I was curious how you guys and girls use the stereo output on your bass?
How often do you use it? And do you have specific examples of how you use it?
Do you send the bridge pickup to a guitar amp and the neck to a bass amp? or the other way around? I know everything is possible but what works the best for you in real life?

When I used to use a F-2B with two-channel power amp, I would send each pickup to a separate channel on the F-2B, mix separately to taste, send each F-2B output to a separate channel in the power amp, then each pickup out to separate bass cabs.   I don't do that much anymore since I have started using smaller and lighter amp heads.  That said, I can still do that with my two channel Walter Woods amp head if I want to. 

You're getting to the fun part, Barend.

I don't have Series basses anymore but when I did, I found that trying to use them in stereo for live performances was troublesome. That, and for guys like me playing beer joints and the occasional music festival, it just isn't important. Nobody really cares in a beer joint, and no soundcrew at a music festival wants to fuss with that. They want to hand me a cable and a DI box, like the other 11 bands they have to set up today. I get it.

At my home practice space, that's my world though. I get to sound like I want to in here. And these folks here, they'll make you do crazy things to get there. Here's what I ended up with. Keep in mind, since I let the Series basses go, I've replaced the DS-5R unit with a Furman power conditioner and at the head of the signal chain a stereo chorus effect pedal that splits the mono bass signal into two mono outputs, one going to each input on the F-2B preamp. (I could do the same thing with an ABY pedal, but I like a bit of chorus effect. And it's easy to toggle off without losing the split.) From there;

Blue output to F-2B Ch1 input
Red output to F-2B Ch2 input

F-2B output A to SF-2 input A
F-2B output B to SF-2 input B

SF-2 Ch A is highpassed, Ch B is lowpassed.

SF-2 output A to power amp Ch1

SF-2 output B to power amp Ch2

The left bank of speakers connected to Ch1 contains a big boxed B15 Avatar loaded with a LF Eminence speaker, and an Avatar 112 on top of it with the crossover bypassed to the high frequency horn. This is essentially the highpassed lower frequency side, though it'd be just fine as a stand alone stack.

The right bank connected to Ch2 is a mirrored pair of Avatar SB 126's. In addition to the 12" LF drivers, they have 6" high frequency speakers instead of horns and adjustable crossovers. I've left these crossovers open, so higher frequencies are available. Again, this is what the lowpass channel is assigned to but sounds just fine by itself as stand-alone. Simply readjust.

There are a bunch of threads here regarding going stereo... it comes up a lot... and these guys really know how to get the best of it. Scan around this section and you'll find more.

Thank you both! Yes, I will have a look at older topics about this as well.

I am especially interested in the usage of the different pickups to different amps or effects.
My Wal basses have both a DI and XLR out which I can send to two separate amps or channels on my soundcard. But it can not send each pickup separately. Wonder how much difference that would make. I mean the difference between sending both pickups together together to two amps (like on the Wal) or sending each pickup separate to two amps (like on Alembic series basses).
I think that will be especially useful for recordings. But also curious how Stanley Clarke does it exactly, both live and in the studio.

Your specific mention of mixing guitar & bass amps put me in mind of John Cipollina's rig; of course, he played guitar not bass, but:
Neck p/up to 2 Standel solid state 2X15 bass amps, and bridge p/up to a Twin Reverb & a Dual Showman head (which drove 6 Wurlitzer horns).

He gave his reasoning in my favorite rig-explanation statement ever; "I like solid state on the lows for the quick response, and tubes on the highs to get that rodent-gnawing distortion."

Peter

i'm in the stereo camp, but imho it's not really stereo unless ya set yer speakers up that way.  to me it's more like split pickups mode.  i've found over the years if ya want to make the overtones from yer bridge pickup snap then it's gotta have its own signal path.  here's how i do it live with my stereo basses.  it especially favors the stereo fretless i use through it.  hard to beat the sound of fresh rotosound rounds on an SII, tho.

of course, i'm in an 80's cover bar band, most FOH guys give me a blank look when i say i've got two channels to send to the board.  so i've got a stereo-to-mono DI output that i give them and try not to go off in the weeds on how i like my sound.  the FOH bass mix sounds ordinary, my stage sound is total alembic.  after the likker gets flowing, nobody in the audience notices anyways.  still don't think my bandmates get it.

HTH

You can also send each pickup to their own channel in an F-2B and EQ separately, then combine with the mono output to the amp. 

