Do you guys run your cabs in stereo or mono?

edi_87

New member
I mean one amp, one cab, two 8Ohm outputs, two cables, two 8Ohm inputs... I've heard that the sound is better... What do you think?
 
Re: Do you guys run your cabs in stereo or mono?

IMO, it's not really "stereo" if each cab is getting the same signal, it's just "wide mono".
smile.gif
If you're running different sounding amps into each cab or using stereo delay/chorus, it sounds huge...but I don't do that these days.

Guess that puts me in the "mono" camp. :p
 
Re: Do you guys run your cabs in stereo or mono?

Mono...I even run through my stereo Marshall V30 4X12 cab in mono...Either the 2x12's at 8 ohms(1 side of the cab) or all 4x12s in mono at the 16 ohm setting..

John
 
Re: Do you guys run your cabs in stereo or mono?

I run a combo amp with a 1X12 and a 2X12 cab. I split the signal into stereo and send one signal to one amp with the 1X12 speaker with a chorus on it, and one signal with a different amp to the 2X12, no chorus. This makes for a nice spacious sound. Then I kick in the digital delay which makes the 2X12 100% dry signal and the 1X12 100% wet signal. Sounds good.
 
Re: Do you guys run your cabs in stereo or mono?

edi_87 said:
I mean one amp, one cab, two 8Ohm outputs, two cables, two 8Ohm inputs... I've heard that the sound is better... What do you think?
It may sound good to some, but you'll be getting alot of frequency cancelation. A 412/212 cabinet box can only handly so much low end, ofcourse if you feel too much low end to it, it'll start to get muddy and could end up "farting".

I've tried it one time with a marshall cabinet and it didnt reall sound right to my ears. Although when I only plugged into 1 side of the 412 (using 2x12) speakers, it sounded really tight and nice.. I guess since only 2 speakers are working and they have soo much space to breath from.


Hope that helps,
Duke
 
Re: Do you guys run your cabs in stereo or mono?

Line 6 Half Stack, true stereo cab. Runs in stereo and sounds great...

All other half stacks I've played were mono, but thats my input.
Rock On :smoker:
 
Re: Do you guys run your cabs in stereo or mono?

ive done mono and stereo, the only time you here stereo diff is during recording. playing live no-you mike your cab and pan the P.A hard left or right anyway. band practice-you wont realy notice. playing alone you hear the diff-like ping ponging effects in stereo between speaker cabs. Maybe small club with one guitar player in band you could tell. 2 guitars playing will muffle the stereo sound. This is just my experiance. Hope this helps. :beerchug:
 
Re: Do you guys run your cabs in stereo or mono?

edi_87 said:
I mean one amp, one cab, two 8Ohm outputs, two cables, two 8Ohm inputs... I've heard that the sound is better... What do you think?


So, what you're asking is whether one mono signal sent down two cables into each side of the same cab would sound better than the same mono signal sent one cable to each side of the same cab?


I would venture to guess that it would sound roughly the same, since it is the same mono signal being sent to the same speakers....
 
Re: Do you guys run your cabs in stereo or mono?

Duke of Metal said:
It may sound good to some, but you'll be getting alot of frequency cancelation. A 412/212 cabinet box can only handly so much low end, ofcourse if you feel too much low end to it, it'll start to get muddy and could end up "farting".

I've tried it one time with a marshall cabinet and it didnt reall sound right to my ears. Although when I only plugged into 1 side of the 412 (using 2x12) speakers, it sounded really tight and nice.. I guess since only 2 speakers are working and they have soo much space to breath from.


Hope that helps,
Duke

You know man, that reminds me of the passive radiator concept used in the hifi world and in some monitors ... interesting, I'm sure not quite the same using two dead speakers, but interesting just the same.
 
Re: Do you guys run your cabs in stereo or mono?

screamingdaisy said:
So, what you're asking is whether one mono signal sent down two cables into each side of the same cab would sound better than the same mono signal sent one cable to each side of the same cab?


I would venture to guess that it would sound roughly the same, since it is the same mono signal being sent to the same speakers....

However, if you were running a 1/2 back cabinet (or open back for the fender super reverb crowd, and other open backs with four speakers), you could reverse the phase of one speaker in the open section (one out of phase with the other three) as that would add a bit of texture. I wouldn't do it in a closed cabinet or closed section though, as the compression and rarefaction of the three would combined to over modulate the out of phase speaker (over excursion, not over modulate) ... I've heard of bass cabinets ripping apart drivers these way. Probably wouldn't be as much of a strain, but still I wouldn't try it except in an open back condition.
 
Re: Do you guys run your cabs in stereo or mono?

