aristotle
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2012
- Messages
- 771
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.
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.