The "In Stereo" Club

[jdaunt]

Thought I'd start up a club for those of us who play multiple amps at once. Thought it'd be a good place to share ideas, what experiences we've had with what works and what doesn't. I seem to see quite a few questions pop up in the amp forums about this subject so thought it might be good to have all that kind of info in one place.

I play into a Fender Excelsior (dirty-about 3 o'clock on the volume dial) and an SCXD (clean-channel 1 with volume up to about 9 and the vibro at about 3 for just a touch of chime). Haven't really modded either much other than upgraded tubes, need to put a louder speaker in the SCXD, it has a little trouble hanging with the Excelsior at breakup volume. I just use a Y-cable to split the signal coming out of my wah. Eventually I plan to get an actual ABY box, just haven't gotten around to it yet.

[joaopazguitar]

Originally Posted by jdaunt

Thought I'd start up a club for those of us who play multiple amps at once. Thought it'd be a good place to share ideas, what experiences we've had with what works and what doesn't. I seem to see quite a few questions pop up in the amp forums about this subject so thought it might be good to have all that kind of info in one place.

I play into a Fender Excelsior (dirty-about 3 o'clock on the volume dial) and an SCXD (clean-channel 1 with volume up to about 9 and the vibro at about 3 for just a touch of chime). Haven't really modded either much other than upgraded tubes, need to put a louder speaker in the SCXD, it has a little trouble hanging with the Excelsior at breakup volume. I just use a Y-cable to split the signal coming out of my wah. Eventually I plan to get an actual ABY box, just haven't gotten around to it yet.

great idea!
I don't play in stereo - other than my stereo-chorus Dean Markley amp :) but after seeing Bill Frisell playing on the "Solos" DVD, man, I want that someday too!

[Wyzsard]

Peavey Delta Blues 210 with a Fender Excelsior here. I'm using a Digitech chorus pedal to split the signal to each, but I'm getting ready to order a Radial Big Shot (a/b/y).

Limited time with the setup so far, but sounds great. Running two amps will spoil a guy lol.

Btw, running one amp clean with tremolo and the other dirty w/tremolo sounds wild

[benderb9]

been doint it for a while with several different combos. Have two Epiphone Valve Jr combos that are in the LR on the PA speakers, then there's the PA itself as it has two stereo input channels and the latest is a Fender Excelsior that i've been using with a Blackheart Handsome Devil with either 1 or 2 Hartke 4x10 cabs or two Marshall 1x12" cabs I have from an old Marshall 100 watt SS mini stack I have laying about. I'll feed them the stereo signal using either my pedalboard's tremolo pedal out, or a Jam Man Delay or my Roland GR-33 or a combination of the above. Just have to be careful with ping ponging things too much...it gets way outta hand sometimes. I've considered getting an A/B/Y box and rigging it all up in a sort of theater surround but I have so much keeping me occupied generally that I just haven't gotten around to that bit of insanity yet. Running a single signal into more than two amps 'can' be a nightmare though with grounds, phase cancellations, noise levels, feedback...

[Sune Andersson]

A dirty Excelsior and a super clean Deville 410! Tried them Daisychained and in stereo through TC Elecronics Flashback Delay...

[RubyRae]

Here is my dynamic duo from the 70's. The Princeton (non reverb) Amp and MusicMaster Bass Amp. Night and Day, and love them both. At the end of the day they are my weapons of choice, and thick as thieves. I gotta say though most of the time the MMB has the edge in volume and attack, and it's not always as clear as when they are both on and the MMB is just cutting through and kicking major ass. Love these amps, simple and effective kinda like dad.
But ya, I run the stereo out of my phaser.

[gshep92]

Lately I've been running through my '76 Twin reverb and my '91 blues Deville (inside of a hot rod deluxe cab with an eminence red white and blues speaker)

[gshep92]

There it is!

[Revv23]

In my experience, the key to mixing amps is two things.

1. similar volumes
2. You have to love each amp on its own.

I love it when my 5e3 and my 1974x are going at full roar. Its an insane and awesome noise!

