Trying to set up a fake guitar unison... LS-2 can't do it?

smeet

smeet

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Nov 27, 2006
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#1
OK, I thought this would be simple but I'm confused.
I hope I can explain this in a non-confusing way.
I want to kick in a distorted octave-up signal during guitar solos.

So here is what I have:
I have pedals for my regular bass sound. Call this signal B.
I have other pedals to make an octave-up guitar sound - signal G.
These two are meant to run in parallel, both fed from my bass.

I want signal B always on. I want to switch signal G on during guitar solos. So switching between B and B+G. Both options would be sent to my bass amp, and down the road I'd like to have a guitar amp take the G signal.

I just got a Boss LS-2, assuming it would do the mixing trick. But I don't think it does.
It has a straight-through bypass, an A loop and a B loop. There are 6 modes, but I don't think any of them will allow me to do what I want.

I tried putting the bass pedals on loop A, and guitar pedals on loop B. The A<->B mode then lets me switch between the B and G sounds. The A+B Mix<->Bypass mode lets me switch between no effects and the B+G sound. What I need is an A+B Mix<->A mode.

Or I need two parallel switchable loops.

I think. What am I missing? is there a small and inexpensive loop switcher that will do what I want with good fidelity?
 
#3
Since your B loop is always on, only run your G loop through the LS2. Set the LS2 to either A/bypass or B/bypass (based on where you physically plug in your G loop), and the rest of your B loop pedals are just in-line with the LS2 (using the normal in/out jacks). Place them up or down stream, your choice... but probably downstream if you want a clean bass signal going into your guitar loop.

For your “down the road” plan of multiple amps, keep the same LS2 and B/G loop setup but don’t connect the G loop back into the return, go straight to the guitar amp. It’d be more of a Y-splitter at that point but I think that would work (never tried it though).
 
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#4
dannybuoy said:
Quick hack - put it in mix mode and put your tuner or a mute switch in the guitar loop.

The new EHX Switchblade Pro will do what you want but it's not very compact.
Click to expand...
Good idea on the quick hack. I’ll take a look at the switchblade pro too, thanks.

speedball3 said:
Since your B loop is always on, only run your G loop through the LS2. Set the LS2 to either A/bypass or B/bypass (based on where you physically plug in your G loop), and the rest of your B loop pedals are just in-line with the LS2 (using the normal in/out jacks). Place them up or down stream, your choice... but probably downstream if you want a clean bass signal going into your guitar loop.

For your “down the road” plan of multiple amps, keep the same LS2 and B/G loop setup but don’t connect the G loop back into the return, go straight to the guitar amp. It’d be more of a Y-splitter at that point but I think that would work (never tried it though).
Click to expand...
If I do the A/bypass and run the G loop through the LS-2, then the G loop (when on) will run through my B loop effects, won’t it? I want to keep them in parallel.

I think the idea of a Y-splitter for down the road works, it actually becomes simpler if I have a second amp.

Thanks for the ideas, guys.
 
#5
When no cables are connected the particular loop of the LS2 copies the sound fed in the input. So my solution for your question is the same solution for when you want bass frequency sucking pedals mixed with your clean signal to use the LS2 as a clean blend.

Try this:

Signal B > Input. Mode: A+B mix/bypass.
Leave Loop A empty (thus is your Signal B).
Put your Signal G in Loop B.

When pedal disengaged: Signal B
When pedal engaged: Mix of Signal B and Signal G. Use the green button for the volume of Signal B and use the red button for the volume of Signal G.

And, as had been said, when you want your Signal G fed into a guitar amp, switch from the Return B input to the guitar amp input.

I hope this helps.
 
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#6
Bastijnv said:
When no cables are connected the particular loop of the LS2 copies the sound fed in the input. So my solution for your question is the same solution for when you want bass frequency sucking pedals mixed with your clean signal to use the LS2 as a clean blend.

Try this:

Signal B > Input. Mode: A+B mix/bypass.
Leave Loop A empty (thus is your Signal B).
Put your Signal G in Loop B.

When pedal disengaged: Signal B
When pedal engaged: Mix of Signal B and Signal G. Use the green button for the volume of Signal B and use the red button for the volume of Signal G.

And, as had been said, when you want your Signal G fed into a guitar amp, switch from the Return B input to the guitar amp input.

I hope this helps.
Click to expand...
So close... but since signal B is the input, I’m not sending a clean bass signal to the G loop, so everything goes through the B effects.
 
#8
Sorry, I missed the part where you wanted to feed a clean bass into your G signal. And now I also remember how I did, and it's not helping you: I fed the clean signal from the parallel output of my alpha omega in the LS2.
Someone here mentioned once the LS2 is the swiss army knife for line splitting, so I'd be kinda bummed if there is no solution for your problem (besides getting another LS2 of course).
 
