Stereo (+1)

aristotle

aristotle

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Apr 26, 2012
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I've certainly heard of stereo rigs before, but I always associated that with fancy processors, whirly effects, and maybe hair-metal I guess. Even though I had the amps and splitters and stuff to put together something, it just wasn't something that I was all that interested in playing with.

Then, I got a P22 a few months ago, which by necessity forces you to think in terms of blending tones. Started out with just blending piezo through the PA, and magnetic through an amp. It sounded surprisingly good, even for material that doesn't call for a piezo / acoustic sound. Just putting a touch of piezo fills in the sound.

Then a Swart stereo rig fell into my lap. The head is two separate 5W channels of pure tweed bliss, and the cab is a cool stereo layout with the speakers angled out with a baffle between them. Just on its own it's a really wild amp. One channel has reverb, one has tremolo, and by adding a touch of chorus or delay to one side or the other, it just sounds fantastic. You've got to like tweed tone though. I could get lost for days at home with the rig, but in a band environment, tweed doesn't work as well for me. There is always a low-fi aspect when I run pedals through them. They sound great with pedals for some things, but for others, I just can't get there from here. But monkeying around with it, running the P22, with piezo going in one side, and magnetic going through the other...and putting an OD pedal in front in the magnetic channel, it takes on a completely different (and infinitely more useable to me) character.

But I figure why stop there. So combining the P22, the Archon, the two channels of Swart, and separate pedal chains, it's enough to make your head explode. You have to stand back 10 feet or more (at least as I have it laid out with the PRS2x12 next to the Swart cab) but the overall net effect is amazing. The options are endless.

Swart-Archon-1_zpsmytvfxcx.jpg
 
I'm waiting for your THX surround thread with all those amps you got in the bunker.
 
Thumbs up on the Swart Stereo. I like it with that cabinet so much that I went out to the shop and built two more cabs in the same angled configuration.......One with a pair of 10" Celestion Golds, the other with a pair of 12s. With one difference----I used a prewired input panel that allows me to run in stereo (2 amps, each running at 8 ohms) OR as a mono 2 x, in either 4 or 16 ohms. Either way, it has a big "3D" sound, notwithstanding the low fi power sections.....As Swart states, running a pair of 5 watt amps at the same time makes it sound like a lot more than that.

.I have actually not tried it yet with the P22 (or HB II) but imagine it would be great for that, likely using the "Mama Bear" processor. Have fun experimenting!
 
My eyes can't get past that P22. That thing is gorgeous. I love purple guitars.

Okay. Went back and forced my eyes past the guitar. The rig looks pretty awesome too!
 
Love your amps Aristotle! I always get a kick out of blending amps. You can really get quite the wall of sound!
 
The whole rig is spectacular, including the piano, which I assume you mic up in true stereo, and then run through the Swart because dual mono guitar pickups ain't really stereo. ;)
 
FWIW, the Swart Stereo can be used with either two separate inputs (such as from a guitar with two separate outputs) OR using a mono input into channel one (only) in which case that signal then gets split and feeds both amps, which can be set for different sounds. You can, of course, use some sort of effect before the amp that has a stereo output.

It is fun to play with by having different settings (volume and tone. as well as high/low input) to further differentiate the signal(s) affected by the trem and reverb.
 
I would have responded before now, but I've been....busy.... I can't believe that I've never experimented with this stuff before.

For django, I'm with you. The swart, all by itself, with just a single guitar input (split internally as you say) will take you all sorts of fun places. Just a single channel of the Swart is the best tweed tone I've ever experienced. Add the stereo, and the split reverb / trem, and you can get beautiful old school tones.

For Les though, I'm misusing the term stereo for most of my orgy of sound here over the last couple of days. I'm just talking dirt stupid stuff. Couple of amps, with distinct tones by themselves, plugged in to a stereo cab, and the blend is great. Rockerverb + DG30...unbelievable. 2061x + Archon....amazing. MDT + Two Rock ODS....to die for. I'm sure that this will get old eventually (I assume so...since I don't see tons of people gigging around here using two separate heads into a stereo cab).

Oh well... I think I'll combine a GA40 with a 2 channel C next and see where that nets me... If you guys don't hear from me in a couple of days, send for help. It probably means that I forgot to eat and am passed out on the floor.
 
If time and money and an aging back were not issues, I would love to be playing regularly with a rack set up......Mesa 90 watts to either side (into 2 x 12s), with an older MK series (yes, that one!) in the middle (dry), but feeding the stereo amp and some effects to capitalize on the "spread" setup . Then the piezo goes into the dedicated acoustic amp. Oh, yeah, the Motion Sound revolving speaker wired in there too.

IF I DID haul out that out to a jam, I'd be killed.....Too much to move in and set up and it would take up way too much of that small stage. But it sure is fun when I get a chance to do things like that. I KNOW that part about being too busy to eat.

The Swart gives a whole lot of that sort of fun, without the excessive amounts of weight and power......And I am having fun with the angled stereo cabinets. At more modest volume levels.
 
As you know, I was only teasing. I do realize that guitar players love to refer to a rig as "stereo" regardless.

On the other hand, I like to mess with true stereo technique so I can do mid-side processing, and screw around with the stereo image. When it comes to guitar recording there's a lot of fun to be had, even if one would never drag so much gear to a live show.

Sometimes when I talk about this with guitar players, they say, "Oh, I play a stereo rig, I know all about that." And of course, they haven't a clue what I'm talking about. LOL
 
LSchefman said:
As you know, I was only teasing. I do realize that guitar players love to refer to a rig as "stereo" regardless.

On the other hand, I like to mess with true stereo technique so I can do mid-side processing, and screw around with the stereo image. When it comes to guitar recording there's a lot of fun to be had, even if one would never drag so much gear to a live show.

Sometimes when I talk about this with guitar players, they say, "Oh, I play a stereo rig, I know all about that." And of course, they haven't a clue what I'm talking about. LOL
Click to expand...
Oh, I know you were teasing, but it wasn't too far off the mark in my case. I think that the first experiment with this sort of thing live will be to occasionally use a couple of heads through the Swart cab and see what sort of noise I can make..
 
I'm currently running a Mesa Lonestar and a PRS Sweet 16+ with the effects chain able to be routed through both or the delay and trem pushing back and forth. I can record a loop and have it feed one side or both, which is a great way to practice and develop parts. The piezo goes to the PA.

I have yet to take this setup to a gig. Too much hassle.

Aristotle, I hear you about tweeds at home versus a band setting. I love them by myself, but it just doesn't hold together well enough for my style. That Swart has been on the list to check out for a while now. No one around here carries them. It's good to hear your opinion of it.

The Mesa Road King 2x12 can can also run each separately or together. I've thought about buying one of those and running two heads. I think that's a good way to get that spread with minimal setup.
 
Well, Egads.... If you make it to the big shindig in MD next month, you're welcome to try mine out. The Swart is definitely fun to play with.

I'll say this about that, as Nixon used to say. The cab alone is worth the price of admission. I ended up being lazy at practice, and didn't bother dealing with stereo heads and instead just plugged the 2-Channel C into both sides of the Swart cab. It fills the entire room without the typical dead spots. The speakers are angled out off axis with a baffle in between them, and whatever it's doing is great in a live environment....

2CHC-Swart-1_zpsmejbtc4w.jpg


2CHC-Swart-2_zpskac3tza6.jpg
 
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