I have a Marshall 1/2 stack and I run off of only 2 of the 4 speakers at 8 ohms. It may be all in my head but I think that my JCM 800 head sounds better at 8 ohms. So you may find that running two 16 cabs for a total of 8 ohms sounds better than running a single 16 ohm cab, even though both ways are mono.

My main gigging amp is a Mesa Triaxis/2:90 rack that I run through two 8 ohm 90 watt Mesa 3/4 back cabs. This is a true stereo rig and the difference in tone is huge. For one, both sides of the 2:90 as well as both cabnets have a slightly different tone so the tone is a sum of both sides. Also, I run a slight 4 voice detune panned out across both channels with different ms delays which acts somewhat like a doubler.

Most of the clubs Im playing in lately run stereo PAs and even though the sound guys whine a little from time to time I still have them hang 2 mics for me, one a side. There is a very big difference in tone and it's very apparent both in rehearsal and in live situations. I also do some panned octave stuff and a panned tremolo/leslie thing that is stereo dependant as well as some panned 3 voice harmonizer stuff and both channels need to be there.

At 90 watts a side, I get stereo imaging whether the PA is mono or stereo and you can definately hear it live.
 
Re: Do you guys run your cabs in stereo or mono?

Kent S. said:
You know man, that reminds me of the passive radiator concept used in the hifi world and in some monitors ... interesting, I'm sure not quite the same using two dead speakers, but interesting just the same.
Very similar, yes ... and I agree, that would be fun to test out!
 
Re: Do you guys run your cabs in stereo or mono?

aleclee said:
IMO, it's not really "stereo" if each cab is getting the same signal, it's just "wide mono".
smile.gif
If you're running different sounding amps into each cab or using stereo delay/chorus, it sounds huge...but I don't do that these days.

Guess that puts me in the "mono" camp. :p

Exactly that's what I do for fattening up the sound as a single axeman in my band: guitar + ambien splitter + 2 different amps with different settings + 2 different cabs. Anyway, I wouldn't name it stereo because the amps get the same signal and there's no panorama effect, it just sounds like if there were 2 guitarists onstage. With the thick, dense yet articulate sound, I really don't miss an another guitarist :)
 
Re: Do you guys run your cabs in stereo or mono?

I used to run a stereo signal, but like NecroPolo, I ended up getting some phase cancellations, so it's just a wide mono signal now. My band is three piece and the signal is heavily processed and very wet, so I can cover a lot of space. I think it sounds pretty big.
 
Re: Do you guys run your cabs in stereo or mono?

Hellion said:
I used to run a stereo signal, but like NecroPolo, I ended up getting some phase cancellations, so it's just a wide mono signal now. My band is three piece and the signal is heavily processed and very wet, so I can cover a lot of space. I think it sounds pretty big.

I my experience, such a setup sounds much heavier than 2 guitarists playing along...
 
Re: Do you guys run your cabs in stereo or mono?

No soundman is going to run your rig stereo in a club anyway, so unless you just like the sound at home or rehearsal theres no point to it. I run 2 cabs mono live.
 
Re: Do you guys run your cabs in stereo or mono?

DirrtyCraig said:
No soundman is going to run your rig stereo in a club anyway, so unless you just like the sound at home or rehearsal theres no point to it. I run 2 cabs mono live.

Not necessarily, But more often than not the club will be mono. Some of the nicer clubs do go stereo though. Even mono though, a player running a stereo rig still gets the benefit of hearing him or herself in stereo ... which may aid or heighten their performance. An even if the audience doesn't get to hear in in stereo, often time you can makes your rig sound bigger and more complex ... Like Robert mentioned, you can run two separate tones, that although phase cancel some in the air, still sound much bigger, plus any phase cancellation is *natural sounding* ... as that's what we hear all day long anyway. Kinda like when people jumper the channels on a plexi (the bright and normal) ... a much bigger sound results, a similar thing ... running thru a couple different amps on stage ... again a much bigger, more complex, and dynamic sound with less *electronically mixed problems*.
SRV used to run several amps live (different types at least somewhere in his span), they were run thru a mono PA, but a much bigger sound.
As far as actual stereo effects, well the player benefits more, but things like a effect inverted chorus (the side to side swooshy one, yeah that one) gets phase cancelled in the miking process somewhat, but results in a very wide *even pitched* sound, but still thick and with a sense of motion to it.
 
Re: Do you guys run your cabs in stereo or mono?

Not quite the same as what you are asking about, but I do love playing through two amps, often in stereo. I find I can use less overall volume and get a cleaner tone that is less ear damaging and still get the sustain and big sound I love.

I'll generally use two small Fenders: two tweed Deluxes or two Deluxe Reverbs. I'll set them about 18" off the floor and spread them out maybe 2' or 3' from each other. I'll split the guitar signal with a stereo reverb, delay or chorus for a stereo effect...or I'll use my Kendrick A/B/C splitter box.

Lew
 
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