Strange thing happens when testing out a W/D/W rig...

[Anonymous]

Here is my progress so far in this whole debacle...

I have a VH4 and a VHT 2150 power amp that I basically just set up to see if I could get a signal working through my pair of wet cabs. I took the effects send 1 and put that into one side of the VHT power amp, and got one of the wet cabs working... great, right? Not so much...

Moving onwards to add the effects, I took the effects send 1 and put it into my El Capistan input, then took 2 cables and inserted them into the L and R outputs on the El Capistan and ran those two cables to both sides of the power amp. No signal from either side... and all the El Capistan did was blink its bypass button at me.

I proceeded to try out Effects send 2 from my VH4 in the exact same way and engaged the effects send 2 button on front of the amp and turned up the effects loop knob on the front and the exact same thing... nothing happened, just a blinking El Capistan.

I thought to myself, wait... I need to try and get a signal from both wet cabs before I go any further, so I hooked up a cable in effects send 1 and 2 from the VH4 into both sides of the VHT and got a signal to both of those cabs. So I inserted the Strymon Blue sky I had with both cables from the effects send into both L and R into the Blue Sky inputs, then the L and R Bluesky outputs into both sides of the VHT. All I got was the same repetitive blinking bypass light, but the light was accompanied by a clicking noise with each blink. Is there something that I am missing here? I dont get why this isnt working.

Am I doing right by running Effects send 1 and 2 at the same time? That is the only way I can get both wet cabs to work through the power amp I assume. I am going to try bothering Peter D. or Peter S. next, but its hard to get an answer from them even when I post over in the Diezel Subtopic area.

What is the blinking and clicking for with those strymon pedals? Im just so damn lost with getting this going, and I know it shouldn't be this hard. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[glpg80]

 

[Anonymous]

I wish I could justify buying the suhr iso and effects gizmo, but I already have a RJM Rack Gizmo that I havent utilized yet... I simply wanted to get a rough draft, simple W/D/W rig up and running first. I appreciate the time it took you to pencil that sketch in though.

Maybe I can get you to do one with the pieces I do have... but I cant figure out why the effects arent working when I add them into the equation. This all should be simple, but Im finding out that its not.

 

[cyndicate]

Does the pedal work correctly when it's used in the FX loop?

Where is your mix knob set on each?

Are the secondary functions of the strymon setup correctly, like the level?

 

[mentoneman]

have you verified the loops on the amp work like you believe they should?

like connecting the fx send to the return with a 1/4 inch instrument cable and switching channels and fx loop off/on, making sure the amp signal is present. are there any fx loop send and return level controls?

then just plugging your gtr into the el cap directly and running the stereo outs to the stereo power amp/cabs to make sure the el cap/stereo amp rig works on its own?

id just verify one step at a time until i found the problem and it kinda seems like you are trying that...

 

[snowdog]

This is about the 8th thread I've seen on this. With all the money you have in just the gear listed, you should just buy the damn Suhr ISO box and be done with it.

 

[glpg80]

I wish I could justify buying the suhr iso and effects gizmo, but I already have a RJM Rack Gizmo that I havent utilized yet... I simply wanted to get a rough draft, simple W/D/W rig up and running first. I appreciate the time it took you to pencil that sketch in though.

Maybe I can get you to do one with the pieces I do have... but I cant figure out why the effects arent working when I add them into the equation. This all should be simple, but Im finding out that its not.

the VH4 does not have a line out. You can create one easily using the effects loop, but there is more to it:

https://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audi ... -pv6-mixer

effects send into that ^

effects return choosing left (mono) back on the same channel to amp^

^that also creates a line out signal (right mono) to your effects: out to whatever you have to switch your effects which create the stereo signal, and the stereo output of each channel to each side of your slave amp.

all done without a suhr iso. With this method you could control the level of the effects sent to the slave, and also turn slave on/off all together with the push of the effects loop button - the same thing as a suhr iso box. but you're still going to need to spend some money to get this rolling - you do not have all of the pieces as is. I would also presume each effects loop is for all channels of the amplifier, if not, only certain channels would be stereo, others would be completely silent. Another reason to invest in a suhr iso box.

