[danielcrowe86]

How many of you run two amps when you play live? Also, how do you like to configure each amp?

Thanks!

[Hellfighter]

I run a Super Reverb and Deluxe Reverb a lot when I play out (for smallish gigs I'll just take the deluxe).

The Super is mounted in a head cabinet, running through either a 212 or 410 cab and the deluxe just runs through its internal 12".

They're fed via the stereo outputs of my Timefactor and I use A LOT of stereo delays, when the delay is off it's dual mono. Sometimes, when doing dotted eighth stuff, I'll run it w/d

[LesPaulPlayer]

by the end of the the next year or 2 I hope to have a Joe Bonamassa like set up

Splawn quickrod (or Ceriatone Jubilee clone)
Ceriatone ODS
Fender bassman


and run them in stereo ohhhh that will be awesome

[Hellfighter]

*and it's "Dual" not "duel"

Unless that is, you want your amps to compete against each other?

[AudioAUnderdog]

I'd like to try to hook my Peavey and my Fender together, I just don't know if it's going to work. I have a Boss pedal tuner with two outputs, I'm going to try using that.

[thesteve]

Originally Posted by AudioAUnderdog

I'd like to try to hook my Peavey and my Fender together, I just don't know if it's going to work. I have a Boss pedal tuner with two outputs, I'm going to try using that.

Just an FYI, you know that one of the amps can never be muted via tuner pedal right?

[LesPaulPlayer]

It'll work I've done it before with my laney AOR and Blues junior, AWESOME but you can't mute the one amp

[metropolis4]

I'm running a Bad Cat Cub II and a Vox AC30 in stereo (when I'm feeling ambitious enough to carry both amps around)

I run them in a few different ways depending on the gig and what I'm trying to accomplish.
Sometimes I run both of them set similar and use them for stereo delays and other such stereo effects.

Sometimes I run an A/B box and run my Bad Cat dirty on one side and the Vox clean with overdrive pedals and effects on the other side so I can use just a straight forward setup using my volume control and then have the option of using the other side when I need something more complicated.

Or, sometimes I'll run one dirty and the other clean and put a volume pedal in front of the dirty amp so I can fade it in and out to blend a dirty signal with my clean signal.

[Major Tom]

I used to drag 2 amps to unmic'd gigs for a few years - one behind me and one at the other end of the stage area. I had them set up for stereo, using a stereo chorus pedal: speed set all the way slow with a medium amount of modulation - that gave it a stereo image sound, with no hint of sounding like a chorus (which I don't like). It sounded really "cool", a nice fat stereo tone.

After a while though, I realized:

Only a % of the audience, probably less than 50% in the best case scenario, would even be able to perceive that stereo image , and that realistically with the vagaries of live sound, room filtering, phase cancellation, background nose, etc. that it might actually be doing more harm than good.

Where I had the other amp set up, rarely did I even get to hear the "enhanced" tone of a stereo image myself; it was lost in the live stage mix.

One more amp just contributes to more overall stage volume, which was too high to begin with.

Putting "miles" on 2 amps, like wearing out the tubes, etc., instead of just one.

I decided it was not worth the extra effort and gave up on it, never looked back. I just concentrate on getting the one amp/rig that I use to sound great to me. For the most part I have succeeded. The older I get, the more simple I like my rig.

[Almost Enough]

Originally Posted by Major Tom

I used to drag 2 amps to unmic'd gigs for a few years - one behind me and one at the other end of the stage area. I had them set up for stereo, using a stereo chorus pedal: speed set all the way slow with a medium amount of modulation - that gave it a stereo image sound, with no hint of sounding like a chorus (which I don't like). It sounded really "cool", a nice fat stereo tone.

After a while though, I realized:

Only a % of the audience, probably less than 50% in the best case scenario, would even be able to perceive that stereo image , and that realistically with the vagaries of live sound, room filtering, phase cancellation, background nose, etc. that it might actually be doing more harm than good.

Where I had the other amp set up, rarely did I even get to hear the "enhanced" tone of a stereo image myself; it was lost in the live stage mix.

One more amp just contributes to more overall stage volume, which was too high to begin with.

Putting "miles" on 2 amps, like wearing out the tubes, etc., instead of just one.

I decided it was not worth the extra effort and gave up on it, never looked back. I just concentrate on getting the one amp/rig that I use to sound great to me. For the most part I have succeeded. The older I get, the more simple I like my rig.

You sound like the soundboard guy!

I run in stereo at home for my own enjoyment, but my bandmates already get irritated with how much stuff I set up for one amplfier, I think they'd kill me for running two.

I have to admit, if you get enough distance between your amplifiers you can get some AWESOME sounds. If I was the only guitarist in my band I'd run in stereo all the time, with my amps on either side of the drummer.

[Major Tom]

I have to admit, if you get enough distance between your amplifiers you can get some AWESOME sounds

Yep, it does sound cool, but at the "wrong" distance, phase cancellation and such can make it sound weaker to your real audience than just one amp....

I kind of find it more challenging to try and get a variety of great tones that will actually work well in a live context (and not just in my little sphere of observation) with a small amount of gear. The upside of that equation (or so I justify to myself) is ease of set up, and a small footprint of stuff to lug around. That's just me though, and a lot of it may be due to laziness.

I firmly believe though, looking back, that of all the gigs I ever played with 2 amps, no one but me would have known or cared.

You sound like the soundboard guy!

I thought I sounded like the old guy... I do also find that for me, the more complicated the rig, the more tweakable (like modelers and such), the more it is a distraction to playing; just never being 100% happy with the tone, always thinking I need to adjust this or that. Also, the more stuff, the more cables, connections, etc. , the more likely something will fail - equipment failure is very distracting to me.

[AudioAUnderdog]

Originally Posted by thesteve

Just an FYI, you know that one of the amps can never be muted via tuner pedal right?

Yeah, but I'm not planning to use it live... Although I do have a gig May 30th that needs to be pretty loud. And I have a killswitch on my Les Paul BFG, I hardly even mute with the tuner when I'm playing it. The Strat would be more of a problem though, but I guess I could just turn it down. I'll have to experiment with it a little at home first.

[metropolis4]

Originally Posted by Major Tom

... I do also find that for me, the more complicated the rig, the more tweakable (like modelers and such), the more it is a distraction to playing; just never being 100% happy with the tone, always thinking I need to adjust this or that. Also, the more stuff, the more cables, connections, etc. , the more likely something will fail - equipment failure is very distracting to me.

I completely agree with this (even though my setup doesn't reflect it )
It's funny though, I find that usually I think I need more than I actually end up using. I'll bring a pedal board with 5-6 pedals on it to a gig and end up only using two of them

[Hellfighter]

I find that my stereo rig helps to really fill out my sound, it can be amazingly wet, but still have lots of clarity...
Here are some pics.

[Wesley7777]

What Dr Z is that?