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Running Two bass heads

#21
Tony Hanks said:
I trying to find a way to run Two bass heads without running two full 4x10 cabs. as of right now i have a 2x10 200w and 4x10 300w. being that both heads are 400w i'm not really able to run either head into the 2x10 by itself safely. I tried running into the first heads input the out of the pre amp out into the input of the second head but after reading some forums its my understanding that when doing that you bypass the second amps preamps so the tone aren't blending.
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What is it you want out of the 2nd head? The tone? If that's the case, run your Effects out into the other amp and then use its effects out to go back to the other head. In your situation, having 1 head driving both the 2x10 and 4x10 would be your best bet. :) Use the other as a tone slave. You're not going to get more volume by running 2 heads. That comes from driving more speakers.
 
#22
This can be done a variety of ways. If I'm reading you right for what you want some sort of signal splitter is the best. In my case I used a tuner pedal with two outputs, but there's much more than that available if you prefer something else. I set mine up where common effects (EQ, pitch shift, etc pedals) were all before the tuner and then dirt/OD/fuzz were after on a single amp's line in. Doing this I routed my clean signal to my Kustom Groove 600 head and Avatar TB 153 cab. This gave me a constant clean channel and lots of deep end power. The dirt line of effects went into the GB Shuttle 6.2 and Avatar B410. With the effects off this was also clean and EQ'd to deliver some mid-range might. When the dirt effects went on the enhanced mid-range focus made the dirt really jump out and thanks to the clean channel with a bump in lows I never had to worry about low end loss, etc. So yes, the system works, but...

It's a big pain in the @$$. Sound check with one amp and volume affecting pedals is already annoying. Now you have to blend between two amps using two separate volume knobs. And when you kick in dirt their volume relationship changes. If you have any part of the wiring wrong or if one of your carefully sequenced pedals/cables goes awry it all falls apart. Have fun working with any effects loop pedals (I bought some stereo delay and mod boxes thinking I could run both signals in and effect them each simultaneously... that never came out right).

Was this a lot of fun at house parties and outdoor gigs where you can bring 1,000 watts and lots of cone area to bear on your audience and the surrounding county? Yes! Would I want to deal with the headaches of checking and EQ'ing this for a closed room at a venue and deal with FOH and other concerns (not to mention load in and setup)? No, no I would not. For those type of settings I have a small cab, a small amp, and a (small as well actually) bass. This small setup just makes life easier for all involved and honestly my tone/sound is just as good.
 

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#23
Much easier to do this with dedicated preamps. Run a buffered splitter in front, and a line mixer behind into a power amp. You can run as many preamps as your splitter and mixer support. I totally get the use case. Each preamp provides a unique voicing.

That's all this rig really is with three preamps showcased. The rest is just an obnoxious pile of "stuff".


1EE45339-EC92-4CF8-91C4-04BD09D25615_zpst690gddw.jpg
 
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#24
DigitalMan said:
Much easier to do this with dedicated preamps. Run a buffered splitter in front, and a line mixer behind into a power amp. You can run as many preamps as your splitter and mixer support. I totally get the use case. Each preamp provides a unique voicing.

That's all this rig really is with three preamps showcased. The rest is just an obnoxious pile of "stuff".


1EE45339-EC92-4CF8-91C4-04BD09D25615_zpst690gddw.jpg
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Holy robot! How's that Palmer speaker sim? Loving the Monique and Avalon. And the Radial JD7. Love to hear this set up.
 
#25
10cc said:
Holy robot! How's that Palmer speaker sim? Loving the Monique and Avalon. And the Radial JD7. Love to hear this set up.
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Tha Palmer is nice. It's subtle. It's something that you might not notice so much when it's there, but you miss it when it's gone.

The thing I like the most is that this setup is about blending voices instead of frequencies. It's self indulgent and fun at the same time (actually my wife feels those two concepts are synonymous with me anyway.)
 
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#26
DigitalMan said:
Tha Palmer is nice. It's subtle. It's something that you might not notice so much when it's there, but you miss it when it's gone.

The thing I like the most is that this setup is about blending voices instead of frequencies. It's self indulgent and fun at the same time (actually my wife feels those two concepts are synonymous with me anyway.)
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What cab or cabinets do you use?
 
#29
Tony Hanks said:
seems like a few people have replied about doing this for more power and in no way am i trying to use two heads for more power. only trying to run two head for tone only not power. but either way yea the main reason i want two head is to run one clean and one dirty or just to run both and blend the tones together.
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So what I do is set them both up separately, run my bass into an a/b/y pedal and you can switch between the two outputs. With what you have I'd set your 200w dirty with the 410 and then set your 300w clean with the 210. My clean rig is a 210 and 115 and that's something you may think of acquiring.
Check out some aby pedals here http://www.sweetwater.com/store/search.php?s=aby+pedal
 
#30
10cc said:
Nice set up. I bet a shot of the back is something to stare at too. I love looking at gear
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What's most challenging is you need about 3x the number of cables than you actually use (both power and audio) due to constant reconfiguration (thanks GAS). Every connection has the potential to be between 6" and 3' long, and can change from balanced to unbalanced depending on what you're connecting to.
 
#32
Tony Hanks said:
I trying to find a way to run Two bass heads without running two full 4x10 cabs. as of right now i have a 2x10 200w and 4x10 300w. being that both heads are 400w i'm not really able to run either head into the 2x10 by itself safely. I tried running into the first .
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Tony, I wouldn't worry too much about "overpowering" any cabinet. It all depends on the volume you play at and the type of signal you send it. The numbers on the back of the amps and cabinets don't need to match up.

Per your original question, I agree with those who have recommended the ABY splitters. That might be your least cost, initial shot at getting where you want...others have also pointed out the potential phase and balance issues which is something to listen for. As with the potential "overpowering" a cab scenario, use your ears...if it sounds bad STOP doing it!
 
#37
DigitalMan said:
Much easier to do this with dedicated preamps. Run a buffered splitter in front, and a line mixer behind into a power amp. You can run as many preamps as your splitter and mixer support. I totally get the use case. Each preamp provides a unique voicing.

That's all this rig really is with three preamps showcased. The rest is just an obnoxious pile of "stuff".


1EE45339-EC92-4CF8-91C4-04BD09D25615_zpst690gddw.jpg
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Freakin' Star Trek..
 
#40
Ok so over the pass few days at practice i ended getting this all worked out. i ran all my low end clean signal through my 4x10 and then ran my brighter dirty signal through the 2x10. i cut all the low end out of the head i was using with the 2x10 for my brigther dirty signal and it worked out great. just added in some good low mids to that signal just to beef it up and of course used my mxr m80 to split the signals.also found by running my darkglass b3k through both made both signals really punchy without adding to much dirt to my low/low mid clean signal.As far as playing show and dealing with sound guys. i got to thinking about it and don't think it will be to much of a problem since my band is only a three piece and most places and bands we play with the sound guy is haveing to mic up two guitar amps.instead he will just have to mic one guitar and two for my bass rig.
 
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