Stereo Fender Twin opinions.

the_jaffa

John Squire from the Stone Roses used two Twins running off the stereo outputs of an Alesis Midiverb in the late 80s before he discovered Boogie amps.  In the pics on the back of the first album cover you can see the two Twins behind him.  The shot was taken at their performance on The Other Side Of midnight here:

I think it was more to do with massive backline volume than actual stereo effect but both amps were miked so it could be for the stereo.

Going to be bloody loud though

richardhomer

the_jaffa;205923" said:

Going to be bloody loud though

I saw a picture of him on the reunion tour using what appeared to be four Mesa Lonestar Classics.....

the_jaffa

Yup, he has been using four Lonestars.  He definitely seems to be pretty keen on unbelievably loud amp setups.

matt1973

I have used a few dual amp setups and I find that it always works best with each amp contributing a different flavour to an overall tone.

I used to use a fender twin with a mark II boogie. The MkII gave its own overdrive flavour to the lows and low mids while the twin provided the tone for the upper mids and highs. I now use a Marshall jubilee with a Marshall Vintage Modern; the jubilee contributes the lows and highs while the VM is concerned with mids.

The result in both cases was a very complex array of DIFFERENT overdrive flavours. These kind of tone soups are IMO the zenith of good live guitar sounds. Albeit very loud.

I will also confess to being an enthusiastic John Squire and Joe Bonamassa fan

ThePrettyDamned

If you want to cheap test a stereo rig, get two bandits.  They have a nice loud clean channel that takes pedals great, and won't break the bank.  You could even get the smaller versions, studio pros or the even smaller 40 watt ones.  

It would give you a feel for a stereo setup and any issues you'd need to overcome. 

If you don't like the way it works, or the actual 'stereoness' of the sound, you can flog them on for the peanuts you paid

monquixote

ThePrettyDamned said:

If you want to cheap test a stereo rig, get two bandits.  They have a nice loud clean channel that takes pedals great, and won't break the bank.  You could even get the smaller versions, studio pros or the even smaller 40 watt ones.  

It would give you a feel for a stereo setup and any issues you'd need to overcome. 

If you don't like the way it works, or the actual 'stereoness' of the sound, you can flog them on for the peanuts you paid

I'd go with the other Peavey option of a pair of Classic 50s 

or just buy a stereo head and two cabs. 

Kebabkid

I dunno about not breaking the bank;what about your back? That's a lot of weight to be lifting/lugging about, but I don't doubt Twins running in stereo would sound lovely!

ThePrettyDamned

monquixote;205986" said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

If you want to cheap test a stereo rig, get two bandits.  They have a nice loud clean channel that takes pedals great, and won't break the bank.  You could even get the smaller versions, studio pros or the even smaller 40 watt ones.  

It would give you a feel for a stereo setup and any issues you'd need to overcome. 

If you don't like the way it works, or the actual 'stereoness' of the sound, you can flog them on for the peanuts you paid





I'd go with the other Peavey option of a pair of Classic 50s 

or just buy a stereo head and two cabs. 

Or those options. The ss option would be a real cheap (free after sale?) way of testing, so lower risk, but the others might sound better.

Deijavoo

I think I misunderstood how a stereo set up would work live. Maybe panned hard is just gonna be an all encompassing sound other than in said ping pong moments. 

Mind you, blending a Dual Rec with my SLO Clone would probably be my preferred route if it wasn't for the Bigfoot. I want simple switching that will fit on my pedaltrain.  

I think mono is my future unfortunately. 

Deijavoo

Thanks yet again guys. 

Valuable info and experience. 

monquixote

Without wanting to ask a grandmother to suck eggs question have you gigged with a Twin before?

It's quite a different experience to a lot of amps.

ESBlonde

The live stereo thing is nice if you stand front and centre stage, but TBH the novelty wears off pretty quick but the back ache lingers. I tried it a couple of times years ago but as I simplified my live sound/rig it quickly fell by the wayside and I haven't missed it.

Stock answer for a cheap second combo - Fender HRD, loud enough and clean with it.

chrispy108

You need to consider the venues you're playing, and the setup of the band too.

Broadly speaking:

If you're playing decent venues, then no problem getting both amps mic'd.

If you're playing shitholes, then no chance of getting both amps mic'd.

In between, if you're the only guitarist you should be ok, if not, then unlikely.

meltedbuzzbox

monquixote said:

Without wanting to ask a grandmother to suck eggs question have you gigged with a Twin before?

It's quite a different experience to a lot of amps.

I have gigged a twin for years. Whats different? The backache or all the other guitarists asking if they can use your amp?

Just to echo whats been said really. Moving 2 twins in and out of a venue... pffffft

One is enough. I would hate to rely on 2 and cover the valve costs as well. There are a lot of valves in a twin.

The stereo thing only really works on record. Most venues have bad acoustics, weird wall partitions and other obstacles that will block/reflect the whole stereo setup. Then there is the volume on stage, fitting 2 of those amps side by side, matching volumes etc...cables every where. 

You need a decent size car too, or a hatchback

monquixote

meltedbuzzbox said:

monquixote said:

Without wanting to ask a grandmother to suck eggs question have you gigged with a Twin before?

It's quite a different experience to a lot of amps.

I have gigged a twin for years. Whats different? The backache or all the other guitarists asking if they can use your amp?

It depends what you are used to. 

Going from something like a Marshall you notice that boosts often end up with a very loud clean signal rather than making the amp break up and fuzz pedals often sound like total shit. 

I like them you just have to pick your pedals. 

Riot = Win for example.

meltedbuzzbox

thats a fair point. 

I have been a fender amp user all my life really so I just see it as the norm. 

I would have said with pedals its the best place to start because its going over such a clean sound. You hear exactly what the effect is doing. 

When I use blackstars or Marshalls at the practice rooms I use, I really have to faff about for ages trying to tame things from my board.

I am kind of with you on the fuzz pedals. Kind of. I use a Fuzz Factory and that seems to do the job but the tweak fuzz I had was a bit meh. I dont think they are generally that well received as a fuzz pedal though.

mudslide73

Eric Johnson uses various pairs of Twins for his clean sound wet/wet using Echoplexes. It's part of a 4-5 amp setup where the dirty sounds are done with Marshalls and Fuzzfaces. Overkill for the pubs though imo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4uYxO4rcd8

If you do decide to do this though it will sound incredible.