What's the deal with mixing/blending multiple amps? (Page 1 of 2)

Ask and ye shall receive!  There are many ways to blend and run multiple amps for different purposes.  First being to have different amps set up for clean, dirty, and leads tones.  You can run two of the same (or similar) type of amp together for stereo effects or a wet/dry/wet rig.  Joe (and many others) run amps of different gain structures and EQ settings for a fuller tone.  Some amps have a more mid "scooped" EQ like most Fender type amps and modern Marshalls.  Joe likes to run a midrange heavy amp such as a Two-Rock, Fuchs, or Carol Ann up the middle of that tone.  Most Dumble based amps do this very well.  You can also play around with effects when messing with more than one amp.  I like to spread my reverb and delay apart for a bigger sound.  A stereo tremolo sounds huge and a chorus pedal on one amp can really fatten a distorted tone.  If you have any questions, there are a lot of guys including myself who have experience with amp blending on this forum.  Be careful with amp blending...it can be addicting!

inderstand the benefits and such, i just dont know how to set it up. is there like, a special a/b type i need to get with like, 1 input and 2 outputs that runs both outputs at the same time?

Ahhh gotcha.  It really depends on what you want to do.  I use a Voodoo Lab Amp Selector pedal that allows me to mix and match up to 4 amps in any configuration.  It has ground lifts to prevent/eliminate and grounding issues that may occur when you blend amps.

For the most part you will need a decent ABY pedal such as the aformentioned Voodoo Lab but others are very nice as well.  Lehle, Radial Engineering, Whirlwind, and Framptone make some very nice stuff.  Again, ground lifts are REALLY helpful.

If you are running combos you don't have to really worry about phasing issues and other problems that may occur with heads.  However if you are wanting to use 2 or more heads you need to have either a stereo cab or 2 seperate cabinets.  I used 2 100w heads into a stereo 4x12 Fender cab rated at 300w.  So I had 50w to spare on each side without risking hurting my speakers or amplifiers.  When you run 4x12 cab in stereo keep in mind you are basically veritcally splitting it into 2 2x12 columns.  MAKE SURE the speakers have ample wattage ratings.  Ohms selection is also important.  I would run my heads at 8ohms a piece into the cab (each set of 12's at 8ohms as well).

It sounds complicated but really all you need is a guitar, a cord to plug into the ABY pedal of your choice, and two  long cables to plug into your amps.  You can experiment with placing overdrives before or after the ABY for different results.  Joe has mentioned that he likes to sometimes push an amp with a mid heavy Tubescreamer type pedal on one amp only to make the mids stand out (usually on Marshall plexi type amps).  That was before he got the midboost mod on his Category 5 plexis.  Good luck and feel free to ask any more questions!

+1 on the framptone.  The three banger is nice, allows me to run three amps (four if I use the tuner out).  I have one metal scooped, one mid range direct input, and one clean.  Here's the fun part I can sound like three guitarists. I will start a song with one amp and bring the other two in later, like a two guitar band....cool. In a one guitar band it provides tons of flexibility and interest.  I have even been adding my clean tone to shred solos just slightly in the background, really gets the notes to pop. 

Also the framptone will allow you to blend or switch...I prefer to blend.  The "how" is easy, max out the credit card and just start turning knobs...kinda.  Takes a while to figure out which hook ups work best and what amps need what pedals.  One amp at a time, then blend the levels.

heres another question about amp blending... specifically more than 2 amps (ala joe's rig). In my head i've got an idea but instead of 4 amps, its just 3. I know i'll need the whirlwind ABY, but as far as the lehle joe uses the 3@1 or something like that (i dont know if thats the right one) but since ill only be switching between two amps, what pedal could i used instead?

Thanks,
Logan

The Voodoo Labs Amp switcher lets you blend the relative volumes of up to four amps, plus it has the ground lift and is dead quiet in operation and switching. LEDs let you know which amps are "on". In addition, it has a separate tuner out so that it's out of your signal path. Not as familiar with the Framptone.

http://www.thegigrig.com/acatalog/TheGi … Black.html

This looks amazing...

I would love to do the double amp thing with my 68 Bassman and my Jubilee and I have played around with it and its awsome. BUT how do you guys gig out with these things? Thats a lot of gear to take, we play mostly 45 - Hour shows (Originals) and man I don't know what some of these sound guys would say or do if I asked for two mics.

So do you guys bring you own mics and mixers for this rigs or do you have no problems with the sound guys? OR are you not playing out live with these rigs?