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Two heads into one cab?

Joe Smithberger

Joe Smithberger

Mar 8, 2002
1,940
143
Canton, Ohio, USA
www.smithbergerphoto.com
#1
I double on Electric and Acoustic basses. At the moment I am running an array of preamps and junk on both sides and then into a A/B switch before going into a GK 1001RB and a 2x10 cab. Has anyone used an A/B box to switch between two heads and one cabinet? My Clarus head is not much bigger than a preamp and sounds better than most. If I plugged the Stingray into the GK and the DB into the Clarus, would something blow up if I switched the cab from one head to the other with the A/B?

This may sound backward, but I think it would simplify my setup.
 
#2
Joe Smithberger said:
I double on Electric and Acoustic basses. At the moment I am running an array of preamps and junk on both sides and then into a A/B switch before going into a GK 1001RB and a 2x10 cab. Has anyone used an A/B box to switch between two heads and one cabinet? My Clarus head is not much bigger than a preamp and sounds better than most. If I plugged the Stingray into the GK and the DB into the Clarus, would something blow up if I switched the cab from one head to the other with the A/B?

This may sound backward, but I think it would simplify my setup.
Click to expand...


Yep.

Use to do it between an Ampeg head and Gk head about 15 years ago. May want to also look at a line switcher.
 
#5
I use an Eden Navigator preamp for my electric, and I preferred a different preamp for my NS electric upright. Luckily, the Eden nav has an Auxiliary line input with its own level control, which sends an unaffected signal through my rig for stage monitoring, but does not go through the Eden's DI output to the front of house. It also is not effected by the Eden's EQ, compression, etc. It apparently is the very last thing in the circuit line before going out to the power amp.

So, what I did is ran my NS upright through its own preamp, then out to a quality DI, then into the AUX input of my Navigator. Worked like a charm, preserves each independent line to front of house, and I can hear both through my cabs onstage without having to rely on the monitor mix for either of them.

Frankly I'm afraid to try any other preamps for my electric, because if I like them and dump the Navigator, I'll lose this handy feature.
 
#7
I found a box Radial makes called the Headbone that is made to do this for guitar players wanting two heads available with one guitar and one cab. I assume it will work for bass as well, especially since I won't need to use the instrument switching part. It sets up an 8 ohm load on the idle head and operates with a simple footswitch. Who knew?

Thanks guys, I'll report back for posterity once I have checked it out. I am hoping that my little Acoustic Image Clarus head will eliminate the need for a pedalboard all together if this works. I can also run independant DI signals to the board for electric and acoustic instruments off of the seperate heads.
 

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