Biamping?

[caden000]

Pardon my ignorance on the subject, but ive got a few questions on biamping heads.

As far as im concerned, people biamp so that they can eq both heads seperately and/or distort one and leave the other one clean. correct me if im wrong.

so how is this done? how is it wired so that the signal from the bass goes into both heads at the same time?

do you need 2 seperate cabs to biamp, or can you run 2 heads into one cab that can handle the wattage?

[bongomania]

Usually, biamping means splitting the lows and the highs, and sending each to a different speaker cab. This could be done with a preamp or amp head that has a crossover and separate lo/hi outputs built in, or it could be done using two separate amps/cabs and either EQ or an external crossover to split the signal before it is fed to each amp.

Sometimes people do use the term biamping to mean any other usage of two amps, two channels, two voicings, etc. etc., but in those cases "anything goes"--IOW since they are talking about "anything", there is "any way to do it".

[bongomania]

Oh, and with the exception of certain specific cabs designed for biamping or two separate channels, you cannot run two amps into one cab.

[johnboy65]

It depends on what you mean by biamping.
The end goal has (for me) been to separate the highs and the lows to two different cabs. That have different strengths. So use of a crossover has always been in the mix. Many heads have this built in already.
The other thing is that some people want to run a split (ABY box or something of that nature) signal into two rigs to get two sounds.
I would never run two amps into a cab that isnt designed for it (I think the Ampeg 4x10 1x15 cab had this for a while).
So I don't know what you're trying to accomplish, but if you're just looking for louder, get a bigger head.

Personally I think that biamping is overrated. I love my Ashdown 4x10 with ABM500 and it's easy as can be.

[Lowtonejoe]

Originally Posted by caden000

Pardon my ignorance on the subject, but ive got a few questions on biamping heads.

As far as im concerned, people biamp so that they can eq both heads seperately and/or distort one and leave the other one clean. correct me if im wrong.

so how is this done? how is it wired so that the signal from the bass goes into both heads at the same time?

do you need 2 seperate cabs to biamp, or can you run 2 heads into one cab that can handle the wattage?

You can use two heads at once for different sounds like clean and distortion. However, do not use the same cab for both heads. Also, this is not biamping.

People typically biamp so they can send highs to one cab and lows to another.

Typically this is done using a crossover and most often using a head that is made for biamping. (GK)

Yes, you can use two heads EQ'd differently, just send them each their own signal split from your bass. Make sure each amp is going into different cabs. If you plug two heads into one cab you will fry at least one head if not both and possibly your cab.



Joe.

[MIJ-VI]

Originally Posted by caden000

Pardon my ignorance on the subject, but ive got a few questions on biamping heads.

As far as im concerned, people biamp so that they can eq both heads seperately and/or distort one and leave the other one clean. correct me if im wrong.

This is known as a 'clean amp (a bass rig for bottom & note definition)/ dirty amp' (which can be a guitar combo or head & cab whose bass control is turned off and whose volume is cranked to make the amp distort) set up.

so how is this done? how is it wired so that the signal from the bass goes into both heads at the same time?

One can use a line splitter/switcher like the Boss LS-2 to connect a bass' output to the inputs of two amplifiers simultaneousy.

do you need 2 seperate cabs to biamp, or can you run 2 heads into one cab that can handle the wattage?

One should almost NEVER run two amps into one cab UNLESS the cab is designed to accommodate this (most aren't). An example of a cab which is wired to accept the output of one or two amps is the Ampeg SVT-810E which can be used as a single 8x10 4 Ω load or as two 4x10 8 Ω loads.

Downloading & studying the manuals for the gear one owns and/or is interested in acquiring forms an excellent way to gain an understanding of how said gear works and to also avoid needless damage via improper use. One cannot safely assume that seemingly similar products from different manufacturers will behave in the same manner.