You want to make it drive higher current.Stick with what you said before, substitute a resistor for the LED and use the voltage at the chip to drive a transistor or FET.QuoteI would rather not have to solder 48 transistorsSorry but if you want to control 48 channels of 700mA each he is what you will have to do.A 2N2222 is cheap enough and will handle buckets of current especially if you use a heat si