• 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.

Trying to hookup two combo amps

#21
One cool thing you can do with two combos, if you use any effects, is to split the signal -- with an A/B-Y box, or a tuner with two outputs, or whatever -- and then put your effects between one of those outputs and one of the combos, but not the other. This is especially useful if you're using any (of the many) effects that suck bottom end, as you still have one amp carrying the unaffected signal with full bottom end. I've done this with a B50R stacked on top of a B100r, sending the effects to the 50 and leaving the 100 clean and full of booty.
 
#22
Hey Lobster, how do you like the sound of the two combos, i've been wanting to do almost exactly what your doing, i want to run a 115 combo and a 112 combo, effects through the 112 and clean bottom end with the 115, does it seem louder, and does it sound good? i feel like it would have a really good sound.
 
#24
Tarheel73 said:
Hey Lobster, how do you like the sound of the two combos, i've been wanting to do almost exactly what your doing, i want to run a 115 combo and a 112 combo, effects through the 112 and clean bottom end with the 115, does it seem louder, and does it sound good? i feel like it would have a really good sound.
Click to expand...

It certainly worked for me with the particular amps I was using, so by all means give it a try. The one problem you might run into, though, is that once you have two amps connected to each other -- either directly, or by a shared feed -- you might create a "ground loop" that produces loud hum in one or both amps. Check out this old thread about the issue, which includes a post in which I explain two ways in which I solved that problem:

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f15/running-two-combos-same-time-649243/

I don't consider myself an expert on these things by any means, but feel free to post or pm me if I can be of any more help.
 
#25
Several of these tricks will work, but using the post-EQ effect send from amp A into the effects return of amp B will probaby be the easiset to use - you only have one set of pre-amp/EQ controls to manage. Amp B is just providing power stage gain.
 
#28
Ok guys, I have a seemingly obvious question then. Were I to hook up GB3.10t combo A thru fx send/return to same combo B. I should get the max 175w @ 8 ohms out of A & the same out of B, thus bettering the 300w @ 4 ohms capacity of one combo by 50w & still have the option of adding another 8 ohm cab, or maybe even a cab to each? Can this be correct, in theory at least so if I were to push them, I'd get more headroom or volume? Pls enlighten. Thnx
 
#29
DogBone said:
What you are asking for is very simple. All you need is a second guitar cable (and the second combo of course!)

Your amp has two inputs, active and passive.

Plug your bass into whichever one you always use.

Take another guitar cord, plug one end into the other input, and plug the other end into the input of the second combo.

Just make sure you have both combos plugged into the same power strip, and you won't have to worry about electric interference/phase/or grounding issues.

Adjust volume and eq of both combos to taste, and enjoy your stack. :bassist:
Click to expand...

I have never and would have never thought of that as an option and still don't see how that would work but good to know for future reference. Learn something new every day I guess. Could you do that with any amp combination? Say a 1x15 combo and a 1x12 combo as long as one has 2 inputs?
 
#34
BassmanPaul said:
Just make sure you buy a second identical amp to the one you have. Running dissimilar amps can lead to cancellations if one inverts the signal and the other does not.

Is there no extension speaker socket on the amp?
Click to expand...

No there is not.
From some of these suggestions i have had good success running the two together.
At first i stacked them but found that putting them on each side of the drum set just filled the room with better bass.
 
#35
shawshank72 said:
At first i stacked them but found that putting them on each side of the drum set just filled the room with better bass.
Click to expand...

No it does not! I too tried that and thought the same. However wandering around the room with my wireless showed me areas where the bass was way too loud and other areas where you could hardly hear it. In a vertical stack the dispersion around the room is much more even and controllable.
 
#36
BassmanPaul said:
No it does not! I too tried that and thought the same. However wandering around the room with my wireless showed me areas where the bass was way too loud and other areas where you could hardly hear it. In a vertical stack the dispersion around the room is much more even and controllable.
Click to expand...

Am going by my ears and my bandmates ears.
Asked their opinion and agreed it sounded better to them apart also.
 
#39
Bass_Pounder said:
Congrats - your band figured out a way to disprove science :rollno:
Click to expand...

I found awhile back with this amp that if you take it off the floor it drastically loses its low end.
When stacked i didnt think it sounded that great. But when i put them both on the floor on the sides of the drummer, the low end was better and the amp seemed to fill the room better.
Dont care much what science says, lets face it, science isnt always right.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back