is that my function generator puts out up to 5V, and the V-Amp accepts an instrument-level signal, which is 0.75V. Is a voltage divider an appropriate way to get the signal down to instrument level? From what I understand of voltage dividers (which ain't much), they don't work when the load is variable, but I have no idea whether the load is variable in this case. If not a voltage divider, then what can I use? Thanks.

 

You can just put a 1k resistor in series with a 10k audio taper pot and "dial-a-voltage".
You could use the amplitude knob on the signal generator...if it has one.
You could realize that a Les Paul can deliver anywhere from millivolts up to 6 volts peak to peak and wonder why a V-amp demands exactly .75 volts, nothing more and nothing less. (hint: it doesn't) It also isn't a variable load.

You're making this too complicated. One or two volts is not going to smoke the inputs. Just hook it up and start experimenting.

 

You can just put a 1k resistor in series with a 10k audio taper pot and "dial-a-voltage".
You could use the amplitude knob on the signal generator...if it has one.
You could realize that a Les Paul can deliver anywhere from millivolts up to 6 volts peak to peak and wonder why a V-amp demands exactly .75 volts, nothing more and nothing less. (hint: it doesn't) It also isn't a variable load.

You're making this too complicated. One or two volts is not going to smoke the inputs. Just hook it up and start experimenting.

Thank you for the excellent answer!