bi-amping (well kind of) question

[BNB71]

Hello Basschatters

I'm a noob in these parts and may be a about to ask a stupid question so if you must flame me please do it politely!

Been thinking about bi-amping but can't currently afford a second rig. I was wondering if I could achieve the same/similar effect by running my dry signal through the pre-amp section of my head as normal and using a stomp box pre-amp and running that into the effects return so I'm just running it through the power amp section.

Would it work? Would I blow stuff up/create a black hole/generally bring about the end of the world?

Any advice that saves me the cost of a new rig (either additional or replacing the smoking remains of my current one) gratefully recieved

[obbm]

It depends on whether your current amp allows you to mix the effects return into the signal chain or whether it just cuts it off.

[xgsjx]

From the sound of what you say, I think you're misinterpreting what Bi-amping is.
Bi amping is using one amp to run low frequencies & one amp to run higher frequencies.
Simplest method is to get a small guitar combo & put it on top of your rig.

What are you looking to achieve? We (the BC community) can work on options from there.

[BNB71]

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1359364141' post='1953433']
From the sound of what you say, I think you're misinterpreting what Bi-amping is.
Bi amping is using one amp to run low frequencies & one amp to run higher frequencies.
Simplest method is to get a small guitar combo & put it on top of your rig.

What are you looking to achieve? We (the BC community) can work on options from there.
[/quote]

Hi xgsjx

Maybe confused things by just differentiating dry/effected, but was thinking of using the EQ on each pre amp to run lows dry and top end on the wet signal, hence not just blending dry & wet signals back into a single pre-amp. It might sound like death (in a bad way) of course. The guitar combo idea is a consideration though - it might encourage me to play my guitar more at home too (or should I not say that here?)

Oh and I basically just want to keep my lows and give myself as much control as possible in the battle against 2 guitarists going ape

[Mr. Foxen]

Generally dual amping will give you a bassist and guitarist at once sort of sound, which is more suited to single guitar bands. A Boss LS2 pedal is the easy solution to mixing up wet and dry signals, you can balance them with the control knobs. Thing is, in the place where the signals over lap, you can get a whole mess of phase fun that notches your signal weirdly, best keeping stuff fairly separated, a really thin trebly tone and a ill defined muddy tone tend to combine better than two sounding ok independently ones.

[Wiggybass]

I've spent years fiddling about with dual-path signal systems. The simplest way of doing it with some effectiveness that I've found so far is to use a SansAmp Bass Driver and a Boss LS2 (as mentioned above), switched to 2-in / 1 -out mode. The bass goes into the SABD and its main (wet) output goes into one input of the LS2. The parallel output of the SABD goes into the other input on the LS2, then the output of the LS2 goes into the amp. This gives you a combination of the pure, dry bass sound and the effected output of the SABD which can be blended together using the rotaries as you prefer, then the whole sound can be EQ'd (if necessary) on your amp. Despite my high hopes, it didn't make me sound like Geddy Lee.

My latest incarnation of this project (which frankly is getting out of hand) goes like this: I use the unbalanced wet and dry outputs from a SansAmp RBI which is racked with a Mark Bass head. The dry output goes into an EBS compressor (just to add some level), then into an EBS chorus (because I had space on the pedalboard), then into one input on an LS2. The wet output from the RBI goes into an EBS overdrive, then into the other input of the LS2. The output from that goes into aTU2 tuner and from there into the amp.

Haven't had a chance to gig it yet but it's fairly promising. The clarity and punch comes from the overdriven side, then I can dial in or out as much 'body' as I want using the dry channel control on the LS2. It's quite different from using low frequency EQ on the amp because the 'body' of the racket is not distorted. Also, having the chorus only on the dry channel means that it adds some interest and a different, usable sound because it's quite subtle and not splashed all over everything.

I still don't sound like Geddy Lee though.

Edited February 2, 2013 by Wiggybass