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2 heads better than one?

#121
Ron Johnson said:
That's what teenagers in garage bands think like. All that setup would lead to are issues with things such as blending with your bandmates and the sound guy trying to get a decent tone for you with no success. More volume does not help the sound guy, less does. If you're blasting 1000 plus watts then the sound guy will likely not have enough room to REMOVE your voice from the mix. Sure, if your guitarists had huge rigs as well then they would be able to match you, but the drummer and vocalist(s) and any other auxiliary voices would be killed in the mix because they rely on the PA.

The setup you aspire to use is asinine unless you're playing in a stadium for thousands of people, which I think it's safe to assume you're not. If you still want to look "cool as F***" then buy a bunch of empty cabs and make a mountain on the stage with them, but only plug one 4*10 in and use that.

Sorry if this response sounded hostile, but people that do things like this are who really piss me off. You don't know how many guitarists I've had to boot from bands because they felt the need to lug a full 8*12 stack to a lousy bar gig in order to boost their egos and make up for their lack of talent.

Music is about sound, not looks. Actually, music IS sound! Not saying that music cannot be combined with looks, because it can, and that's how people put together stage acts; with their wacky outfits and makeup and colorful instruments. But destroying the sound quality of the band just so you "look cool" defeats the purpose of making music. If somebody joins a band to look cool, and that is all, then they should just go be actors or pick up heroin instead (because hard drugs make you 'look cool as F***').

Sorry again, OP. Do not take any of the above personally, because this turned out being my rant towards some of the guitarists I've worked with in the past, and I forgot for a moment what your post was in the first place...

TL;DR - Do not make that rig! Much better sound quality with just one of those amps. Impress the audience with your playing, not how huge of a rig you can lug out there.
Click to expand...

Damn!! Those guitarist's must've really ticked you off LOL!! Maybe this is why there are so many angry members here??


I can relate though, I played in one group where the rhythm guitarist (not the lead BTW, he *only* had one full stack:)) played through 2(count em 2!!) Marshall full stacks, it was ridiculous, plus he ran through a pedalboard and a full rack setup, he had lots of technical problems with this setup, and he buried me!!


So I went through a few rigs and finally got a Ampeg svt2 non pro with a 4x10 /15 cabs(I know, mixed drivers bad, whatever;)) just to keep up and it far exceeded my expectations, though im lucky i still have great hearing!! And we did in fact play decent sized venues like 1st Ave, the Quest, though he didn't need all his gear. This same guitarist did in fact downsize his rig to just a tube head/4x12 cab, unfortunately he passed away from lymphoma cancer close to 10 years ago.

But either way, the only reason id be interested is not for pure volume, but for possible better sound dispersion and maybe splitting FX through one rig, cleans through the other...of course this setup isn't practical for most club gigs, but I'm sure it can have its place for say bigger stages, outdoors, and why not??
 
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#122
markmeloney said:
I can't tell if you're curious or you just want to watch my frying my gear. I think i'll have to do it at least once just to watch the house shake
Click to expand...
Video! This could be epic!

wallofsound.jpg
 
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#124
markmeloney said:
I've heard that strange impedances like that can damage a head. Although i can't see why. But yeah, the 8 ohm 410 getting more than half the power means that i couldn't really use the full power of my head without blowing the speakers. It seems like the 2 head scenario gives me the most volume. No more clipping running cabs a max.
Click to expand...

5.33 ohms is not something I would consider a 'strange' impedance, and probably not any of the couple folks using 610 cabs out there either ... ;) ... remember, you are using solid state heads, not tubes ...

.. also not sure how you are figuring your 700 watt head (@4 ohms) being run at 5.33 is going to be blowing speakers in your 410 (rated at 800 watts ??) when splitting (any) power with the other cabs ... it is probably not getting any more power to it than if it was run alone at 8 ohms

.. in any case, experiment away ... its a popular thread anyway ... ;)
 
#125
Ron Johnson said:
That's what teenagers in garage bands think like. All that setup would lead to are issues with things such as blending with your bandmates and the sound guy trying to get a decent tone for you with no success. More volume does not help the sound guy, less does. If you're blasting 1000 plus watts then the sound guy will likely not have enough room to REMOVE your voice from the mix. Sure, if your guitarists had huge rigs as well then they would be able to match you, but the drummer and vocalist(s) and any other auxiliary voices would be killed in the mix because they rely on the PA.

The setup you aspire to use is asinine unless you're playing in a stadium for thousands of people, which I think it's safe to assume you're not. If you still want to look "cool as F***" then buy a bunch of empty cabs and make a mountain on the stage with them, but only plug one 4*10 in and use that.

Sorry if this response sounded hostile, but people that do things like this are who really piss me off. You don't know how many guitarists I've had to boot from bands because they felt the need to lug a full 8*12 stack to a lousy bar gig in order to boost their egos and make up for their lack of talent.

Music is about sound, not looks. Actually, music IS sound! Not saying that music cannot be combined with looks, because it can, and that's how people put together stage acts; with their wacky outfits and makeup and colorful instruments. But destroying the sound quality of the band just so you "look cool" defeats the purpose of making music. If somebody joins a band to look cool, and that is all, then they should just go be actors or pick up heroin instead (because hard drugs make you 'look cool as F***').

Sorry again, OP. Do not take any of the above personally, because this turned out being my rant towards some of the guitarists I've worked with in the past, and I forgot for a moment what your post was in the first place...

TL;DR - Do not make that rig! Much better sound quality with just one of those amps. Impress the audience with your playing, not how huge of a rig you can lug out there.
Click to expand...
Geez Ron...
 
