Two mono pedals vs one stereo pedal

[IMENATOR]

I have already tried the idea of chorus left and echo rigth with my Truetone H2O v3 and it really enhances the clarity and definition of each effect when combined, but it is two pedals in one enclosure, it is designed to work like that. Do you know a reason why using two different mono FX pedals L and R could be a bad idea or problematic? Of course there is the inconvinience of activating both pedals simultaneusly with two footswitches but I can place them one next to the other to make it easier, and probably can just hit both at the same time in a single movement. Ground loops maybe?

Or maybe I should go the FX modeler path with flexible routing options instead?

Edit: My rig is an AMT SS-20 preamp into ISP Stealth stereo power amp into a couple guitar cabs with Celestion speakers. The FX pedals are placed between the preamp and power amp. It is all in a single pedal board for portablity, I still have room for a couple of boss sized pedals.

 

[Chistopher]

Two mono pedals in parallel will generally have some volume drop, whereas stereo pedals are designed to mitigate this.

 

[Hiwatts and Gibsons]

Most stereo pedals are purposefully tweaked so that both sides are tuned to work in conjunction with each other. That way you can use one knob to control the same parameter on each separate side and their back and forth ping pong is timed just right, or panning effect is in the correct phase correlation for the desired effect and the stereo field is enhanced. With two mono pedals you have to mess with settings on two separate pedals, and try to get them to line up just right, and you won't get the same subtle to extreme panning and sense of back and forth motion as you would with say a stereo phaser, flanger, chorus, or delay.

If by chance you are shopping for a stereo delay pedal I highly recommend searching out a Pigtronix Echolution 2D. They can be found dirt cheap these days compared to their cost new. The delays on them are spectacular sounding, and the built in all analog filter section is fantastic affording both good auto-Wah type sounds, and very thick and chewy lush stereo analog phase shifting. I generally lived on the Tape Delay, and Analog Delay settings with the Golden Ratio setting on. After my Fulltone Tube Tape Echo machine the Echolution 2D is the next best delay I ever played through, and definitely the best delay pedal I ever used.

 

[Mincer]

I say if you run a stereo rig, get a stereo pedal and signal chain. No reason to make things harder for you.

 

[GuitarStv]

Most stereo pedals are purposefully tweaked so that both sides are tuned to work in conjunction with each other. That way you can use one knob to control the same parameter on each separate side and their back and forth ping pong is timed just right, or panning effect is in the correct phase correlation for the desired effect and the stereo field is enhanced. With two mono pedals you have to mess with settings on two separate pedals, and try to get them to line up just right, and you won't get the same subtle to extreme panning and sense of back and forth motion as you would with say a stereo phaser, flanger, chorus, or delay.

+1

I came here to write this too. You can get a similar effect with two mono pedals (although getting something to go back and forth smoothly from one side to the other will be really tough to almost impossible to dial in), but it's usually going to be easier to get a good sound and easier to tweak a single stereo pedal.

 

[Hiwatts and Gibsons]

I say if you run a stereo rig, get a stereo pedal and signal chain. No reason to make things harder for you.

Filed under simple truths.

 

[IMENATOR]

Two mono pedals in parallel will generally have some volume drop, whereas stereo pedals are designed to mitigate this.

I already have a Boss DD8, each output is buffered, I would not expect volume drop from that.

 

[IMENATOR]

Most stereo pedals are purposefully tweaked so that both sides are tuned to work in conjunction with each other. That way you can use one knob to control the same parameter on each separate side and their back and forth ping pong is timed just right, or panning effect is in the correct phase correlation for the desired effect and the stereo field is enhanced. With two mono pedals you have to mess with settings on two separate pedals, and try to get them to line up just right, and you won't get the same subtle to extreme panning and sense of back and forth motion as you would with say a stereo phaser, flanger, chorus, or delay.

If by chance you are shopping for a stereo delay pedal I highly recommend searching out a Pigtronix Echolution 2D. They can be found dirt cheap these days compared to their cost new. The delays on them are spectacular sounding, and the built in all analog filter section is fantastic affording both good auto-Wah type sounds, and very thick and chewy lush stereo analog phase shifting. I generally lived on the Tape Delay, and Analog Delay settings with the Golden Ratio setting on. After my Fulltone Tube Tape Echo machine the Echolution 2D is the next best delay I ever played through, and definitely the best delay pedal I ever used.

I am not going after a single stereo fx, I am after TWO different FX, one on each channel, there will not be "same parameter" for left and right. My example was Chorus left Echo right. I may wanna try phaser left + echo right, or chorus left + reverb rigth. I am not after the sense of motion, I am after clarity of individual effects. Think of it as the benefits of wet-dry, not to enhance the dry sound clarity but to enhance each FX clarity. I may even just stack the pair of 1x12 one on top of the other, still an stereo rig but not looking for a big stereo field, just fx clarity/definition.

 

[Chistopher]

I already have a Boss DD8, each output is buffered, I would not expect volume drop from that.

That should work fine then. If you are using a non true-bypass pedal to split your signal each output will be roughly the same volume as the input. If you were to split the signal using a passive method each output would be half the volume of the input.

 

[Seashore]

I am not going after a single stereo fx, I am after TWO different FX, one on each channel, there will not be "same parameter" for left and right. My example was Chorus left Echo right. I may wanna try phaser left + echo right, or chorus left + reverb rigth. I am not after the sense of motion, I am after clarity of individual effects. Think of it as the benefits of wet-dry, not to enhance the dry sound clarity but to enhance each FX clarity. I may even just stack the pair of 1x12 one on top of the other, still an stereo rig but not looking for a big stereo field, just fx clarity/definition.

I've gotten great results doing this with my HX Effects. Usually find it sounds best as wet/dry, but also worked well with reverb and delays on one side, mod on the other, or use the "dry" side for my pitch effects. Easy to set up routing with multiple effects per side, and you can assign as many of them as you want to a single footswitch, if you need that kind of convenience.

With individual pedals per side I've found it to be more of a crap shoot. Noisier, harder to control, more complicated setup, sometimes phase issues. Haven't done that as much.

 

[Mincer]

I could see individual pedals per side working if you have some kind of a switcher where you can program the different changes on 1 switch. I'd think it would be a pain otherwise. But also, the HX Effects can do this well.

 

[IMENATOR]

I've gotten great results doing this with my HX Effects. Usually find it sounds best as wet/dry, but also worked well with reverb and delays on one side, mod on the other, or use the "dry" side for my pitch effects. Easy to set up routing with multiple effects per side, and you can assign as many of them as you want to a single footswitch, if you need that kind of convenience.

With individual pedals per side I've found it to be more of a crap shoot. Noisier, harder to control, more complicated setup, sometimes phase issues. Haven't done that as much.

Thanks, flexibility to re-route or re-do without no re-wiring actual patch cables sounds so interesting. I will keep an eye on the HX FX or stomp.