Bi-amping with effects!

[jacobrownoly]

Hi, I own a GK 1001RB-II bass head and I use it with a GK RBX 410 cab, I run it using the Bi-amping because I think its great...

My question is, is it ok to run effects i.e overdrive, wah while bi-amping or can this damage the cab because of the horn that is running separate from the main amp, or is this perfectly safe??

Thanks for your time!

Jack

 

[seamonkey]

It's safer bi-amping.
If you clip the woofer side of the amp, this won't leak through to the tweeter side.
It's a lot harder to get loud on the bass side, and you're more likely to overdrive the bass side trying to get higher volume - causing excessive highs to be amplified - but these won't leak through because you have a separate amp for the high side.

 

[jacobrownoly]

Will there be any sound difference while using effects when bi-amping??

 

[Lapicide]

I like to mix up effects when biamping. For my standard sound I use a touch of chorus on the highs. Very low rate and very low depth. It opens up the sound, gives it wider space without hearing that a chorus is on...... Lapicide

 

[jacobrownoly]

do u run the effects in front of the amp or do u put them through the effects loop??

 

[billfitzmaurice]

Will there be any sound difference while using effects when bi-amping??

There will, because many effects work mainly in the higher frequencies, and by not having them in the tweeter they'll be less noticeable. The only effects that might hurt tweeters are distortion based, so those should be kept out of the tweeter, the rest are OK full-range. Running time based effects full range and distortion based on the LF power amp only could be complicated, though.

 

[jacobrownoly]

ok so how would I go about just using the distortion on the woofer (main amp) and leaving the tweeter how it is??

 

[billfitzmaurice]

ok so how would I go about just using the distortion on the woofer (main amp) and leaving the tweeter how it is??

Run time based effects off the effects send/receive, distortion between the low frequency crossover and low frequency power amp, assuming the amp allows it.