F-2B + S-F2 or S-F2 + F-2B

[sonicus]

Edwin , within my traditional mentation as to building gain structure , I have preferred using the Alembic SF-2 directly post instrument . Therefore  ; Instrument > SF-2 > IN-2 >F-2B > Power Amplifier .   

[edwin]

Edwin , within my traditional mentation as to building gain structure , I have preferred using the Alembic SF-2 directly post instrument . Therefore  ; Instrument > SF-2 > IN-2 >F-2B > Power Amplifier .   

Thanks. Have you done this in stereo?

[sonicus]

Yes , I have experimented  in stereo  with two SF -2 units post instrument > IN-2 > F-2B > power amplifier  .  This has resulted just as well but with additional attenuation potential , as would be predictable.

[jazzyvee]

The aforementioned item has duly arrived! :-)

[lbpesq]

NF2BD!!!!!!!

Enjoy, Jazzy!

Bill, tgo

[StephenR]

Congratulations, looking forward to hearing your first impressions!

[jazzyvee]

I have currently wired it up as a stereo setup with DS-5 -->>F-2B -->> S-F2 -->> power amp and have a cab on each channel so will be trying that for a few practice sessions then the other way round.
However just looking at the back of my rack, there are no inputs on the back of the F-2B so to put the S-F2 first in the signal chain I'd need to feed the cables from the back of the rack to the front of the F-2B and as I have a full 4U rack that does not seem a tidy solution. Hmmm.

[jazzyvee]

Ok Plugged in and fine until the volume goes up then it was cracking up so ive spent a good while exercising the jacks whilst watching tv and its getting cleaner sounding. So hopefully it will be fine otherwise i will have to open it up and clean the contacts with a white business card.
So, the outputs..... before i ruin anything by trying, do all 3 outputs all have their respective signal output all the time if a jack is plugged in? So for example if i was doing a gig and took the mono combined signal from my DS-5 into one side (A) of the preamp via the front jack
then send preamp to power amp for my stage sound, could i also take the (M) output to a DI box at the same time?

[Bob_Ross]

um... output of the SF-2 is line level. Input of the F-2B is instrument level. So SF-2>F-2B = NG.
Output of the F-2B into the rear panel (line level) input of the SF-2 should be good to go.

[lbpesq]

I’ve used guitar>SF-2>amp with no problem.   The SF-2 has an internal jumper that can be set so the SF-2 either adds no gain or can be used as a preamp.  When set to no gain, it plugs into a combo amp or a preamp like my F-2B just fine.  In fact, I just checked the manual and it states to plug your instrument into the SF-2 and then into your amp.

Bill, tgo

[jazzyvee]

Hi Bill I have used the Bass -> SF2 -> amp for about a year or so and it's been great for reggae stuff but for other stuff I found it harder to EQ the SF-2 to my taste and much easier to understand if I set my tone with the the preamp first then adjust the SF-2 to enhance. That said, when I plugged in to practice this evening all the clacking sound had gone regardless of volume. So I hope the issue is as simple as the connections being exercised whist pulgging in and out trying different permutations of wiring. Will see for sure when one of my bands start rehearsing again.

[lbpesq]

When I had everything hooked up in my “big rig” I used the SF-2 as a three band mixer in mono mode.  The dry channel got tweaked by the F-2B.  I set one of the other channels in high pass filter mode and the third in lowpass filter mode.   I used one to get a nice high end tone, the other for low end, and then mixed these in to enhance the dominant dry signal.

Bill, tgo

[jazzyvee]

OK, i've been trying to find out why I keep getting this large crack sound from my rig. Since getting the F-2B I have been going like this
D5-5R --> F-2B --> SF-2 (stereo mode switch up) SF-2 --> Power amp in for both neck and bridge pickups.
if I do this and have my F-2B gain on anything above 1.5 on the dial and the power amp on anything except full on, then I get a large CRACK through the speaker when I play any note below low A on the E-string.

When the power amp is on full all is good.
So I've removed and tested all the cables and exercised all the sockets ( tedious task) and tried again with the same result.

I decided to try going like this:
DS-5R rear --> SF-2(stereo mode switch up), SF-2 out to-->F-2B front, F-2B out --> Power amp input for both neck and bridge pickups.
This way there is no loud crack sound at all whatever notes I play and I can have any controls the way I want.
Seems like that's the way for me to go.
I' am going to try that for a while at home just to make sure that's all fine, then order some new longer cables.

[rv_bass]

Jazzyvee, are you using one of your Series basses? If so is the five pin socket loose on the bass?  I had this crack/pop happen to one of mine.  The five pin socket became loose and was either no loner grounded or was coming into contact with something else in the electronics cavity.  I tightened it up to hold it back in place and that resolved the issue for me.  Perhaps that is happening with your bass.

[JimmyJ]

"...When the power amp is on full all is good..."

That's the weird part.  That sounds almost like an impedance problem but that shouldn't be the case with any of that gear.

My wild guess is that you are clipping an input somewhere.  Depending on how hot you run the output of your bass - that is already a preamp out.  The F-2B is obviously another gain stage, and the SF-2 is yet another, if run that way.  Considering that you could probably connect the DS-5R directly to the power amp inputs and get some sound (depending again on your trimpots), you may just need to figure out how much gain you are adding at each step and then finally feeding into the power amp.  You could be clipping at any stage.

But again, that's just a guess because of what you said above ... unless you naturally aren't playing as hard when you run the power amp wide open. 

Jimmy J