• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

bi-amping

6

6810

Jan 11, 2008
197
5
#1
HI,

I read an article in bass player, interview with the bassist from High on Fire (JEff Matz) and he says he uses two amps.

GEAR

Bass First Act Limited Edition Delgada; GHS Bass Boomers (.050–.115), Dunlop Tortex Picks (1.14mm)
Rig ’80s Ampeg SVT VL head and 8x10 cab; ’70s Laney Klipp head and Marshall 4x12 cab
Effects MXR M80 Bass DI, Fulltone Bass-Drive MOSFET, Electro-Harmonix Metal Muff, Whirlwind A/B Box, Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner
“I run the DI, with distortion as my primary tone, into the SVT. I’ve also been using Matt’s Metal Muff to get a crazy, overdriven sound. We like the heaviness of tuning down two steps to CFBbEb.

http://www.bassplayer.com/article/high-fires-jeff/may-08/35685

Is anyone out there doing it?

I'm pretty new to this, so if there is a thread out there already, let me know!
 
#2
Well, I just tried it myself. Ran the line out from my little bass combo to the input on a tiny little 15W guitar amp.

Made getting the tone right a bit more complicated, but the high end from the little amp gave me more volume and I could keep the bass amp pretty low.

Neat.

Still, is anyone doing this professionally?
 
#3
Not professionally by any means, but I sometimes biamp (particularly with my 12 string bass) using a Peavey BAC2 Biamp bass chorus (pretty much the only production pedal with an instrument level crossover and seperate high and low frequency outs (although there is a TB'er who makes a pedal that does this)) and send the lows out to my bass amp (Eden Nemesis NC115) and the highs through a guitar rig (mostly Boss OD3>Ibanez AD99>Mesa Subway blues 1x10 20w class A.

I mainly play in church, and let me tell you, if you want a good OD sound without losing low end, it's the way to go. However, you have to own and move said guitar rig, so it's not for everyone or all the time. The rest of the time I just use my Sansamp BDDI, but it's just not as nice.

Steve
 
#4
It's a cool thing to do and I've done it on recordings before, but it's not biamping. Biamping is separating your frequencies with two amps and a crossover, and one cab gets only freqs below the crossover point and the other gets freqs above it.
 
#5
Hey Jimmy, thanks. I wasn't really sure of the terminology.

Last night I saw OM in Nagoya, Japan, and Al was using two amps, his usual setup plus a marshall guitar head and 4x10 cab and a rickenbacker. Awesome tone.

Unbelievably good show!

Oh, and thanks Steve too.
 
#6
Oh yeah! I run a Ampeg SVTIII into a 18 for lows and a higher effected line to a SWR 15 combo for effects. The line out of a Line 6 XT can send an effected and an unaffected line out. It can also specify a crossover frequencey to biamp as well. It's amazing how effective an amp is when it's not trieng to do the low and high all at once. The amount of wattage to push low notes is much higher than the high notes. i.e. the AMPEG at full tilt of 400W and the 120W combo running at only 25% volume.
 
#7
I used to biamp through a Rane DC-24. I always loved the results coming out of my combined rig, but you run into a couple problems.

1. What do you do when the soundguy says he only has room on his board for one signal from the bass? Send him the lows? The highs? You could put a DI in front of the whole thing, but doesn't that kinda defeat the purpose outside of your stage mix?

2. You now have extra gear to haul everywhere. At a minimum you've got two cabs. This isn't a huge deal, but being able to load in a single trip and spend more time talking to the hot blonde at the bar is MUCH more enjoyable :p

Ultimately... To me, it's a great thing if done correctly, and done by someone playing large shows at large venues with a good soundguy, and preferably roadies. For the rest of us... Full-range just makes more sense.
 
#8
Well, I'm not a professional player, so I don't do it professionally, but I love biamped tone. My AMP BH420 has a crossover built in, so I often will use it to send the lows to the BH420 itself which powers a lone 18" subwoofer and the highs go either to my guitar amp (Fender Twin) or my crappy little solid state Fender driving my 2x10 and 1x15, or my 4x10.

I love the flexibility and the tonal variations...
 
#11
6810 said:
Hey Jimmy, thanks. I wasn't really sure of the terminology.

Last night I saw OM in Nagoya, Japan, and Al was using two amps, his usual setup plus a marshall guitar head and 4x10 cab and a rickenbacker. Awesome tone.

Unbelievably good show!

Oh, and thanks Steve too.
Click to expand...

Right on!

I'm hoping to see OM when they get back -- it is a crazy good and heavy bass tone.
 
#13
Although I am by no means an expert, I believe Chris Squire's setup is a stereo setup as opposed to biamping, which is the use of a crossover to split the signal and send lows to one amp and highs to the other (to basically cite JimmyM's description above). This has always been my understanding and its how it works on my BH420...
 
#15
Beej said:
Although I am by no means an expert, I believe Chris Squire's setup is a stereo setup as opposed to biamping, which is the use of a crossover to split the signal and send lows to one amp and highs to the other
Click to expand...
His was a bi-amp setup, as separate amps drove highs and lows. He used the bridge pickup to push the Fender, the neck the bass amp, rather than splitting the signal via an electronic crossover, which in 1969 would not have been readily available, if at all.
 
#17
I would assume so. To your question 6810 biamping is common. In the bass area and PA for that matter, the more common configuration would be to use a subwoofer with a crossover set at 150-250hz to handle the frequencies below that point and say a 3way PA top to handle the frequencies above that point. The 810 plus marshall setup would be approaching it from another angle that some bass players use and that's setting a crossover point maybe in combination with some goodies in the effects loop to send clean bass to the bass cabinet and distortion or overdrive signal to the guitar rig. The guitar rig would be on the high end of this crossover as they can't handle low frequencies and sound good distorted and bass would be on the lowend for the opposite reasons. It can also make your rig louder and more "open" or "modern" sounding as each speaker is only putting out frequencies it's designed for as opposed to trying to do it all. The down side is more cost and more stuff to carry around as you'd need a stereo power amp, crossover and more cabinets, etc.
 
#18
I used to biamp my old Peavey rig (two 1810s, Mark III and second 400BH power head) throughout the 80s. I can't really say that I realized the benefits of doing so and it was a bunch of gear to tote. Once modern full range cabs became commonplace, I no longer felt any need to biamp.

Kim
 
#19
I always considered my rig biamp as there are two different amps doing different things, but I've been informed here that since there's no crossover involved, it's just using two amps. I use an SVT > two JBL 15" for lows and a Marshall > 2 12" for highs

Whatever you call it, it sounds great to me.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back