So, recently the drummer and the other guitarist decided to leave the band due to "creative differences!"
as a result the bassist and i have decided to be a 2 piece with him on the drums and me on guitar. But, being that we play doom metal, i'm going to need some help on the amp side, and i know a lot of bands in the genre use two amp set up...and my case i would use one guitar amp and one bass amp to fill out the sound. I would run the guitar amp with all my pedals, and the bass amp i would run it relatively clean - maybe a little fuzz.
but when i comes to switchers and other devices that facilitate this type of set up i am completely lost and don't really know what to look for, whats good what rubbish etc...so any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Comments
Sorry Sam I might be missing something but why would playing through a guitar and a bass amp fill out your sound better than two guitar amps? Some famous bass players used a guitar amp and bass amp setup with the purpose of the guitar amp to add presence. I could only see the bass adding to overly weighty low end congestion. It's not adding lower octave content.
that's actually not a bad thing in the kind of music we play
They're just very clean, and quite often, don't sound good. If you're playing doomy music, I'd suggest a pair of guitar amps, one at high gain, one at lower with an octave pedal in front giving you a lower octave, like a pog. The high gain could be an orange or a peavey 6505 (my fave). Just keep the gain below 7, it's got quite a lot, and you won't want to lose definition.
For the cleaner amp, it might make sense to use a bigger speaker. A peavey delta blues is a classic 30 with a 15 inch driver, which should help those octave down notes maintain some kind of bassiness and not turn into detuned mids.
The alternative is to run the octave down into a bass amp, which would work great too probably.
If you want to sound massive, get a stereo chorus pedal. This will add a bit of swirl to the sound (don't turn it up, you'll get sea sick!) and act as a way of splitting your signal. This is all assuming you have a budget that can accommodate - I know I wouldn't!
The traditional method is
guitar > effects that you want each amp to enjoy
effects out > amp 1 input
amp 1 send > some sort of pedal or rack that splits, for example a digital delay, stereo chorus, etc
outputs from that pedal > other effects that you want on either channel (not compulsory)
outputs from those pedals > amp 1's and amp 2's return sockets.
This arrangement will however cause a groundloop hum because of the (possibly) different potentials in each amp causing residual mains current to flow through the signal chain, so you will probably need to insert a signal isolator (eg an Ebtech hum eliminator) in the signal path of one of the two signals after the splitter. They're 40 quid from ebay.
DO NOT USE A GROUND LIFT PLUG TO UNEARTH ONE OF THE AMPS. Your burning body will cause damage to your house and your insurance won't cover it.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
Cheaper / (probably) better at Orchid.
i just came upon this Lehle Dual pedal...about £200...so quite pricey, given i will need to buy either a bass amp head and cab...or after ready @ThePrettyDamned post, a guitar amp head & Cab.
http://lehle.com/EN/Lehle-Little-Dual
Thanks, but he's after realistic options!!!
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Sam, I think what ICBM is saying is that you're gonna need a couple of pairs or denim shorts.
I'm assuming you can't get your size in hot pants, but can actually play guitar
Why not get a set of bass pedals? A bit fiddly, but would achieve better results if you practice, they wouldn't be able to sell them if no one could use them, so it might be worth a try
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Guitar - stereo splitter - (a) distortion - amp
(b) pog - distortion - bass amp
? No idea how splitters or stereo effects pedals really work, but having a stereo chorus would make things massive...
So looking at chain...i would probably have something like this:
Guitar > tuner > compressor> switcher pedal > then that goes 2 ways:
1. Dirt pedals> noise gate > mod effects > guitar amp
2. Octave/fuzz pedal > bassman amp
This is becoming quite an expensive idea!
If you are seriously looking to use a dual amp set up full time, in my opinion, you shouldn't scrimp on the switched/signal splitter part and go for the best you can afford. It'll save you major hassle & give you hum free gigs for years :-)
(formerly miserneil)
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein