Stereo Series II and lots of effects--hooo boy...

[paulembic]

The Riff King.
Stereo. (deep breath now)
Bass pickup currently: sub-octave pedal in the effects loop of the bass pickup amp, and a compressor in the massive floor board then off to the 2 x 15.
Treble pickup goes to: distortion, chorus, flanger, tremolo, envelope filter, reverb/delay, whammy, Moogerfooger and compressor then to the rack tuner and off to the 4 x 10.
 
Okay. Some effects/most would  be great/so much better to have affecting BOTH pickups' signals.. but but...(GULP) what do I do? buy all he effects pedals twice and have two huge pedal boards and dance around all night.... or hook them up two at a time and build a bar across each pair that triggers both sets of any pedal at a time with double cables running like a forest, or some fab MIDI trigger system  or.. heeelp? I have tried running mono which makes the effects so rich but no way I wanna lose my stereo options so...  heeeeeelp? Ideas?

[palembic]

MAybe a stupid idea -I am no technician- nut isn't there a way you can use a kind of rooter or a small mixing device that comes between the bass PU's and the lines of effects???
 
Paul TBO

[lothartu]

I'm with Paul on this.  It sounds like you need something with multiple effects loops which can each then be pulled in/out/mixed with either of your two raw signals.  
 
SOLUTION #1:
A small portable mixing board might be a partial solution for you.  The problem would be how to control the mixing board while playing since your hands will be busy.
 
I'm not sure but maybe you could use volume pedals to control the mix by adjusting the signal send levels.  Here's what I'm thinking...
 
Signals:
dry treble pickup
dry bass pickup
wet signal #1 (treble)
wet signal #2 (bass)
wet signal #3 (treble and bass through wet signal #1)
wet signal #4 (treble and bass through wet signal #2)
 
Then just use volume pedals to control the amount of signal being sent to each of the wet signals which then allows you to do a live mix.  Having volume pedals that take two inputs and instead of going from off to on they go from full signal A to full signal B might be more useful since you might not want to have to turn your dry signal down and then your wet signal up using two pedals unless you're going for that kind of sound.
 
What I'm picturing in my head is a patch bay, a good portable multi buss mixer, 6 or 7 volume/mix pedals and what you've normally got on the floor for effects control.
 
 
NOTE: I've never tried this and maybe there are good technical reasons why it couldn't be done but off the top of my head I don't see why it wouldn't work. (other than possible phase cancellation problems depending on what effects you've got in your wet #1 and wet #2 loops)
 
SOLUTION #2 (maybe a better (and cheaper) option)
EDIT: Maybe a simpler solution would be to get a midi controlled patch bay (I think).  Using a unit that functions as a midi controlled patch bay and 2 or 3 volume/mix pedals would give you a lot of control.  I think my previous solution would work but it might provide more options than you really need.  Plus people might start calling you that dancing bass player.
 
Does anyone have any experience with a midi controlled audio patch bay or a unit like that?  Am I thinking about the functionality correctly?
 
 
 
(Message edited by LotharTu on March 29, 2006)
 
(Message edited by LotharTu on March 29, 2006)
 
(Message edited by LotharTu on March 29, 2006)

[paulembic]

Praps i can simplify.
 
Mono effects running off a stereo bass. My main efefcts only run off the treble pickup but some/most sound better if they moisten both pickup signals for better range..so  If i want a mono effect to affect both pickup signals.....  ULP!

[lothartu]

Ok, here's another thought (can you tell I'm bored at work?)
 
2 volume/mix pedals; the ones that have 1 input and 2 outputs so that all one way is full to one output, halfway is full to both outputs and all the other way is full to the other output.  Run treble pickup to one pedal and bass pickup to the other pedal.  Take the outputs of each pedal and run them to your two sets of effects.  That way each pedal can send full signal for the pickup to either set of effects or you can put the pedal in the middle and send signal to both sets of effects.
 
This would allow for combinations like bass pickup 100% to bass pickup effects and treble pickup to both the treble effects as well as the bass effects.  Or set both volume pedals half way which would send both pickup signals to both effects paths.
 
- Jim

[crgaston]

Since you're running separate amps and speakers, there's no way to go from stereo outs to mono effects and back to stereo.  You would have to run mono after the effects, or have separate effects for each pickup.  You could split the bass pickup signal and run your 2x15 with the dry half, and then blend the other half of it with your treble pickup into your effects and send the sum of those signals to the 4x10, but that may not be what you're after.

[paulembic]

Yup stereo bass  mono effects.
 
(sigh) I need to go mono (NO WAY) or rig up two boards or racks of effects--double my effects budget! Yow!
 
This shows how few stereo basses there are so effects are not stereo, so peope lie me who want very procesed sounds have sooo much more to do. My solar voyager lunar module is about to grow by 2X!
 

[gare]

I remember this coming up a while back..checkout http://www.loooper.com/ for some ideas.
Or experiment with A/B box(es) building switchable efx loops as needed.