Q: running two amps at once PLZ HELP!

[rightintheface]

Does anybody do this?
i am running a hughes and kettner switchblade 112 combo through i'ts internal speaker and a 2x12 avatar cab with V30s.
i am pretty happy with my high gain sound (british channel, gain about 12 oclock is enough for me), however i am looking to "expand" my tone a bit. being the only guitarist in my band i wanna thicken up my sound. but i don't wanna mess too much with my present sound. therefore my general idea was to run two amps at the same time, with different sounds/eqs/voicings/whatever, whenever im playing distortion. i was thinking of buying a tiny terror head (or similar), connecting that to the combo's internal speaker, and connecting the H&K to the avatar cab.

but i have no idea how.  :sad1:

i've been trying to look at some stuff (A/B/Y splitters, line selectors etc), but i'm really in the dark, and figured someone here would know better than i  :tard:

i was also thinking of something like the H&K tubeman preamp pedal: if i split my guitar signal (which essentially is the part i have no idea about), would i be able to run this pedal straight into the combo's speaker? is this possible?

just wanna clarify, i only want the "extra" amp/preamp pedal running when i am playing on distortion ONLY, in conjunction with the H&K amp. so i figure i'll hit distortion on my amp floorboard at the same time as hitting an A/B/line slector or whatever pedal.


i'm confused just writing that  :sad:

 

[rightintheface]

alright so i've been reading about true bypass loopers on ebay
http://stores.ebay.com.au/MC-FX-Pedals/Using-an-MC-FX-Looper-as-an-A-B-box.html
that would obvioulsy work for using two amps at once, so first off: anybody know if this MC-FX stuff is any good? it's hell cheap, but it IS true bypass and says that it uses high quality components to a degree (neutrik jacks etc etc).
second off: if i didnt want to (or was too broke  :laughing11, would the H&K preamp dist pedal that i mentioned in my first post be able to drive a speaker? i realise that i could plug it to the PA, but i really wanna run it through my combo's internal speaker. would this work without a power section driving it? as in, running the signal as follows:
guitar--->looper---> loop going to preamp pedal---> preamp pedal connecting to the speakers plug (as in the plug that usually plugs into the amps loudspeaker output)

to my ears and eyes, the second option sounds completely redundant, as i would need something to drive the speaker itself. is that right? sorry to sound like an ignoramus, but the whole "speaker" thing is new to me (only upgraded recently from a shitee line6 combo), so im still grasping the intricacies of using speakers and there outputs blah blah blah

plus, im an ignoramus  :hello2:

 

[Ang3lus]

look up loopmaster
www.loop-master.com

best true bypass loopers around, and you got many types of loopers, i'm sure you'd find something that fits your bill

 

[GoDrex]

I'm using one of these - works great:

http://www.google.com/products?q=lehle+little+dual&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B3GGGL_enUS294US294&um=1&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title

 

[AndyG]

Does anybody do this?
i am running a hughes and kettner switchblade 112 combo through i'ts internal speaker and a 2x12 avatar cab with V30s.
i am pretty happy with my high gain sound (british channel, gain about 12 oclock is enough for me), however i am looking to "expand" my tone a bit. being the only guitarist in my band i wanna thicken up my sound. but i don't wanna mess too much with my present sound. therefore my general idea was to run two amps at the same time, with different sounds/eqs/voicings/whatever, whenever im playing distortion. i was thinking of buying a tiny terror head (or similar), connecting that to the combo's internal speaker, and connecting the H&K to the avatar cab.

but i have no idea how.  :sad1:

i've been trying to look at some stuff (A/B/Y splitters, line selectors etc), but i'm really in the dark, and figured someone here would know better than i  :tard:

i was also thinking of something like the H&K tubeman preamp pedal: if i split my guitar signal (which essentially is the part i have no idea about), would i be able to run this pedal straight into the combo's speaker? is this possible?

just wanna clarify, i only want the "extra" amp/preamp pedal running when i am playing on distortion ONLY, in conjunction with the H&K amp. so i figure i'll hit distortion on my amp floorboard at the same time as hitting an A/B/line slector or whatever pedal.


i'm confused just writing that  :sad:

You CAN acutally split the guitar's signal passivly, using a simple "Y" cable.  If you split the signal after the preamp pedal, you'll get the same boost going to both amps (which sounds like what you want to do).

However, you WILL need 2 amplifiers.  A pedal cannot drive a speaker by itself.

The whole idea behind the A/B switch is to go between 2 rigs, or to both at the same time.  If you want to go to both all the time, I'd go the "Y" cable route ... cheaper and easier.

If anyone else wants to chime in on this point ... I cannot see a ground loop problem happening in this situation, as the single output (high Z) is feeding two inputs looking for a high impedence.

Anyone?

 

[rightintheface]

ahhhhhhh THAT answers my question. yeah, i kinda thought that wasn't right to drive a speaker with just a preamp pedal. i think i'll wrestle with a few different loopers/amps over the next few days/weeks and make a decision.

but i was kinda thinking of an epiphone valve junior. i know it's only 5w, but thats half as loud as my 50w combo (knowledge learnt from CB  :toothy10, and my combo hardly ever goes past about 3-4 at a gig. so i figure if i tailor the jnr for each gig, and maybe even run an overdrive/fuzz pedal (in case i need to push it harder), then i should have a pretty good mix/match.

anybody got any other recommendations for the second amp? my combo is like a med/hi-gain british sound, i was just thinking something to "thicken" the sound up.
i keep reading about these little blackhearts, is it worth getting one over the epiphone? i realise the epi won't be amazing sounding, but i think might complement my present sound.

cheers lads for the replies  ccasion14:

 

[-CB-]

If you want a treat... try a small amp into BIG speakers.

I once played with a Princeton Reverb (12w) into two 4x12 16 ohms cabinets (8 ohms together).  The amp was dimed and it filled the place just fine - the place was a 1500 seat HS auditorium, and the stage was typical stage elevation, plus another two short riser platforms for the equipment (and drummer).

I also played my Deluxe Reverb ('68...but somehow blackface... ) against a JCM900 2x12 combo amp.  While I was on 7-1/2 or 8 and dripping tone all over the floor, the Marshall sounded pretty constipated.... at master vol on about 3-1/2 and trying to get some decent drive from the preamp.  Those in between volume levels really take a lot of tone away from MV amps, much better to have a smaller amp pushes like its gonna explode.

 

[Volitions Advocate]

I use a Rivera Knucklehead 100W head and a Crate combo amp.
Ones tube, ones solidstate and I get great sound when I combine them.  Nice warm Tube tone from the rivera and that digitally sounding scooped kind of sound from the crate, makes my sound like a brick.

TO split the channels I just have an effects processor with stereo outputs. Left goes to the rivera, right goes to the crate.  Any Boss GT series will do this.. not sure about the ME series.  I'm sure theres lots of others that will do this as well.

 

[greywolf]

I've been running 2 /3 amps for many years , a wonderful way to enhance your tone.

For guitar my favorite setup is guitar -> Mesa/Boogie  then use the Direct Out to go to an ART FXR which has a 2 channel out .  one goes to my pre-CBS Princeton , the other to a Sovtek Mig 50 head with a 2x10 cab I built with 100w Celestions

I also use a similar setup on my bass amp  bass into a Boss Pro PQ5  parametric EQ - then split the output to an Acoustic B200H and a B115 ( 1x15 with horn) and the Sovtek head pushing a 1X12 and the 2x10