Bi-amping. Who's doing it?

[BigPigPeaches]

Please describe your setup, as much detail as possible. What kind of sound are you getting? Thanks.

[BigPigPeaches]

And I'm only looking for answers from people on this board...not answers about pro players who bi-amp their rigs.

[max maroon]

Soo...

 

..You're BiAmpCurious;)

 

 

[catphish]

FYI, I am NOT doing it.

 

[BigPigPeaches]

FYI, I am NOT doing it.

 

May both of you see corn in your poo at a time when you haven't eaten corn for at least 7 days.

[JeffBass]

I am. Carvin BX1200 with AMP1 into a Dr. Bass 112LF (low freq) and AMP2 into a Dr. Bass 1260 (3-way).

Each amp is rated;

275w RMS @ 8 ohms (the way I'm running it).

400w RMS @ 4 ohms.

600w RMS @ 2 ohms.

1200w RMS bridged @ 4 ohms.

[max maroon]

May both of you see corn in your poo at a time when you haven't eaten corn for at least 7 days.

 

 

Yes, I Win!

 

 

...the closest I've come to biamping was splitting my signal into a Peavey guitar combo on top of a Peavey bass amp. I also nailed a piece of plywood over 80% of the front of the bass amp (I figured I'd let it "breathe":facepalm:)

I gigged with this setup for aboot a year:facepalm:

[blueyedmule]

Yamaha Attitude II, front pickup into Mesa/Boogie 400+, then to an Eden 1x15. P pickup into an Ampeg SVP-BSP, then to a Mackie 1400i, then to a Bag End 4x10.

 

You know what I'm after, man. Don't make me say it. And no, it ain't it. Most days I just plug both outs into the Boogie, then to the two cabs. That's fun enough on it's own.

[L-1329]

The best ballsy rock tone I've ever gotten is from a bi-amp setup. I used my Reverend 5L's, signal split. One side to my GBE750 and then to my SWR 412, all my normal bass eq and settings. The other side I ran into my Rectoverb and then to my SWR 212, for the overdriven bass tone. Together they sounded absolutely incredible. I have been trying to use my Paralooper pedal and some sort of overdrive pedal to replicate this setup with a mono head and cab rig, but have yet to find a drive pedal that is acceptable. As it is, the Rectoverb is basically thebest, biggest, and heaviest bass overdrive pedal I've ever used.

[Hamer-Bass-Head]

he's the only one biamping here so far....

dual- amping (for lack of a better term isn't the same thing,

but it is also what I am doing. I've Biamped with a peavey MK3 w/

a jbl 2x15" scoop and a powered PV 2x10 for the highs, and when I regained my sanity I used a gk800RB with a community 2x15 and a 2x12 celestion

guitar cab, input via a bluetube II:love: Now THAT was a cool rig.....

[blueyedmule]

 

he's the only one biamping here so far.... dual- amping (for lack of a better term isn't the same thing, but it is also what I am doing. I've Biamped with a peavey MK3 w/ a jbl 2x15" scoop and a powered PV 2x10 for the highs, and when I regained my sanity I used a gk800RB with a community 2x15 and a 2x12 celestion guitar cab, input via a bluetube II:love: Now THAT was a cool rig.....

 

 

As in, using a crossover to split different frequencies to different sound chains?

[JeffBass]

Yamaha Attitude II, front pickup into Mesa/Boogie 400+, then to an Eden 1x15. P pickup into an Ampeg SVP-BSP, then to a Mackie 1400i, then to a Bag End 4x10. You know what I'm after, man. Don't make me say it. And no, it ain't it. Most days I just plug both outs into the Boogie, then to the two cabs. That's fun enough on it's own.

 

That sounds lethal but tell me what it is you're going for?

[blueyedmule]

That sounds lethal but tell me what it is you're going for?

 

Something similar to Billy Sheehan's wall-o-sound. I don't think I'll get there and that's ok, in the mean time I'm finding my own way with this bass and the gear I have. I'd like:

 

1) A big, rump-shakin' bottom-end

2) Junkyard snarlin' mids or low-mids that aren't too harsh

3) Highs that tend towards harmonics if they ring too long

 

One of the things that really helped was just getting the proper strings on. For all I normally love nickels, steel strings just have more of what I'm looking for as far as this bass goes. I put on Billy's signature .110-.043 Rotosounds in steel and that made a huge difference.

[Hamer-Bass-Head]

I am using a pod x3 live to do my dual amp sounds.

I love the sound of it though so I don't mind not carrying

all that gear! :poke:

[Renfield]

I have biamped properly.

I have biamped with EQ only.

I have played in stereo.

I have played wet/dry with effects.

These are all very different things.

 

What do you need to know? I am probably the closest thing to an expert on the topic.

[Optimus Prime]

Yeah, I tried biamping with my original Marshall Guv'nor going into an Ashdown 210 combo and a clean/octave down signal going to a 410 Ampeg rig. Sounded unbalanced. I believe I made a thread about it. There's also a {censored}ty soundclip if I can find it.

 

Here's a picture of the rig when I did the experiment.

 

 

I'd post the audio. But the quality is awful. And it's me just messing around for 5 minutes. I also totally butcher an Incubus song while playing with the fuzz. Ah, what the hell?

