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"Ghetto Bi-amping" - Using a guitar amp AND a bass amp - good idea?


Alexpeterkane
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Afternoon all,

In my ongoing quest to get the bass distortion sound in my head, I've recently started gigging with the below setup:

Warwick Corvette 5 --> EBS HD350 -->peavey 2x10"
Line out from rear of bass head --> Peavey Studio Pro 112 (guitar amp)

Is this heresy? I've tried all sorts of bass distortion effects and I can never keep the low end at the same time, and keep it clear. If money wasn't an object, I'd probably use another bass amp instead, but I've come to like the high-end from the peavey. But money IS a limitin factor, so I'm using stuff I've got laying around.
The Peavey has a clean and dirty channel, which is footswitchable. The rest of my effects (chorus, delay, octaver, auto-wah) are on an effects loop through the guitar amp.

Thoughts/ideas/concerns/criticism is throughly welcomed!

Alex Peter Kane

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[quote name='Alexpeterkane' timestamp='1402315802' post='2471976']
Is this heresy?
[/quote]

No, I believe Chris Squire and others did it years ago. I think he used two Fender Twin Reverbs at one point.

Edit: This from his website:

'Chris’s rig…Marshall 100 watt head with a Marshall 4 x 12 speaker cabinet, two Ampeg SVT-2 Pro heads, two SVT- 8 x10 speaker cabinets, an SWR amplifier head for the Bass Pedals, and an SWR 2 x 15 speaker cabinet. Effects wise – a Samson stereo radio and receiver, a Sound Sculpture, which is a switching matrix to blend the effects together, a spare one, a Hush Unit, then the effects which are a Maestro Fuzz Unit, a custom built tremolo, an TC Electronics Chorus. On the bottom shelf we have a TC Reverb, a TC Delay, and a Mutron pedal from the 70's.'

Edited by discreet
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I'd want to keep the bass low pretty clean and just set the distortion or effect above a certain frequency.
I would guess your Heath Robinson idea could work as well as any... you'd still want to low end producing a
a ragged egde but not at the expense of the bottom so it depends where you can effect a cross-over.

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If I had transport more than a ford fiesta, I'd be tempted to emulate Mr Squire's ridiculous rig, but needs must!
I've used an MXR blowtorch that has a blend control, I assume it's a freq.crossover of sorts, it didn't quite maintain the low/clarity I was after.
I'll have to try that brimstone pedal, it looks like a wizard made it!!!

cheers for the input, guys.

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[quote name='Alexpeterkane' timestamp='1402324384' post='2472142']
If I had transport more than a ford fiesta, I'd be tempted to emulate Mr Squire's ridiculous rig, but needs must!
[/quote]

:lol:[size=4] Quite - I'm guessing he doesn't have to haul any of it himself...[/size]

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Guest bassman7755

Generally blend controls are just a straight wet/dry mix unlike the crossover pedal I linked to above which has dual channels with a frequency split.

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[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1402316668' post='2471988']
No, I believe Chris Squire and others did it years ago. I think he used two Fender Twin Reverbs at one point.

Edit: This from his website:

'Chris’s rig…Marshall 100 watt head with a Marshall 4 x 12 speaker cabinet, two Ampeg SVT-2 Pro heads, two SVT- 8 x10 speaker cabinets, an SWR amplifier head for the Bass Pedals, and an SWR 2 x 15 speaker cabinet. Effects wise – a Samson stereo radio and receiver, a Sound Sculpture, which is a switching matrix to blend the effects together, a spare one, a Hush Unit, then the effects which are a Maestro Fuzz Unit, a custom built tremolo, an TC Electronics Chorus. On the bottom shelf we have a TC Reverb, a TC Delay, and a Mutron pedal from the 70's.'
[/quote]He did use a Twin in the studio for the distortion on the first album. If I wanted that sound today I'd run a regular bass rig plus a 1x10 or 1x12 guitar combo.

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Yes this will work fine. I believe Duff McKagan has also done the same with a marshall head/combo to add bite to his recorded signal in the studio.

