how to split your signal

[Bucket Head]

Alright guys, ive been trying to read up on the best way to split your signal for bass and im not quite sure i get what i need to do. im perticularly interested in spliting it as i use alot of distortion sounds, similar to brian cook and geddy lee ect, which from what i read means that they put all the gain and overdrive on the highs and mids and split the lows into the clean signal. As i say however im not sure if thats right and im not sure ow to do it.


so really im asking if anyone knows how to do it and how much its likely to cost and just any other general advice about it



as always i appreciate all the advice i get from bc so thanks in advance

cheers

[G.D.]

There's two simple ways of splitting your signal,
1. Use a splitter pedal an A/B or A/B/Y set up lets you plug your bass in to the pedal, then split it in two and run either one channel or the other or both. The benfit of this is you can run the same signal into two differetn amps or effects set ups or as I do one into my bass rig and then one into the B2M and a midi synth, I can then choose to play bass, midi synth or both at a tap of a footswitch. For your set up you could have two amps with two different settings / effects.

2. A crossover. This takes your basic signal and then divides it into frequency bands, you can then send these different frequencies to different places, for example lows to your 15" cabs and highs to your 10" ones. Most good crossovers are adjustable.

I personally would go with option one - you can pick up a good new A/B/Y for about £70 or a second hand one for about £30

Hope this helps answer your question

GD

[Mr. Foxen]

Boss LS2 is handy as it can mix back together again. But easiest splitter is the Boss TU2, as you may already have one. Other tuners have two outs also. The Sansamp is another pedal that will always be useful and has a parallel out. I've used both previously.

[chris_b]

Get yourself 2 rigs, one clean and one "effected".

[Mr. Foxen]

[quote name='chris_b' post='832972' date='May 10 2010, 12:29 PM']Get yourself 2 rigs, one clean and one "effected".[/quote]

It starts there.

It's still not finished here:

[Bucket Head]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='832992' date='May 10 2010, 12:52 PM']It starts there.

It's still not finished here:

[/quote]




in my dreams hasick gear dude, yea well i got a sans di and a tu-2 funnily enuff but how do i go about doing that then...if i had 2 rigs i send it too one or somthing...or do you think its worth me getting a splitter like GD suggests to make things easier. cheers

[flyfisher]

It's an interesting idea - I'd not heard of applying different effects to different frequencies and mixing the result back.

I wonder if anyone has ever bothered to wire each string pick-up separately, which would allow different effects to be applied to each string. Not sure I could get my head around all the options and possibilities that would allow. Mind you, I don't use any effects anyway so a single pedal would probably confuse me.

[LawrenceH]

[quote name='flyfisher' post='833381' date='May 10 2010, 06:23 PM']It's an interesting idea - I'd not heard of applying different effects to different frequencies and mixing the result back.

I wonder if anyone has ever bothered to wire each string pick-up separately, which would allow different effects to be applied to each string. Not sure I could get my head around all the options and possibilities that would allow. Mind you, I don't use any effects anyway so a single pedal would probably confuse me. [/quote]

I'm pretty sure the grateful dead did that, as did Paul Jackson of the Headhunters. (scoots off on the internet). Yup,

[url="http://pauljacksonbass.com/geraldine.html"]http://pauljacksonbass.com/geraldine.html[/url]

[gelfin]

You could check out the Ashdown Jay Lomenzo hyperdrive. This splits the signal into high and low, applies the desired effect to the highs only and mixes back with the lows on output.

[Ian Savage]

[quote name='flyfisher' post='833381' date='May 10 2010, 06:23 PM']It's an interesting idea - I'd not heard of applying different effects to different frequencies and mixing the result back.[/quote]

In my experience it's the only way of doing it - even with the best bass overdrive/distortion pedals you still end up lacking in the 'wallop' that a good clean low-end will give you if you don't split the signal. I expect some bright spark has come up with a bass distortion that'll allow you to mix the uneffected signal in with a distorted high-end; if they haven't I shall getting my soldering iron out forthwith

[RhysP]

[quote name='flyfisher' post='833381' date='May 10 2010, 06:23 PM']I wonder if anyone has ever bothered to wire each string pick-up separately, which would allow different effects to be applied to each string. Not sure I could get my head around all the options and possibilities that would allow. Mind you, I don't use any effects anyway so a single pedal would probably confuse me. [/quote]

Hamer did this with the quadraphonic version of their 12 string bass in the late 70s.

[velvetkevorkian]

[quote name='flyfisher' post='833381' date='May 10 2010, 06:23 PM']It's an interesting idea - I'd not heard of applying different effects to different frequencies and mixing the result back.

I wonder if anyone has ever bothered to wire each string pick-up separately, which would allow different effects to be applied to each string. Not sure I could get my head around all the options and possibilities that would allow. Mind you, I don't use any effects anyway so a single pedal would probably confuse me. [/quote]
RMC do a splitter box for use with their piezo pickups which can do this, as can things like the Axxon (sp?) midi converters and the Roland V-Bass. All of these require specially wired piezos or a split pickup like a Roland GK-3B.

[Ian Savage]

Mmmm...surely it can't be too hard to split the signal in two with a variable crossover point, with control over the distortion applied to the high-end of the signal, which can be mixed into the output signal - three knobs maximum! I'm getting my design-y tools out.....

[EmaTheMirror]

have a look at the EH bass big muff as well... I have it and for what you've written it might come helpful

p.s. it has a separate dry output as well for bi-amping, going to the desk and so on, but it can also send both dry and wet signals blended in a single output in case you have just one amp to feed...

[Mr. Foxen]

[quote name='Bucket Head' post='833055' date='May 10 2010, 01:39 PM']in my dreams hasick gear dude, yea well i got a sans di and a tu-2 funnily enuff but how do i go about doing that then...if i had 2 rigs i send it too one or somthing...or do you think its worth me getting a splitter like GD suggests to make things easier. cheers[/quote]

The sansamp has a line out or parallel out next to the input, plug in there, and you have a clean signal to send through your other effects, the TU2 also has a second out, one mutes and one doesn't. It's mixing back together that is fun, I have a mini mixer going that sort of works, but it clips kinda easily, if you use loud pedals, think the input impedance is too low. Shoot a pm if you want it, it will be cheap.