[MadJack]

I'm running two Lil' Night Trains, one with a clean tone and lower gain tubes and a 12" Kustom cab, while the second is dirty with higher gain tubes, some other mods and a Vox V110NT cab with a Weber 10VS speaker. I run each line out of my reverb pedal to each amp. The combo of the two amps gives great depth and tonal varieties, crunch and chime simultaneously. I also will clean up the dirty head and dirty up the clean for a special blend of similar tones, very deep tones.

Seriously fun stuff to play with!

[Sune Andersson]

Originally Posted by Revv23

In my experience, the key to mixing amps is two things.

1. similar volumes
2. You have to love each amp on its own.

I love it when my 5e3 and my 1974x are going at full roar. Its an insane and awesome noise!

I think you totally said it all... not just two amps in stereo, two good-sounding amps in a good mix... and love is important. I would never play one amp if I didn´t like it just to get the stereo effect.

[jdaunt]

Been experimenting with some of the voices on channel 2 of my SCXD the last couple days. Love it on channel 1, but doesn't seem to be quite loud enough to mix with my Excelsior up at break-up volume. Have found that voice 5 with the gain a little lower but volume cranked to 9 gives significantly more volume but stays clean and has pretty much the same tone. Really liking that mix more than I already did.

Also a question, been looking at ABY boxes lately. I see there's some that have polarity switches and a bunch of other things to fix phase issues. I'm just running mine with a Y-cable out of my 535q wah right now and having no problems with too much excess noise or any kind of phasing issues I can hear, so I shouldn't have to worry about those kinds of things coming out of an ABY box should I?

[fatcat]

I use a stereo delay, with some combo of the three amps I have. Most recently I have been trying to pair my HRD with a Tiny Terror.

[Bartholomew3]

I've been using a TSA15 2 piece and a Cube 60 with a Boss Chorus to split the sound.

[waparker4]

I've been using a DRRI with a Fender Sidekick Reverb 20 (80's Rivera era SS "practice amp" ) out of the stereo outs of a TC nova repeater delay, sometimes a Boss CE-3.

Sometimes I'll match the DRRI with a Carvin VT50 through a 2x12 cab.

Been experimenting with splitting the signal at the chorus pedal, which has an option for L - dry R - wet, and sending the dry half through additional dirt pedals into the DRRI, the wet half straight into the Sidekick set clean.

[gypsymoth]

stereo? how about quadrophenic

let's see, Sound City 100L, 120L & 200B, Risson LTA 120 and ETA 150 - the Risson's have very distinct channels. so typically I'll run to an EB pan pedal, one out to an amp (maybe with a jumper to another with a volume pedal between), and the other out to an A/B box. with my tele with a 4 way, plus in/out of phase and a two stage bridge, the combination is rather mind boggling, but it sure is fun.

it's nice to switch back to th house set up though, a regular guitar into an amp. kinda reminds me that the playing counts, rather than getting caught up in sonic confusion.

[tweeddeluxe]

SF Vibrolux and Marshall 18w clone. Killer rockin lead tone.

[italo]

I insist the best I've found to run two dissimilar amps is the Boss LS2 Line Selector pedal. Not only it does the A/B/Y thing, but it also allows setting the appropiate level for each amp. It also functions as a booster if you want to, cause it's an active pedal. The boost is super clean.

It doesn't introduce noise, solves the grounding issues,etc. If you don't like it as a A/B/Y you can use it for setting effects loops. Or may serve as a power unit to feed other pedals!!

I always wonder why I spent so much time to realize the usefulness of this pedal. Maybe the answer is it's a pedal with no sound on its own?

No, I don't work for Boss/Roland

[MadJack]

Like I said in my previous post, I've been running my Lil' Night Trains through my Digiverb pedal for the stereo effect. I balance the amps through their respective volume controls. Sweet juicy tones.

I finally got around to posting a picture:


Excuse the mess! The boards behind the Vox cab are to help reflect the sound, since the curtains are right there.

[Wyzsard]

Nice article here. Brief and good for anyone who has never run two amps before.
http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazin...ng_Stereo.aspx