redbandit599 Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Hi all First up, I'm not planning on doing this anytime soon.There's two guitarists in one of my bands and three in the other, but to be honest I'd prefer playing with one in which case I may consider this approach for during solos and heavy bits. But I've often wondered what it'd be like to split my signal and switch it occassionally into a small guitar combo (as well as maintaining the 'normal' bass rig.) I've seen a few pro players with what looks like something like this set up. Just interested if anyone has ever played around with it, and if so if it was any good and how you did it? Cheers Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JapanAxe Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 I tend to avoid anything that involves taking extra stuff to gigs, especially big heavy boxy things. Plus you'll probably need a gadget to prevent an earth loop. Is there really a plus side to this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzyvee Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 (edited) I too try to avoid taking extra stuff to gigs. It can be a hassle so I've only tried this at home. My bass can provide individual pickup outputs and/or combined pickup output from its external power supply so I can put both pickups through my mesa bass rig in mono, then also take a signal from the bridge pickup into my Roland JC120 which did produce a great sound and gave more clarity to the top end without getting harsh but you do have to be very careful of levels. If you have a crossover in your rig you can also take the hight frequency out into a guitar amp and keep the bottom end in a bass cab. I'm more of an in the pocket groove player rather than a soloist so at the moment I have more need to keep the bottom end under control and splitting into a guitar amp would not be any use to me live. Mono is good enough. Jazzyvee Edited September 13, 2013 by jazzyvee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 I have a guitar rig along with the bass rig. Drive and definition from that, just the girth from the bass rig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 There's plenty of pedals that can split your signal & then you can use effects on the line to the guitar amp. Not a cheap option, but the Moog Bass Murf would be a good splitter pedal for this purpose as one channel can have just lows & the other everything else (I use it, but sum the signals back together to the one amp). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
operative451 Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 I'm using two allegedly guitar combos - one is little and the other, er, bigger.. ;D I split the signal using my behringer ultra-g direct box, the one with the 4x12 simulator - which stops the little amp exploding! Into the ultra-g goes fuzz and possibly tremelo and/or chorus depending on what mood i'm in! Then the main DI output goes to the little amp. The 'direct/speaker' output then goes into wah and my zoom 505 and into the bigger amp. The zoom can be muted, or i have an expression pedal for it that acts as a volume pedal when its not being wah or whammy. It makes a good noise! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodyratm Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 Thought about looking at a pedal to cover this base? Maybe the Akai UniBass? or EH Micro Bass Synth? just to add a high octave to your signal? Alternatively, what I do is play the bass line higher - stick an octave (down!) and fuzz on. pretty much sounds like extra layer of instrument Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbandit599 Posted September 13, 2013 Author Share Posted September 13, 2013 I had a Unibass for a while, it worked as described and tracked well etc. Just sounded a bit synthetic, better when I ran it through the PA and and outboard amp sim pedal, but still not great. The octave and fuzz thing seems pretty close when I've tried it. Operative 451, your rig sounds close to what I was thinking of, though a bit more complex. I thought maybe about just line out from the bass rig to the extra amp and have a mute switch for that amp. Cheers all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom skool Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 (edited) I've thought about doing it also, to fill things out while our guitarist is soloing. I've done it at home using my arion tuner which has two outs. One of the outs mutes when you stomp on it so I plug that one into my guitar amp (the other to bass amp)and then I can turn it on and off. I think I thought about doing it after seeing motorhead. During the solos I was convinced they must have a hidden second guitarist. Then in between songs I heard Lemmy hit a few notes and I realized it was just all him! I just use a bass big muff pi for now though Edited September 18, 2013 by tom skool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyberBass Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 Another option would be the Fishman Fission Bass Powerchord, totally designed for the single guitarist solo situation. Tracking is good as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 I have a habit of practicing through my guitar amp at home (quietly!), and I do think guitar speakers often have something interesting sounding going on the upper mids which I like. I presume it's some kind of cone breakup thing which is designed out of more capable bass speakers. For the gigs I do though, I can't imagine getting sound guys to co-operate with a dual amp setup. Most of them just want a DI in front of the amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
operative451 Posted December 3, 2013 Share Posted December 3, 2013 Additional n this - my 'bigger' amp gives a very 'stranglers' type tone with the DI box in front (basically does the same job as that thumpinator thingie people talk about on here sometimes). It sounds bloimin great and shakes my kitchen happily. Speaker looks fine so far... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maude Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 [quote name='redbandit599' timestamp='1379080454' post='2208474'] I had a Unibass for a while, it worked as described and tracked well etc. Just sounded a bit synthetic, better when I ran it through the PA and and outboard amp sim pedal, but still not great. [/quote] I used to use Unibass for this too, I didn't bother with the distortion setting on the pedal as I didn't like it but used a guitar amp to get my drive instead. Embarrassing rig confession time, I ran the dry bass through a bi-amped rig with the highs going through a 4x12 and the lows through a 2x15, and the octave up plus 5th above setting on the Unibass through a Line 6 head running a 4x12. Absolute overkill but for Sabbathesque power chords it was fantastic. My back now hurts me nearly as much as my ears . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_the_bass Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 [quote name='CyberBass' timestamp='1385847445' post='2292898'] Another option would be the Fishman Fission Bass Powerchord, totally designed for the single guitarist solo situation. Tracking is good as well. [/quote] Was also going to suggest this piece of kit. Never had chance to try one out but the YouTube videos got me really wanting one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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