You won't need a cross over as most guitar amplifiers featuring a drive channel have a natural low end roll off at the input to stop distortion sounding too muddy. This will also serve to protect the rest of the amp from bass frequencies - not that it will cause much of a problem anyway!

Hope this helps - and yes, I've done something similar myself too! I leave the signal through the bass amp clean and full range, adding effects and distortion via another amplifier does mean that your lows remain intact.

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[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1402409647' post='2473155']
I've often been tempted to try running an Orange Tiny Terror alongside my Terror Bass... Maybe one day!
[/quote]

That`s a nice idea Danny, Orange Guitar Terror combo with a bass rig. Easily portable enough, and plenty loud as well. I may well try it out, as our guitarist has just bought himself one. I`ll give him a couple of weeks to get used to it, then try it out.

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[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1402417929' post='2473298']
Oli Foxen used to do this kind of thing. Not sure what happened to him, don't think he's posted here for a while.
[/quote]

He's active on his blog and facebook. He just got totally fed up with Basschat. Can't imagine why.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ampstack/351966881575839
[url="http://ampstack.wordpress.com/"]http://ampstack.wordpress.com/[/url]

Edited by discreet
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I like the idea . If your guitar speaker is in an open-back combo, that will be the weak point. Chris Squire's Marshall 412 could handle full-range clean bass guitar at a moderate level if called upon to do so. Look for a small 110 0r 112 bass speaker like an Ashdown Mibass 10 or Mibass 12. Also Eden EX12. Or just let it eat!

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I've done this. Great if you're playing in a one or no guitar band also for using effects that don't play well with bass. Using a couple of eq pedals or a crossover also really helps keep the two sounds seperated which stops muddyness.
My last rock recording setup consisted of a clean DI, a post eq bass DI then an over driven fender twin

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Always done this by running the bass straight into bass rig and into a marshall stack, been my preferred sound for years, blends and frequency crossing stuff just doesn't do it for me. Even dabbled in Tri amping just because I could...

Basically found out I like a full range sound with a full range distortion over it, and I love that low end roll off low end grind/crunch you get from a bass through a guitar amp. Maybe it's because that's how I first played bass before I owned a bass amp, always played bass through my brothers Marshall and I knew I'd be thumped if I touched any of the controls hah!

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[quote name='AttitudeCastle' timestamp='1402700905' post='2476241']
Always done this by running the bass straight into bass rig and into a marshall stack, been my preferred sound for years, blends and frequency crossing stuff just doesn't do it for me. Even dabbled in Tri amping just because I could...

Basically found out I like a full range sound with a full range distortion over it, and I love that low end roll off low end grind/crunch you get from a bass through a guitar amp. Maybe it's because that's how I first played bass before I owned a bass amp, always played bass through my brothers Marshall and I knew I'd be thumped if I touched any of the controls hah!
[/quote]

Same when I started all I had was my old guitar stuff so played through a hulking orange and matching 4x12.
The full range bass signal running parrallel to a overdriven guitar amp does sound the nuts but I'll be bug gated if I'm carrying all that crap.

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[quote name='Prime_BASS' timestamp='1402907768' post='2477652']
Same when I started all I had was my old guitar stuff so played through a hulking orange and matching 4x12.
The full range bass signal running parrallel to a overdriven guitar amp does sound the nuts but I'll be bug gated if I'm carrying all that crap.
[/quote]

Yeah, I generally run a single signal chain just for convenience, if there is a spare guitar rig set up on stage I always ask if I can use it (especially if it's the house stuff not being used but is still set up!) Often people say yes and it's lots of fun ;)

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For a few years, I used a Roland Bass Cube60 (the old orangey coloured ones) with my Sessionette75 on top on clean, with the bass rolled off a bit, fed from the Cube's line-out. The whole thing didn't have massive bass obv, but a fantastic snap for punk-funk (think RHCP before they were around). The top end made it cut through enough to gig. Never damaged the guitar amp, still using it!

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