How might I play two basses through the same cabinet?

PauFerro

PauFerro

Jun 8, 2008
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#1
I often need to bring an upright and an electric bass to gigs.

I notice my cabinet has two inputs in the back (1/4"). And it doesn't seem to matter which of the two inputs I put my speaker cable into from the amplifier,.

Can I have two amplifiers, and run a speaker cable from each amp, to one of the 1/4" inputs in the rear of the cabinet? Each bass would then have its own amplifier, but each amplifier would use the same cabinet.

My understanding is that the two inputs are really there to daisy chain two cabinets. But I wondered if I could use them as two inputs from two separate amps, each going into one of the two 1/4" inputs at the back of the speaker...

I tried using a little mixer, but it really colored the sound of both basses to the point I don't want to use it.
 
#3
No!!!!! Do NOT run two amps into the same cab!!!!! There will be smoke. Smoke is bad.

Run an amp with two inputs or a doubler DI.

Some SansAmp pedals have two inputs. There are plenty of others.

You may want to ask this on the double bass side. I would wager there are TONS of guys over there who double on electric. They could probably point you at dozens of gadgets.

On the rare occasion that I play double bass (poorly) in front of people I just DI the upright and run electric through my amp.
 
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#4
lz4005 said:
You can't plug two amps into a mono cabinet without damaging the amps.
Click to expand...

two fingers said:
No!!!!! Do NOT run two amps into the same cab!!!!! There will be smoke. Smoke is bad.
Click to expand...

As mentioned above, you can't run two amps into the same cab.
Why not run one amp into one (or two) cabs and hook up an A/B splitter pedal so you can switch between each bass? Much cheaper/safer than blowing your driver(s)! :)
 
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#5
Nooooooo!!

Those two "inputs" that you connect your speakers to are actually OUTPUTS.
They are the same output just brought out to two connectors so you can connect two cabs.
If you did what I think you are talking about doing, you would end up having both amplifier outputs connected together. That is the fast track to damaging your amps.
 
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#6
There's several ways to accomplish hooking up 2 different basses to a single amp, but there's only a small handful of stereo cabs capable of utilizing 2 different heads.

In that respect, you should look into the options for swapping basses. There are a couple different ways you can set up your stuff to make it a little easier to change over. You could run a preamp into the FX loop and bypass the preamp circuit of the amp, thus having 2 completely separate preamps with 1 power amp. It would help if you had a footswitchable FX loop, otherwise you'll be turning your back to the audience to fiddle with knobs and cords if that matters to you.
 
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#8
Old Garage-Bander said:
Nooooooo!!

Those two "inputs" that you connect your speakers to are actually OUTPUTS.
They are the same output just brought out to two connectors so you can connect two cabs.
If you did what I think you are talking about doing, you would end up having both amplifier outputs connected together. That is the fast track to damaging your amps.
Click to expand...
While I agree with the big Noooo (see all the other posts) - just wanted to point out he is talking about two input jacks on the speaker cab itself, not the speaker outs on the amp head.
 
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#10
CL400Peavey said:
Just want to point out, you're not right.
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He said:
I notice my cabinet has two inputs in the back (1/4"). And it doesn't seem to matter which of the two inputs I put my speaker cable into from the amplifier.

What did I get wrong? It appeared that OGB was talking about the two speaker outs on the back of the amp; I was just saying that isn't what the OP was talking about.
 
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#11
DDXdesign said:
He said:
I notice my cabinet has two inputs in the back (1/4"). And it doesn't seem to matter which of the two inputs I put my speaker cable into from the amplifier.

What did I get wrong? It appeared that OGB was talking about the two speaker outs on the back of the amp; I was just saying that isn't what the OP was talking about.
Click to expand...

The "inputs" on a cab are also considered outputs.

OGB knew what he was talking about as he wrote this "If you did what I think you are talking about doing, you would end up having both amplifier outputs connected together".
 
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#12
Bass_Pounder said:
The "inputs" on a cab are also considered outputs.

OGB knew what he was talking about as he wrote this "If you did what I think you are talking about doing, you would end up having both amplifier outputs connected together".
Click to expand...
Well I will concede the point (and like I said I agreed it would be a Very Bad Idea), but I am now very confused as to those not being one-way streets between head and cab. And I've been playing for ages! Learn something new every day I guess.

(I wasn't trying to be right, I was just trying to be helpful to that one guy)
 
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#14
Do you need to run two amps? I can see where you might because the EQ and preamp needs are very different, but if you could find a way to run 1 amp, then an A/B switch on the amp input is simple. I've done that for fretted/fretless.

If you are up to some work, you could rig the cab inputs with a heavy-duty break-before-make DPDT switch; I'm thinking like a big knife switch meant for a power box.

Otherwise you might as well just plug your two amps into each other and watch the fireworks.
 
#19
PauFerro said:
I often need to bring an upright and an electric bass to gigs.

I notice my cabinet has two inputs in the back (1/4"). And it doesn't seem to matter which of the two inputs I put my speaker cable into from the amplifier,.

Can I have two amplifiers, and run a speaker cable from each amp, to one of the 1/4" inputs in the rear of the cabinet? Each bass would then have its own amplifier, but each amplifier would use the same cabinet.

My understanding is that the two inputs are really there to daisy chain two cabinets. But I wondered if I could use them as two inputs from two separate amps, each going into one of the two 1/4" inputs at the back of the speaker...

I tried using a little mixer, but it really colored the sound of both basses to the point I don't want to use it.
Click to expand...

DDXdesign said:
He said:
I notice my cabinet has two inputs in the back (1/4"). And it doesn't seem to matter which of the two inputs I put my speaker cable into from the amplifier.

What did I get wrong? It appeared that OGB was talking about the two speaker outs on the back of the amp; I was just saying that isn't what the OP was talking about.
Click to expand...

Exactly the part I quoted the first time.
 
#20
PauFerro said:
I tried using a little mixer, but it really colored the sound of both basses to the point I don't want to use it.
Click to expand...

Ah, so you already know what it would sound like running two basses to one cabinet. This experiment is over, just don't do it.

deleting my previous post now about using a splitter or ABY, since you'll have the same result as using your mixer
 
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