 

I sent the dry output of the MicroPOG through the rest of my board and to my Ashdown MAG 210 combo, the effect output of the POG got sent to my Ampeg V2/410 rig. The MicroPOG had the dry and sub-octave cranked for most of the time and I think at one point I cut it to all sub-octave. I also played around with dry to the Ampeg and Guv'nor to the Ashdown. Anyway, the recording sucks. I set my laptop about 5 ft. away from everything and used Audacity with my computers microphone. I don't think anything useful came out of this experiment.

 

http://media.putfile.com/Biamp-experiment-Guvnor-and-MicroPOG

[rpsands]

I have found that good quality 3-way cabs sound way better than biamping. Almost always a frequency hole somewhere. I'd almost always rather just run the cabs all full range, or get properly crossed over cabinets.

 

If you were going to do it, I would triamp rather than biamp, and build cabinets specific to the ranges I was going for.

 

For instance--

Highs/high mids: An array of those 4.5" galaxy high drivers in a box with one horn high-passed at like 5000hz or something (horn is optional, I think those Galaxy things go up to 10khz OK supposedly)

Mids: A 2x10 with Eminence whizzer cones or possibly those nice B&C or Soundtech mid drivers, crossed over at like 150-200hz and like 1200hz? Heck if I know for sure.

Lows: A Kappalite 3015LF crossed over at 150-200hz

 

Make yourself a stack like that, then get a three way crossover and three poweramps, and you're set

 

Or you could just buy a couple nice 3-way cabs and call it good. Biamping is crazy expensive and unnecessary for bass.

[blueyedmule]

 

I have found that good quality 3-way cabs sound way better than biamping. Almost always a frequency hole somewhere. I'd almost always rather just run the cabs all full range, or get properly crossed over cabinets.

 

 

Interesting you should mention it, I find that the mudbucker has a weak open E that is filled in by the P pickup. If I cut the bass off the P in an effort to really have it the midrange I definitely lose out. I do find I have to let the P fill back in or my open E is weak, and who wants a weak open E? Not ME.

 

Now, if I use the detuner to drop to D, it's fine open-stringed. I dunno if that might also be a function of the .110 e string rather than more typical .105. I don't think so, but definitely I'm not sure wassup essackly.

[bnyswonger]

I use two amps w/ no crossover. They sound perfect together.

 

SVT > 2 single 15" JBL cabs; marshall superlead > 2x12 celestion sealed box.

[wades_keys]

I used to run a no-crossover biamp setup:

Sansamp RBI into one CH1 of an EP2500 Power Amp, to an Ampeg 4x10

 

The uneffected out from the RBI went into an RX1602 rackmount line mixer (to raise the signal level) and that went to CH2, feeding a Kustom 1x15.

 

Sounded pretty good, but that 1x15 is a beast to move around.

 

Now I'm running the RBI to ch1 on the 1602, and the uneffected to ch2, so I can blend the sansamp with a dry signal and send it all to CH1 of the power amp.

 

It's the best tone I've ever gotten from the sansamp - you can hear it here, using my 2x10 "no-name" cab with eminence speakers:

 

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7209981

[Incubitabus]

I fake it using my Paralooper, but strictly for the benefits of running the bass signal without any effects on it. It's imperfect because both signals ultimately run through the same speakers, but it does clean up my low end quite a bit better than any other system I've ever used.

[Renfield]

 

I use two amps w/ no crossover. They sound perfect together. SVT > 2 single 15" JBL cabs; marshall superlead > 2x12 celestion sealed box.

 

 

Do you roll out any EQ on the highs or lows or are the still EQ'd on their own as full range and it's just a big complimentary sound?

[bnyswonger]

Do you roll out any EQ on the highs or lows or are the still EQ'd on their own as full range and it's just a big complimentary sound?

 

I don't try to get any real lows out of the marshall - the 12"s are stock guitar celestions. They roll off naturally.

 

Ditto the 15"s on the other end - they just kind of naturally taper off on the high end.

 

I've tried using one amp with a built in crossover on both cabs (SVT Pro-4)- sounded awful.

 

Doing it the way I do, if you spectrum analyzed it I'm probably heavy on mids...but I don't have a problem with that at all.

[Renfield]

I don't try to get any real lows out of the marshall - the 12"s are stock guitar celestions. They roll off naturally. Ditto the 15"s on the other end - they just kind of naturally taper off on the high end. I've tried using one amp with a built in crossover on both cabs (SVT Pro-4)- sounded awful. Doing it the way I do, if you spectrum analyzed it I'm probably heavy on mids...but I don't have a problem with that at all.

 

Cool. In my previous description of rigs I have utilized, this would fall under the stereo category. Two different rigs being run in full range together.

 

My present set up is this, a 1x15 run clean only from a hybrid head (Yorkville XS400H) and a 1x12 which sees all my effects, powered by a Traynor YBA-1 all tube head. Both EQ'd for full range, but both have natural tones to them that define their roles best. And mid heavy is not at all a bad thing.

[rcz]

i would probably call it dual mono before i called it stereo. it's not like it's utilizing any spatial effects, which is the purpose of stereo.

 

i've played around with my peavey classic 400 head powering a bergantino HT-112 as well as a peavey classic 50 212 combo. interesting results, though nothing game changing.

 

robb.