? About unorthodox potential pedalboard setup

[rtav]

Hey TBers!

I am putting together a new pedalboard and looking to do things a bit differently.

I am big into splitting my signal wet/dry and splitting/sending one unaffected and one affected signal (dual mono) from the board to my amps.

I want to send the signal from my bass into an ABY splitter (ideally two channels plus an always on for my tuner), maybe an MXR-M196, haven’t yet decided.

(BTW I’m not interested in a Boss LS-2 at all and am not putting one on my pedalboard, period.)

The affected channel will leave the switch and go to my multieffects then to a mixer the unaffected signal will leave the switch and go to a mixer. I want to be able to adjust the levels of the affected and unaffected signals on the mixer and then send left and right mono signals to my amps (2 amps, each receiving a mono signal. I don’t have issues with ground loops or anything with the two amps).

Ok... so I am looking at an analog Mackie 402VLZ4 passive mixer to take the affected (from my multieffects) into the line level (bal/unbal instrument input) channel 1 on the Mackie and unaffected channels (from the switch) into line level bal/unbal instrument input 2. (The mini Mackie has its own “Onyx” preamps).

There I can mix the wet and dry signals on the mixer then send each output as right and left dual mono to my two amps.

The Mackie looks like it would be perfect for this (small, built like a tank, analog, instrument level in, etc.)

Any of you pedalboard gurus see any issues with this setup?

Thanks!

 

[DDXdesign]

TBer Ric5, I think it is, uses a passive 4 channel Rolls mixer to do all his effects in parallel, so it sounds plenty doable.

 

[bassbrad]

You don't really need a mixer for a wet/dry 2 amp set up, just a signal router/splitter.

 

[Deleted member 264575]

There's not many A B Y routers that let you control the mix. The Morley ABY Router With Leds And Mix seems to:

(Click to enlarge).

Also, maybe the Radial Mix-Blender:


I use an ART Pro Audio 4-Channel Splitter/Mixer to re-combine my Rick-O-Sound signals, after they come out of my pedalboards. Might work:


My "unorthodox" setup:

 

[J Posega]

There is absolutely no point in involving a mixer in your setup. None. Zero. You’re over-complicating matters. ABY box to split the signal, then send each chain straight to your amps. You might end up with your two signals out of phase which will sound crappy, and it’s very likely to happen because you’re using a digital multi effect.

 

[Deleted member 264575]

I agree. I would control the levels on the amps, not on a mixer.

 

[Fuzzonaut]

Same here, I split to 3 amps and use the controls on the amps to mix to taste.

I don't even use specific splitter/router pedals, but a Meatbox and a Boss DD7.

 

[rtav]

Thanks everyone!

The yellow flag about potential phase issues was esp useful, so instead of the MXR I bought the Radial Engineering Twin City ABY (Tonebone Twin-City™) to help head off that problem, and ordered the Mackie mixer.

There are reasons I don’t want to control the levels on the two amps (mostly bc each amp head runs different types of cabs and are eq’d for different frequency ranges), so I need a full mono running to them both or else one channel of either affected or unaffected output will go to the higher freq amp/cab, and the low end will get only either the affected or unaffected signal. I didn’t raise this point above in the interests of brevity, but thanks to the advice above I think I’m OK.

The Mackie analog preamp/mixer will also be handy if I want to add something else (4 channels are more than enough). The build quality is fantastic, it is tiny, the headphone out helpful and it’s more flexible than anything in a pedal - plus I got it for $70 on reverb.

Looking forward to hooking everything up!

I’ll post my results to this thread (the good, the bad and the ugly) with sound clips.

Thanks again!

 

[rtav]

My comment above was edited for clarity, but the outcome is debatable.

 

[rtav]

Here it is! Thanks for the advice about the phase issue - it cropped up and the phase switch on the Twin City knocked it out - sounds amazing!

Bass -> Pitchblack tuner -> Radial Engineering Twin City Bones - Channel "A" is the unaffected pure instrument signal and it is fed into the Mackie 402VLZ4 mono input channel 3 (just volume control, no tone or gain controls for purity). On the mixer it is blended as I want it with the affected signal (more on that in a moment) and then sent out of the mixer's r/l out puts into my Furman SP8 pedalboard input, then from the Furman to my amps or my Scarlett Focusrite 2i2.

Signal "B", the affected signal, leaves the Twin City splitter and goes to my TC Nova System for its amazing effects, eqs, etc. The affected signal leaves the Nova System and goes right and left into channels 1 and2 on the Mackie, where they are blended with each other, eq'd a bit with a bit of gain, then those two channels get blended with the unaffected raw bass signal for incredible power clarity and articulation. Dual mono signals go right and left through the Furman out.

BTW, the pics were taken after I'd connected everything, the levels aren't actually what's in the pic! I've tweaked them a bit since the pic was made.

Wow!

 

[rtav]

Here’s s new video I made yesterday through the pedalboard. It’s my cover of Dream Theater’s “Metropolis Part 1” - all the fun stuff.

Sounds fantastic!