Anyone wired up a 4x12 to have four speaker sockets?

[petejt]

I'm thinking of doing a weird wet/dry/wet/dry thing with my 4x12 by wiring up each speaker to its own socket/jack.

Two speakers will be run by one amp (8 ohms per side) as the 'dry' signals. The other two are the 'wet', but one speaker has a signal that is 90% wet/10% dry, and the other is 10% wet/90% dry, run by a stereo power amp. I will use the Presence controls to blend them.


Has anyone else tried this before? Or did you just run separate speaker cabinets?

 

[nightlight]

Not sure it's worth the effort. Probably get far better results with two 2x12s that are spaced further apart. Some of those even have stereo inputs.

The thing with a single 4x12 is that I have a feeling the sound would get a bit washy coming out of a single cab.

Of course, I have no idea, so feel free to try and let us know

 

[petejt]

Not sure it's worth the effort. Probably get far better results with two 2x12s that are spaced further apart. Some of those even have stereo inputs.

The thing with a single 4x12 is that I have a feeling the sound would get a bit washy coming out of a single cab.

Of course, I have no idea, so feel free to try and let us know

Ha! It can get plenty washy when I run a slave signal out to my Jazz Chorus combo amp! But I like that type of sound- great for Rush songs.


I'm not really trying to get a stereo effect out of the one cab, but more of a unified complex textured sound. Plus I miss the huge impact of running a whole amp into only one or two speakers. Sure enough my MarkIV can run a whole 4x12 very well, but it seems to have more oomph when only pushing one or two speakers.

I thought of cutting the cab in half at one stage, but I don't want to wreck it.

 

[rottingcorpse]

I say go for it and report back! I wanna know how it works for you.

 

[Exo-metal]

A early lesson I was taught was if you think something is goofy it probably is...

 

[BSRIAudio]

The issue with running a setup like this is if all the speakers aren't operating from the same source and in phase with one another then you can have issues with some speakers acting as brakes on the others since they aren't all putting the same force on the air pressure in the cab.

For example, if you aren't using the 'wet' speakers for a part, then those speakers will dampen the ability of the dry speakers to move effectively. This would be for a typical sealed 4x12. If I were going to do this I would want to use something like a Mesa Mark cab with the bottom speakers divided from the top speakers by a baffle.

I agree that 2 separate 2x12s would be a much better sounding and easier solution.

 

[Exo-metal]

My point exactly. No need to go pied squared minus here

 

[japetus]

Put 4 1x12 cabs on a rolling rack.

 

[petejt]

The issue with running a setup like this is if all the speakers aren't operating from the same source and in phase with one another then you can have issues with some speakers acting as brakes on the others since they aren't all putting the same force on the air pressure in the cab.

For example, if you aren't using the 'wet' speakers for a part, then those speakers will dampen the ability of the dry speakers to move effectively. This would be for a typical sealed 4x12. If I were going to do this I would want to use something like a Mesa Mark cab with the bottom speakers divided from the top speakers by a baffle.

I agree that 2 separate 2x12s would be a much better sounding and easier solution.

Damn.


Thanks for advice. By the way my cab is an older Marshall 1960 angled cab. Two EV 12S speakers in the bottom, and two Mesa/Boogie MC90 Black Shadows in the top.

 

[petejt]

And speaking of 'wet' - I'm so nuts about it that I listen to songs through the mixing desk running a chorus patch! Swirl City!

 

[BSRIAudio]

And speaking of 'wet' - I'm so nuts about it that I listen to songs through the mixing desk running a chorus patch! Swirl City!

Wait... what? When you listen to all music you put chorus on the full mix?

 

[petejt]

And speaking of 'wet' - I'm so nuts about it that I listen to songs through the mixing desk running a chorus patch! Swirl City!

Wait... what? When you listen to all music you put chorus on the full mix?

Haha yep! It's just the mixing desk's in-built auxiliary effects, not my effects pedals or the Rockman rack unit.
It's set to about 50%.

For stuff that is very 'direct' and dry, it opens things up and swirls so wide.

If the songs already have some chorusing on them (a lot of 80s stuff, not just obvious chorus but when they patch in a stereo effect across the mix), then the stereo field tends to collapse in on itself.