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Two Identical Amps-Two Identical Cabs Rig

lowplaces

lowplaces

Dec 20, 2015
4,006
1
8,572
Kentucky
#1
Edit : 6/11 - title has been edited for clarity and I'd like to mention 90℅ of anticipated gigs will be in smaller venues such as bars. Text of the OP below...


Looking for any and all ideas. What effects, speaker placement, practical applications, anything really.

As far as the rig itself...

- 2 Ampeg PF-50T heads
- 2 identical 112 cabs
- Precision Bass

All I have currently on the board is a Barber Tone Press and a MXR CAE Boost Overdrive.

I will be adding a Radial Bigshot ABY and a volume pedal at the very least.

I don't want to mention what genre I will be playing because I want to hear any and all suggestions possible. You play metal, talk to me. Old school country, let's hear it.

That said, how would You configure the rig ?
 
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#4
Personally, I would only stack if I had to.
Either way make sure that the speakers are parallel to each other to avoid phase issues.

I sometimes run a clean/dirty dual amp rig, I put them side by side, it's hard to get the balance right when they're staked.
 
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#9
If you have two distinct complete signal chains you might, (depending on the design of the circuitry of an effect in one chain and not the other) end up with phase differences at the speakers. Some devices have a phase switch that will allow you to change the phase of the signal by 180 degrees which may realign two out of phase signals.
 
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#10
Bass_Pounder said:
Why do you think that P.A.'s are vertical arrays ?

Side by side gives you midrange beaming issues. Separated loses you 3db from loss of coupling, and - unless placed properly, you will actually lose low end due to wave cancellation.
Click to expand...

I'm not arguing against stacking cabs. My 112's are stacked right now.

I've just never run two heads before and that's why I'm asking. Total noob in that regard.

I appreciate the information you just offered.

Back when I was younger gigging in bars I had a 215 cab and never mic'd it or sent a line to the PA.
 
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#11
Hoochie Coochie Man said:
If you have two distinct complete signal chains you might, (depending on the design of the circuitry of an effect in one chain and not the other) end up with phase differences at the speakers. Some devices have a phase switch that will allow you to change the phase of the signal by 180 degrees which may realign two out of phase signals.
Click to expand...
Would a Radial Big Shot be such a device ?
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#13
Hoochie Coochie Man said:
I just looked at the Radial, and yes it does have the capability to reverse the phase of one of the signals. The FDeck hpf series 3 that I have also has a phase reversal switch.
Click to expand...

Okay thanks for taking time to check it out.

There is another Barber pedal called the Launch Pad that had phase correction capability but I'm not sure if it would apply to my application. I had one and it was an excellent great clean boost. Ran off 9 volts but 24 volts internally.
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I had one but traded it ...there's a great guitar shop in town it has a wish list and I'm going to call them Monday and have them call me if they get a used one in.
 
#14
I'd configure it like this... :)
V4B-212AV.jpg
 
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#16
There are basically 3 ways to do this.

First and probably most common is a clean/dirty and or wet/dry setup. You basically put your drive and/or effects into one and leave the other dry which can keep low end/definition.

Next is an actual "stereo" rig (which you could configure up and down, but you'll need someplace to put the second amp head so they're funny shaped). So you would have some kind of stereo effect/s like phaser, delays, etc...

The last would be to basically have the same stuff going through each but with slightly different gain and eq settings to a somewhat more complex tone.

But if you don't actually have some idea/reason to do this, you're probably going to spend a lot of money and time and maybe not get anything worthwhile out of it (other than knowledge and experience).
 
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#18
Those are incredible nice amps, not that I have actually tried one, but I did own an Ampeg B-15 once (the 60 watt S model form 1969, to be exact), which I terribly regret selling, and which your amps seeks to replicate (and as far as I have read does so very accurately too) and slightly modernize.

If I were you, I'd do the same as I do with my 2 amp rig, even though my rig consist of a solid state Trace Elliot combo of the SM series and a Dynacord Bass King tube amp, and I am using 2 different 15" units.

Anyway what I do is that I let one amp (my solid state Trace) take care of the cleans and then run the other amp (my Dynacord tube amp) slightly dirty to add some grit to my tone.

Now how I handle overdriving my tube amp is to boost it with a Joyo Orange Juice set to slightly dirty followed by a 7 band graphic bass EQ for further tonal adjustments, dial in a tone characteristic that the amp seems to like and at the same time compliments the tone of the other amp as well, and then crank the master volume of the EQ till I get the desired amount of overdrive from my tube amp.
I guess your MXR CAE Boost Overdrive will serve for this purpose, as an always on pedal, on this side of the signal chain, to obtain what I did, given you chose to follow my example.

What I do to run 2 amps simultaneously is that I run my Dynacord tube amp via the tuner output of my solid state Trace combo, that happens to be the preamp pre EQ signal at instrument level and impedance.
But what you should naturally do in that situation is to split your bass signal via your Radial Bigshot ABY into each of your two amps.

If I were you, which I am obvious not, though you are still welcome to mimic my approach, my signal chain would then end up looking something like this:
Precision Bass>> Barber Tone Press> volume pedal> Radial Bigshot ABY (splitting into 2 signal chains)
(ABY Chain A)>> Clean Ampeg PF-50T> 1st 112 cab
(ABY Chain B)>> MXR CAE Boost Overdrive> Dirty Ampeg PF-50T> 2nd 112 cab

And if you are curious as to what kind of bands I play in that would be one traditional power trio (drums, guitar and bass) called Tauon playing slow heavy dark rock music, in which I by the way utilize very little effects, as well as I play in a bit more unusual trio, consisting of drums, keys and bass, that we have yet to find a name for and yet have to settle on a more specific style of expression, but aiming towards being a jam based experimental outfit evolving our play around loosely and flexible structured compositions, and where I unlike the first mentioned trio get to use a lot of effects.

Both originals bands, as you might have guessed from the context.

Anyway have fun experimenting with utilizing your two amazing sounding and astonishing cool looking amps, wish you the best of luck in that regard :)

Rock on :bassist:
 
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