Author Topic: Is it ok to do this? (Read 405 times)

JimmyJ · « **Reply #15 on:** September 21, 2013, 02:16:45 AM »

Yes and just to add to the confusion, downstage is towards the audience and upstage is towards the back. Ha!

James, when you say you used the outputs from the back of the F1-X to connect to the two amps, do you mean the high pass and low pass outputs? It is only a single-channel mono preamp so the way it was connected in the top picture of this thread would have the bass and treble pickups summed together at the input - just the same as having only one jumper cable and the DS-5 set to mono.

But using the crossover in the F1-X is a cool way to split the signal for using a couple cabinets - or, as you say, maybe running effects only on the high pass side and leaving the low pass clean. That's a kind of stereo too but it's like a vertical one as opposed to left and right.

Really the series stereo output is also kind of vertical in this same way, it's not actually left and right either. Back in the day when I ran a stereo amp rig I would add chorus to the treble pickup only. I liked that it left the bottom end intact so the bass note would still be solid. Running the pickups through their own separate amp rigs is a bit over the top in most situations but it sure makes for an amazingly LARGE tone! Yum!

Jimmy J

malthumb · « **Reply #16 on:** September 21, 2013, 07:11:35 AM »

Jimmy J,

****Luddite Alert - I know not what I do****

I recall trying it both ways and noticing a significant difference between the two setups. It's been so long ago that I honestly cannot tell you which way I defaulted to. The stuff you guys are talking about (which I STILL don't get) might be a strong clue as to why I no longer use that setup. I couldn't make it work because I apparently wasn't doing it right.

In any event, even if both pickups were going to both channels and the tones coming out of the F-1X were identical (I think they were) the effects and different toning settings at the amps made for interesting end results.

***aside***

Jimmy J....you might find this Talkbass thread fairly interesting

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/paul-reed-smith-credited-first-modern-5-string-1016543/

lbpesq · « **Reply #17 on:** September 21, 2013, 09:31:47 AM »

Jimmy wrote:

Running the pickups through their own separate amp rigs is a bit over the top in most situations but it sure makes for an amazingly LARGE tone! Yum!

LARGE and Yum indeed! I was fortunate enough to see the Dead's Wall of Sound several times when Phil Lesh played his quadraphonic Alembic. Each string had its own pick-up which went to four separate MacIntosh 2300 power amps which then ran four separate speaker columns, the tallest of which was 32' as I recall. Definitely Yum!

Bill, tgo

JimmyJ · « **Reply #18 on:** September 21, 2013, 01:45:40 PM »

There's no right or wrong way to hook the gear up. (Well, I suppose you shouldn't run the power amp backwards...) We all just experiment until we hear something we like and THAT becomes the right way! For example different size speaker cabinets will each have their own sound. So connecting two different cabinets to one mono power amp might be just the sound you're looking for. Or maybe the cabinets each get their own channel so you can balance the levels, or maybe bi-amped, or maybe treble pu to one and bass pu to the other... etc. etc... It's all good!

Regarding your basstalk aside; thanks for representing Alembic there. Some nice comments by folks. Not that it matters at all but I don't claim to be first to go low on electric bass, I usually defer to Anthony Jackson for that. But obviously the mid-70's were a creative time for custom instruments and Alembic was one of our most important contributors.

Jimmy J