#126
So you people who tell others to not worry about looking cool are doing them a grave disservice. The entire music business as we know it is built on looks being a very important part of the equation. We may go about looking cool in different ways...for some it's clothing, for some it's a big stack of cool gear, for some it's spray painting themselves red and wearing a sock over their naughty bits...but have you ever noticed that those who say not to worry about looking cool onstage hardly ever look cool onstage? :D

Seriously...take down that wall of amps behind Angus and imagine if he showed up with a little amp on a stool wearing khaki cargo shorts and flip flops instead...do you really think AC/DC would be as big as they are? I think not.



There is nothing at all wrong with looking cool onstage, and never let anyone tell you different.
 
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#127
JimmyM said:
So you people who tell others to not worry about looking cool are doing them a grave disservice.
Click to expand...

Agreed to an extent. Looks do matter (consider the common practice of having several stacks of Marshalls on stage, most of which were dummy cabs)... As long as one recognizes that there's a time and a place; bringing three cabs and two heads into a bar with a foot-high stage and neon beer signs behind the drummer is as ridiculous as bringing a little combo amp to an outdoor festival. Both can theoretically work, but both also look dumb.
 
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#130
Bass Master General said:
Agreed to an extent. Looks do matter (consider the common practice of having several stacks of Marshalls on stage, most of which were dummy cabs)... As long as one recognizes that there's a time and a place; bringing three cabs and two heads into a bar with a foot-high stage and neon beer signs behind the drummer is as ridiculous as bringing a little combo amp to an outdoor festival. Both can theoretically work, but both also look dumb.
Click to expand...
Like I said...the art of looking cool varies from band to band, and what looks cool for KISS might not look cool for Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers.
 
#131
Ron Johnson said:
That's what teenagers in garage bands think like. All that setup would lead to are issues with things such as blending with your bandmates and the sound guy trying to get a decent tone for you with no success. More volume does not help the sound guy, less does. If you're blasting 1000 plus watts then the sound guy will likely not have enough room to REMOVE your voice from the mix. Sure, if your guitarists had huge rigs as well then they would be able to match you, but the drummer and vocalist(s) and any other auxiliary voices would be killed in the mix because they rely on the PA.

The setup you aspire to use is asinine unless you're playing in a stadium for thousands of people, which I think it's safe to assume you're not. If you still want to look "cool as F***" then buy a bunch of empty cabs and make a mountain on the stage with them, but only plug one 4*10 in and use that.

Sorry if this response sounded hostile, but people that do things like this are who really piss me off. You don't know how many guitarists I've had to boot from bands because they felt the need to lug a full 8*12 stack to a lousy bar gig in order to boost their egos and make up for their lack of talent.

Music is about sound, not looks. Actually, music IS sound! Not saying that music cannot be combined with looks, because it can, and that's how people put together stage acts; with their wacky outfits and makeup and colorful instruments. But destroying the sound quality of the band just so you "look cool" defeats the purpose of making music. If somebody joins a band to look cool, and that is all, then they should just go be actors or pick up heroin instead (because hard drugs make you 'look cool as F***').

Sorry again, OP. Do not take any of the above personally, because this turned out being my rant towards some of the guitarists I've worked with in the past, and I forgot for a moment what your post was in the first place...

TL;DR - Do not make that rig! Much better sound quality with just one of those amps. Impress the audience with your playing, not how huge of a rig you can lug out there.
Click to expand...
That's all well and good brother but with my drummers and guitarists being as loud as they are, I'm getting sick of having to go off stage to put my face in front of the house sound system just to hear the notes I'm playing. I don't like having to assume i'm playing the right notes without actually hearing myself
 
#132
Clearly the haters here have never had to deal with a band like mine. Like I said, if I was still in the band with those old folks I would gladly use my 210 @8 ohms with no problems. i'm doing this out of necessity. The cool looking stack factor is just kind of a bonus.
 
#137
headroom is nneeded nothing is wrong with what he is doing

2 ohm stable amps are helpful it would be easier to use one head and more speaker.

didn't read through the 7 pages of rants but hopefully somebody mentioned using series cables and making one head a easy solution.

otherwise just use the pre out to the
power amp of the other so you ddon't have phase proble's by using
the eqs on both heads

and aagain I gotta be that guy that says....guitarist war = 8x10 no win
2 x 8x10s and yes I'm old lol and yes I can handle 2 8x10s
 
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#138
I didn't read 7 pages either. . . . . but in answer to the OP, if he's still out there, last week I ran 2 rigs daisy chained between the send and return sockets.

I was using 2 TH500's and 2 Barefaced Super Compacts. That makes 1 pre amp and 2 power amps driving 2 8 ohm cabs. Sounded huge, full and fat. All I needed was to bring my backup amp and an extra instrument cable.

It was totally unnecessary but sounded good enough for me to do again on the next loud gig.
 
#139
chris_b said:
I didn't read 7 pages either. . . . . but in answer to the OP, if he's still out there, last week I ran 2 rigs daisy chained between the send and return sockets.

I was using 2 TH500's and 2 Barefaced Super Compacts. That makes 1 pre amp and 2 power amps driving 2 8 ohm cabs. Sounded huge, full and fat. All I needed was to bring my backup amp and an extra instrument cable.

It was totally unnecessary but sounded good enough for me to do again on the next loud gig.
Click to expand...
nice :P. ever heard of this before?
'you can only have 2 of the 3 Ls, little, loud, or low'. having more power than you need should get you more bottom end
 

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