Dialing in a Two Amp rig? Tips and Tricks?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ibanez4life SZ!
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ibanez4life SZ!

ibanez4life SZ!

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Hey guys!

I decided to stay away from the Axe-FX for now, and work on my two amp rig. I love these things WAY too much to see them go.

I am curious for your advice and experiences in properly dialing in a two amp rig. What is your general approach? Any tips or tricks that have worked for you?

Up to now, I have basically dialed in the amps individually, and then put them together...most of the time it ends with great results, and really thickens things up, but with certain combinations, it becomes a mess....I'm assuming this is due to a negative overlap in frequencies.

I've been giving it some thought, and am beginning to think I should work more to dial the amps to COMPLIMENT each other....I'm currently running a Boogie Roadster and Mark IV, so I'm thinking to dial in the Roadster in a BIG smiley face curve (lows of lows, lots of highs, scooped in the mids), and then dial the Mark almost solely in the midrange (cut the lows and high highs almost completely out). On their own, the amps will probably sound like garbage, but together, I'm thinking it might make a clean and HUGE sound.

So, which approach works better in your experience? Individual dialing, or dialing the amps to compliment each other?

Thanks much!

Eric
 
I mixed a IV and Tremoverb for years......

I would not cut the midrange at all with either amp. If anything turn them up more with both power amps running.

The Mark IV has a lot more of the bottom bass than a Roadster. Use the 5 band EQ to take advantage of it.

Use less gain and more power amp .... you well get a lot more clarity with two amps doing it this way. This well also give you more dynamics. Both power amp pushed a little well give the girth you want.

Also take advantage of mixing the different channels from both amps.

I found the IV is the better "wet" amp of the two and used the loop of the IV and all out front effects on both amps.
 
I dial in both amps to sound their best individually, and being a Mesa and a Marshall they compliment each other well.
 
Use substantially less gain than you think you'll need.
When you multiply the number of amps, the perceived gain goes up as well.
 
Really cool info so far! Let's keep it coming.

Eric
 
One thing I use is an ABY pedal that has phase switching capabilaties. When amps are out of phase they sound completly different. Out of phase it sounds like stereo and loses solid bottom end, in phase they come together and crush 3rd world countries. I like amps better in phase but can see a point to out of phase. Either way it is nice to have the ability to change it up.
 
Filter500":2xq6pz0c said:
I dial in both amps to sound their best individually, and being a Mesa and a Marshall they compliment each other well.
Click to expand...

Agree--they both have to sound good on their own for best combined sound. Also, what I always used to do is split my two 4 x 12's vertically so that one amp runs to the left sides of both cabs and the other runs to the right sides, then split those cabs as far apart as possible, especially on opposite sides of the stage. Panning and stereo effects sound big and wonderful, and if you shut off one amp via A/B/Y switch, you still have sound on both sides of the stage. Always got great results like this.

Cheers,
 
Well I just started messing around with doing this last night with my two amps, and I had the Mark V set to a tone that I would use it by itself, but not the Jet City. By itself that one would have WAY too much bass, but it really fills out the Mark V's highs and mids nicely to create a great huge crushing sound
 
Yeah I'm curious to this as well! I set up my dual amp rig, and while I can test at crushing volume I haven't taken it to practice yet so I'm uncertain how it sits with band. The M90 can be a little dark, so by itself I ran the edge/presence pretty high, but the DSL has a lot of cut so I'm tooling around setting up the M90 more to compliment the DSL but when I hear the M90 alone it sounds really dark know.
I'm just scared if both are bright that could be quite unpleasent but then if the sound guy sucks one amp will be dominate the mix!
 
Eric ~ Dime them both out.... Put a boost in front... Plug in and blow out the windows!!!!

:rawk:
 
Devilinside":2lbte65s said:
Yeah I'm curious to this as well! I set up my dual amp rig, and while I can test at crushing volume I haven't taken it to practice yet so I'm uncertain how it sits with band. The M90 can be a little dark, so by itself I ran the edge/presence pretty high, but the DSL has a lot of cut so I'm tooling around setting up the M90 more to compliment the DSL but when I hear the M90 alone it sounds really dark know.
I'm just scared if both are bright that could be quite unpleasent but then if the sound guy sucks one amp will be dominate the mix!
Click to expand...

Because most sound guys have no idea what you are doing .... or understand the mix the way you do ..... I recommend using your own microphones and a small mixer to send your sound to the mixing board. Other wise the mix is never even close.

Gsxrbusa":2lbte65s said:
One thing I use is an ABY pedal that has phase switching capabilaties. When amps are out of phase they sound completly different. Out of phase it sounds like stereo and loses solid bottom end, in phase they come together and crush 3rd world countries. I like amps better in phase but can see a point to out of phase. Either way it is nice to have the ability to change it up.
Click to expand...

I hear this one is good .... I have never used it ...

http://www.tonebone.com/re-bigshot-aby.htm
 
Gsxrbusa":1dj2m9sh said:
One thing I use is an ABY pedal that has phase switching capabilaties. When amps are out of phase they sound completly different. Out of phase it sounds like stereo and loses solid bottom end, in phase they come together and crush 3rd world countries. I like amps better in phase but can see a point to out of phase. Either way it is nice to have the ability to change it up.
Click to expand...

I hear this one is good .... I have never used it ...

http://www.tonebone.com/re-bigshot-aby.htm[/quote]


Yeah, I had that one too. Works really well. Passive pedal, so no batteries or power was needed. The only thing that bothered me was the lack of led's. Other than that it was built like a tank and suffered no tone loss. :)
 
Gsxrbusa":2nvj73yd said:
Yeah, I had that one too. Works really well. Passive pedal, so no batteries or power was needed. The only thing that bothered me was the lack of led's. Other than that it was built like a tank and suffered no tone loss. :)
Click to expand...

What about ground loop hum /noise ?
 
For me it's about getting what I like from each amp. Say I like this quality in this amp & that quality from the other. When I put them together I start dialing out the stuff from the other amp that doesn't let that quality come through. Often I get the punch from one of them & saturation from the other one, so one of them has very little gain dialed in.
 
stephen sawall":15qv55tm said:
Gsxrbusa":15qv55tm said:
Yeah, I had that one too. Works really well. Passive pedal, so no batteries or power was needed. The only thing that bothered me was the lack of led's. Other than that it was built like a tank and suffered no tone loss. :)
Click to expand...

What about ground loop hum /noise ?
Click to expand...


No problems there. it also has a ground lift on the "b" side I beleive.
 
I need to pick one up .... they are just handy to have around. Looks like you could do real cool three amp rig with the tuner out and a volume pedal.
Thanks
 
Is it possible to use a chorus to correct the phase for two amps?
 
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