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mono, bi-amp, or stereo????

Discussion in 'Amps and Cabs [BG]' started by BigBohn, Oct 12, 2001.

  1. Oct 12, 2001 #1
    BigBohn

    BigBohn

    Sep 29, 2001
    WPB, Florida
    Can anyone briefly explain the differences and characteristics of each?

    Some background info, i will get either a SVP-PRO or SVP-BSP, Carvin DCM1500, Behringer MDX2200, and SWR Megoliath. What way would I want to go, mono biamp or stereo?? I want a hi-fi sound that can go in a rock band, Flea-ish type sound, and by the way the SWR Megoliath cab is a full-range 8x10 cab. If you can help me which way to go, it would help me on purchasing a certain device over another due to the 2 channels of one device to the 1 channel of another. Thanks.
     
  2. Oct 12, 2001 #2
    Mudbass

    Mudbass

    Jul 25, 2001
    The Republik of Kalifornia
    Bi-amp is using two amps and speaker systems. One produces only the lows and the other only the highs.

    Stereo is, well, forget it. You can't get stereo out of a bass no matter what Rickenbacker says anyway.

    If you want a flea type tone, flea plays Gallien Krueger heads thru Mesa Boogie cabs if that helps.
     
  3. Oct 12, 2001 #3
    lo-end

    lo-end

    Jun 15, 2001
    PA
    you want mono bridged. Thats like when you take both channels of the poweramp and combine them and get one super powerful mono channel. you'll get the most power that way.

    Besides, the only bi-ampable amps Ive seen are Gallien-Kruegers, and you dont need stereo. Bass should be mono always, IMO.
     
  4. Oct 12, 2001 #4
    martininpv

    martininpv

    Oct 1, 2001
    Pflugerville, TX
    Stereo, for the purpose of bass amps, is simply running two independant power amps. It can come in handy depending on your speaker configuration. Bridged amps do not handle the low impedence of some speaker configurations. Running stereo is the solution in this case.

    Bi-amp is really one method of running stereo, one amp gets the high, one gets the lows. It could also be one side gets clean, one side gets processed. Or they can both receive the same full-range signal. There can be many reasons to run a stereo configuration.
     
  5. Oct 12, 2001 #5
    bgavin

    bgavin

    May 3, 2001
    Orangevale, CA 95662
    Bridged mono is very powerful and has a couple points you need to know:

    1) Verify the lowest impedance allowed specifically in B/M mode. Internally, both channels are combined to drive the speaker load, so each channel only sees half the total impedance. If you are driving a 4-ohm cabinet, that means each channel is driving 2 ohms... even if the amp supports a 2 ohm load, this is the hardest the amp will work, and the hottest it will get.

    2) Know that B/M mode presents LETHAL voltage and currents at the speaker taps that can KILL you if you get across them.
     
  6. Oct 12, 2001 #6
    BigBohn

    BigBohn

    Sep 29, 2001
    WPB, Florida
    ok, guys, thats enough, im going mono on this one. thanks:cool:
     
  7. Oct 12, 2001 #7
    bgavin

    bgavin

    May 3, 2001
    Orangevale, CA 95662
    The Carvin DCM1500 or DCM2000 is a two channel power amp that will let you drive both channels from a single input without using a "Y" cable.

    IMO you'd be better off running single-mono with a cab on each channel instead of bridging. This amp will also let you bi-amp the SWR 810, should you choose to do so. One channel for the lows, the other channel for the highs (stereo mode).

    This amp also supports balanced TRS inputs, should you want to go all balanced for hum elimination. Some preamps like the SWR IOD have two XLR outs, so you can use one XLR for the signal chain, and the other for a DI connection. Fabricating a TRS to XLR cable is very simple.