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#9
Bastijnv said:
Sorry, I missed the part where you wanted to feed a clean bass into your G signal. And now I also remember how I did, and it's not helping you: I fed the clean signal from the parallel output of my alpha omega in the LS2.
Someone here mentioned once the LS2 is the swiss army knife for line splitting, so I'd be kinda bummed if there is no solution for your problem (besides getting another LS2 of course).
Click to expand...
Yeah, I want to keep the signals completely separate, it really adds to the illusion of two instruments. I’m bummed too. I (foolishly) assumed the LS-2 could do what I needed, so I never bothered to diagram it out.

I’ll keep trying...
 
#10
Two LS2 will get you there.
You can use a simple ABY box,resistance mixer, splitter box or a pedal that has a wet dry out of it is in the right spot to split your signal. Splitter or Y cables can be problematic often causing phasing issues. The LS2 is a nice 2 channel mixer so it is good to sum your signal into one amp until you add a second amp and can also be used to rout signal when you have separate lines.
 
#12
smeet said:
OK, I thought this would be simple but I'm confused.
I hope I can explain this in a non-confusing way.
I want to kick in a distorted octave-up signal during guitar solos.

So here is what I have:
I have pedals for my regular bass sound. Call this signal B.
I have other pedals to make an octave-up guitar sound - signal G.
These two are meant to run in parallel, both fed from my bass.

I want signal B always on. I want to switch signal G on during guitar solos. So switching between B and B+G. Both options would be sent to my bass amp, and down the road I'd like to have a guitar amp take the G signal.

I just got a Boss LS-2, assuming it would do the mixing trick. But I don't think it does.
It has a straight-through bypass, an A loop and a B loop. There are 6 modes, but I don't think any of them will allow me to do what I want.

I tried putting the bass pedals on loop A, and guitar pedals on loop B. The A<->B mode then lets me switch between the B and G sounds. The A+B Mix<->Bypass mode lets me switch between no effects and the B+G sound. What I need is an A+B Mix<->A mode.

Or I need two parallel switchable loops.

I think. What am I missing? is there a small and inexpensive loop switcher that will do what I want with good fidelity?
Click to expand...
Check out this guys YouTube channel. He shows how to do this type of sound with multiple different setups.



 
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#13
I use an A/B-Y pedal with my 8-string. It has separate switches so you can have either A or B or both and allows me to mute both for bass changes.
A is for the bass amp set for my 4 string. B is for the guitar amp (bass rolled off completely) with a bit of dirt and reverb. Together they really let the 8-string sing like it should.
The Leem AB200 is cheap and works well.
Saturnworks makes an active unit which I just got. Unfortunately it has a problem with the noisy power in my rehearsal studio. Bryan was very helpful and we managed to find a work around that makes it silent except for the loud pop when selecting each channel. Hopefully i'll be able to install a resister as per his recommendation to minimise the pop.
 
#15
I had a similar intent as you. I ended up with 2 different approaches:
Option #1) Use an A/B/Y splitter.
Place all pedals that you want in both signal chains before/in-front of the A/B/Y splitter.
Chain A is used for Bass and ran to a bass amp. Chain B is used for the faux Guitar (octave, dirt, etc.) and ran to another bass amp.
This was pretty flexible, and I could always disable the octave pedals in Chain B if I just wanted a "stereo" effect.

Option #2) Use the LS-2 in A+B MIX BYPASS mode. Put all pedals that you want in both signal chains before/in-front of the LS-2. Use the A loop for the faux Guitar (octave, dirt, etc.). Output goes to your bass amp. You can adjust the volume levels of A/B so you keep this constant.

I ended up going with Option #2. Most sound guys were extremely confused when I told them they need to DI two amps. I went even further and replaced my LS-2 with a Damnation Audio Loop Blender. It's a loop with a LPF (set around 1khz) clean blend and a phase switch.

Good luck in your endeavors!
 
#20
So many options that almost get me what I want!
The Alex Wright 1 amp setup assumes the bass has no effects of its own.
A dual parallel loop blender is perfect for 1 amp, but not 2.
Connecting the LS2 backwards is great outside the box thinking, sadly it doesn’t work.
The LS2 with a tuner or kill switch on the guitar side works, for 1 amp.
The HX effects/stomp can do it, for lots of money and board space.

Seems like other than a custom switcher/blender, my best option might be an ABY to split the signal, and a mixer/summer to combine the two paths. I’d unplug the summing box to go into dual amps.

Or maybe a 2-way parallel loop blender for 1 amp, plus an A/B switch on the guitar loop, to send the signal to another amp.
 
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