Splitting before my preamp

[coasterbass]

Morning,

I'm currently playing around with some options regarding my gear and I wondered what people's opinions were on a couple of those options.

Basically I'm contemplating running both my Eden Preamp and Ampeg SVP in parallel, creating two outputs to the desk/a two channel poweramp and cabs. I run some effects and I'd add these in to one of the effects loops. The end goal would be a combined bass sound that does clean and dirty, and an effects chain that has an unaffected sound maintaining the lows.
Now my questions really begin with a) is this dumb/more hassle than its worth; and how do I do this?

I know Boss have their LS2 line selector, but do these add noise/reduce gain and tone before it hits my amps?
Are there other ways of splitting the signal? Are there any wireless boxes out there that have twin unbalanced outputs?

Any thoughts guys?

[BOD2]

My initial thought is that it might be more trouble than it's worth ....BUT.... half the fun of having gear is trying it out in different combinations to see what works best.

You need a A/B/Y type of box that splits one signal into two. There can be some pitfalls with this type of device - notably the potential for ground loops and the loss of signal strength split between two preamps.

Have a look here [url="http://www.monkeyfx.co.uk/routers.html"]Monkey FX[/url] as I've seen these devices highly rated. It might even be worth contacting them directly with your question as they'll be expert in this type of application (I'm also sure that the man behind Monkey FX was a regular on a previous incarnation of basschat).

Ask around and try a Google search on A/B/Y splitters.

[coasterbass]

Cheers for that - will give it a try.

[Dood]

I'm just running out the door.. but a thought I would post quickly.. Do try it, however check for 'phasing' issues when the two are combined without effects. Sometimes you can be left with a hollow, muffled, bass less or bass heavy sound in comaprison to the straight A/B'd signals. this is due to the signals being 'out of phase' with each other when you mix them back together. I have found that the worst effect is usually encountered mixing valve preamps with solidstate ones. Or even worse mixing a digital processor in parallel, as most have a good 2-4ms signal delay through the D/A convertors, which also forces the signal out of phase with a direct signal.

Errrmmm.. all a bit confusing as I haven't explained it a s clearly as I could.. the advice would be to 'suck it and see'.. if it sounds good, then it shouldnt be a problem. It will be down to how you mix the signals and how easily it can be done.

[stevebasshead]

I think you can do it without an A/B/Y box - plug directly into the SVP and take a line from the tuner out on the back into your Eden's input. This should provide [i]the same [/i]signal that you've sent to the SVP in the same way as splitting the signal, as to quote from the manual: "This jack is a direct output from the instrument. It is the only output that stays active when the Mute switch is depressed." (Poor Mute switch, give it some prozac!! )

Gotta be worth a try.

edit to say: The Tuner out should be pre-Eq etc, the only thing I'm not sure about is whether the SVP's input gain knob affects how strong the signal going out of the tuner out is. You'll just need to be aware when you try it, start low and see what happens.

Edited May 7, 2008 by stevebasshead