Stereo amps at church!

Asked my sound guy if he'd hate me for running in stereo ('76 twin reverb and '91 blues Deville) he was all for it! I'm really excited to try it out Sunday. Eventually I want to try ping pong delays with one amp in each main maybe, we will see though if that sounds decent throughout the room. Anyone else play in stereo?

I wish I could have a stereo setup at church. That would sound so good, but I don't have enough room on stage for two amps. I used to play through a Fender Blues Junior and there was barely enough room for that. I eventualy got tired of being crammed in the corner hovering over the amp, so I politely asked if I could bring my 'bigger amp". I now play through a 66 Super Reverb with the amp tilted back so I can hear myself. Nobody in the congregation can hear me though. The sound guy either has my volume cranked or nothing at all. I don't know why nobody can work a soundboard there, but they're good people with good hearts. They try their hardest to make everything work.

Nobody in the congregation can hear me though. The sound guy either has my volume cranked or nothing at all. I don't know why nobody can work a soundboard there, but they're good people with good hearts. They try their hardest to make everything work.

Is it an old building? Acoustics are sometimes really bad in older venues, like if the room was built to act as the sound system and now you use amps and PAs. Maybe the soundguys have fielded complaints that the singers or congregation couldn't hear the lead instrument well enough, and they have to choose you OR them because the acoustics don't have enough "space" for all the instruments. Sucks, but it happens a lot.

to the OP, AWESOME!!! just don't get so swirly that they get dizzy listening to you! :p

I think the hardest part about going stereo isn't having the amps or the sound man accommodating you on the board with 2 channels... it's the FOH balance. Do you really want the people who are sitting on the left side to hear only your left signal, because that's what will happen. I wouldn't. Yeah, you could just pan them to 9:00 and 3:00 instead of all the way, but still - most people are not going to get the effect you are going for.

I think the hardest part about going stereo isn't having the amps or the sound man accommodating you on the board with 2 channels... it's the FOH balance. Do you really want the people who are sitting on the left side to hear only your left signal, because that's what will happen. I wouldn't. Yeah, you could just pan them to 9:00 and 3:00 instead of all the way, but still - most people are not going to get the effect you are going for.

That's a good point and that was my concern, if it were mixed with like 60/40 of each amp in each main maybe that'd sound better? I don't really know. But the main thing I'm excited about is the mixture of the two amps tone wise. And where I'm standing it sounds really good to me, which helps me to play better.

I've been stereo for a while now - the soundguys dig it, and my stereo univibe/verb/delay sound nice in my in-ears to boot :cool:

I have a SIB fatdrive tube pre on my pedalboard, so I don't use my amp's preamp ie my LR from the EH Cathedral reverb pedal goes straight to the stereo power amp in ie fx return of my Trace Elliot Velocette Twin (think a pair of AC15s joined at the hip)

Actually I have a pair of palmer PDI-09 speaker emulated DI boxes under my board too, so I can go stereo direct if needed - I recently did a session track using this rig, panning delay and verb, no amp - client loved it. Side bonus when your church board starts paying itself back :wink:

Is it an old building? Acoustics are sometimes really bad in older venues, like if the room was built to act as the sound system and now you use amps and PAs. Maybe the soundguys have fielded complaints that the singers or congregation couldn't hear the lead instrument well enough, and they have to choose you OR them because the acoustics don't have enough "space" for all the instruments. Sucks, but it happens a lot.

to the OP, AWESOME!!! just don't get so swirly that they get dizzy listening to you! :p

Na, the acoustics are fine. I have my amp miked and the bass player has a line out. I don't want to sound negative, but I think some of the people there simply don't like me. I know that's a horrible thing to say, but it seems that everyone has something against the guitarist. The bass is normaly turned up in the mains, and even in the monitors a little bit so everyone can hear it. My guitar is almost never turned up in the mains or the monitors, but as mentioned before my amp is tilted back so I can hear myself just fine. Some people complement me after the service, and others ignore me. I realy honestly think some of the people don't like me because I play secular music too. I love playing in church, but I love playing other music too. Some people just don't like that I guess.

I've run parallel rigs before, but never as a stereo setup. That one of the biggest reasons I would consider switching to a POD HD500 from my XT Live, because it can do parallel rigs onboard.

. Some people just don't like that I guess.

It may not be how you think it is.
Talk about it with the team.
Ask for feedback on what people are hearing and what they want.
We often have the bass and guest solo instunents more 'present' in the music we make in church. They dont get in the way of the vocals as electric guitar can. If we are told something was too loud in a service, it was always guitar and drums.

[QUOTE=Colin;4297916]It may not be how you think it is.
Talk about it with the team.
Ask for feedback on what people are hearing and what they want.
We often have the bass and guest solo instunents more 'present' in the music we make in church. They dont get in the way of the vocals as electric guitar can. If we are told something was too loud in a service, it was always guitar and drums.[/QUOTE

I've had many people ask me why they weren't able to hear me during the service. My guitar is never too loud, I usualy have it just loud enough to hear myself. Nobody on the stage can hear me except myself. The only person who has ever complsined about me being too loud was the drummer. After that, I decided to tilt my amp back and turn down the volume. It's almost like the team doesn't want the guitar, yet the congregation will ask why they can't hear me.