Quote from: BeenDown139 on May 31, 2026, 11:32:44 AMi'm in the stereo camp, but imho it's not really stereo unless ya set yer speakers up that way.  to me it's more like split pickups mode.  i've found over the years if ya want to make the overtones from yer bridge pickup snap then it's gotta have its own signal path.  here's how i do it live with my stereo basses.  it especially favors the stereo fretless i use through it.  hard to beat the sound of fresh rotosound rounds on an SII, tho.

of course, i'm in an 80's cover bar band, most FOH guys give me a blank look when i say i've got two channels to send to the board.  so i've got a stereo-to-mono DI output that i give them and try not to go off in the weeds on how i like my sound.  the FOH bass mix sounds ordinary, my stage sound is total alembic.  after the likker gets flowing, nobody in the audience notices anyways.  still don't think my bandmates get it.

HTH

That's a great looking Omega you have there! That headstock is something special. Nice rig also.

I run all my guitars in "sort of stereo" when I use my big rig.  First I plug in my guitar to channel A of my F-2B.  When I'm playing my Series 1, I still go mono into Channel A.  I then use the old Fender trick of "jumpering" the second Channel A input to the Channel B input.  Then each side of the F-2B goes to a channel on my stereo Carvin DCM200L power amp.  Each side then goes into its own 1x12 loaded with a JBL K120.  I tweak one channel of the F-2B to accentuate highs, and the other to accentuate lows.  I then adjust their volume in relation to each other to obtain the tone I want.  Lately, though, since we now have a sound crew, I just play through my Quilter Aviator Mach 3 and let our sound people dial in FOH.

Bill, tgo

As you might guess, I am a big fan of bands having sound crews......

Peter

That Cipollino rig is a riot!  What could those trombone-style tweeters possibly sound like?  Wow. Not much fun to haul around and set up either. But it sure looks cool!

Barend, just do some experimenting with stereo, it's an amazing sound. Because the two pickups are listening to the same string at different spots, when you combine the signals to mono some overtones get cancelled out. Playing through a stereo setup allows those overtones to speak and makes the sound even wider, or larger, or ... more Alembic!  Big fun to stand in front of a full stereo rig. 

But as others have mentioned, it's rare to find a situation where we can put it to good use, aside from being able to stand in front of the BIG sound. 

I was lucky enough to record with two different musical projects which were into audio experimentation. For those projects we recorded both pickups separately but only panned them slightly left and right in the mix. (And I was able to specify how I wanted them balanced). 

The result sounded like a normal mono bass but the overtones opened up a bit and certain notes moved slightly within the stereo image. 

And you can certainly get into processing the two channels differently. Others here will have better ideas about that. 

Experiment and enjoy!

Jimmy J

Quote from: JimmyJ on June 01, 2026, 12:03:12 AMThat Cipollino rig is a riot!  What could those trombone-style tweeters possibly sound like?  Wow. Not much fun to haul around and set up either. But it sure looks cool!

Barend, just do some experimenting with stereo, it's an amazing sound. Because the two pickups are listening to the same string at different spots, when you combine the signals to mono some overtones get cancelled out. Playing through a stereo setup allows those overtones to speak and makes the sound even wider, or larger, or ... more Alembic!  Big fun to stand in front of a full stereo rig.

But as others have mentioned, it's rare to find a situation where we can put it to good use, aside from being able to stand in front of the BIG sound.

I was lucky enough to record with two different musical projects which were into audio experimentation. For those projects we recorded both pickups separately but only panned them slightly left and right in the mix. (And I was able to specify how I wanted them balanced).

The result sounded like a normal mono bass but the overtones opened up a bit and certain notes moved slightly within the stereo image.

And you can certainly get into processing the two channels differently. Others here will have better ideas about that.

Experiment and enjoy!

Jimmy J

Ok great. Can we hear those recordings somewhere? 

Yes with my other basses I do a lot of double tracking when recording. Especially for solo stuff. Sometimes also recording neck and bridge pickup separately and panning them like you say. But then I have to play it twice and they are never 100% the same of course.

I don't have a series instrument yet but I have a chance to buy a signature instrument. But I am afraid I might be missing the fun of the stereo out. That was one of the reasons to start this topic.

You could upgrade Signature electronics to Anniversary (stereo) 

Quote from: FC Bass on June 01, 2026, 01:12:47 AMYou could upgrade Signature electronics to Anniversary (stereo) 

Is that an expensive upgrade? And can it also be done by another luthier than Alembic? Can you still use the same pickups and electronics?

Quote from: JimmyJ on June 01, 2026, 12:03:12 AMThat Cipollino rig is a riot!  What could those trombone-style tweeters possibly sound like?  Wow. Not much fun to haul around and set up either. But it sure looks cool!


Jimmy J

They sounded like this: 


And I'm pretty sure John wasn't humping it his own self; rigs like that are why there are people like me 

Peter