 

[Anonymous]

have you verified the loops on the amp work like you believe they should?

like connecting the fx send to the return with a 1/4 inch instrument cable and switching channels and fx loop off/on, making sure the amp signal is present. are there any fx loop send and return level controls?

then just plugging your gtr into the el cap directly and running the stereo outs to the stereo power amp/cabs to make sure the el cap/stereo amp rig works on its own?

id just verify one step at a time until i found the problem and it kinda seems like you are trying that...

Some more great ideas there! Yes you are right, I am starting simple for two reasons... 1 because I have never done this before and want to understand the basics first. 2, because I want to find any problematic pieces of gear that are introduced to the whole shebang 1 piece at a time to weed out any noise issues that I might come into contact before I just slap a whole lot of shit together and find out there is a ground loop hum somewhere that I could have fixed in the first place.

Thanks for the help so far, and I know I have like 3 different threads on this... I am buying an ISO, so if you dont want to share in these threads and watch a simpleton like me trying to learn and improve my building skills then its simple, please dont read them or comment on them.

I do however appreciate every single one of you guys who are giving me some really good beginning pointers. Thanks guys!!! Ill keep this thread up and inform you with my future findings.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

I laughed so hard at that scribbled on a napkinesque drawing that was priceless!

Why don't you just simplify and call it a day. WET/Dry small setup. Too much f_cking around takes away from playing.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, it would inspire me to play if I had this set up. I wont be fooling around too much once I get a delay, reverb, compression (clean channel) set up to where I like it.

 

[Anonymous]

Great news. I got the W/D/W rig up and running, so now to piggy back onto this discussion more, I would like to add one more thing at a time to the chain.

I would love to add my M4 preamp to the equation. I have a suhr iso box on its way so I can run my Diezel power amp section to the wet cabs and get that Diezel tone if I decide to go that route and want to fully use my Diezel VH4 tone through the wet cabs instead of the VHT power section. So for this application Im guessing a tube power amp to run the wet cabs is a bit overkill and Im guessing that I should be looking into getting a solidstate power amp which is cheaper and less money on burning through tubes, correct?

Here is the other thing though...

If I wanted to use lets say 6L6 tubes for some of the modules on the M4 through one of my power amps, I shouldnt have to mess with anything the way it stands right now, correct? I would just simply put a power amp (Randall RT250) at the end of the chain that suits the type of power amp tube and swap/bias power tubes to get different flavors with my modules right?

All I am trying to do for now is simply add one thing at a time into the chain so I can isolate problems like ground loop hum or a problematic pedal, ect... before I go batshit crazy and put a complicated rig together.

BTW, one little problem I ran into was that my WET stereo reverb didnt work when I introduced it into the chain, and so far Ive had an El Capistan into a blue sky working, but when I replaced the blue sky right after with the WET, nothing... and to go further into detail of why this setup didnt work out in the first place, was because I didnt have the strymon pedals hooked up in the correct inputs on my pedal power . I really would love to know why this WET reverb isnt working right, I love the way it sounds!

I like the simplicity of this setup right now, and its really fun to run this W/D/W setup, so thank you guys for all your help to get me this far!!! I really appreciate it and would love to continue to receive your advice and help!

 

[rlord1974]

All I am trying to do for now is simply add one thing at a time into the chain so I can isolate problems like ground loop hum or a problematic pedal, ect... before I go batshit crazy and put a complicated rig together.

VH4, Iso, pedals, M4, power amps, multiple cabs, etc.

I hate to burst your bubble, Chad, but you're ALREADY running a "complicated" set-up!

 

[Anonymous]

It is complicated to get going from scratch, but Im sure after doing this a few times with multiple different setups it gets a whole lot easier.

 

[Anonymous]

Anyone have any pointers to give me?

 

[glpg80]

I laughed so hard at that scribbled on a napkinesque drawing that was priceless!

Why don't you just simplify and call it a day. WET/Dry small setup. Too much f_cking around takes away from playing.

i must admit, the crown the 2150 is just perfect