It is currently Mon Mar 16, 2020 5:23 pm

All times are UTC - 7 hours



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 10 posts ] 
Author Message
Post subject: Hooking guitar amps together on stage
Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:09 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:05 am
Posts: 6
Thank you for you time. I have always been a single amp on stage guitarist. I am now going to the use of 4 guitar amps, all hooked together somehow to utilize the power of all 4.

I've seen it done a thousand times but I can't find anyone who knows how to do it. If I buy 4 Fender Frontman 212r, how will I do it?......will I run from 'Preamp Out' of amp 1 to guitar input of amp 2, etc. or is that safe? If I buy Fenders with a "Line Out" jack, will I use that, or is THAT safe?

Long ago, Fender amps used to have their inputs in parallel and could 'daisy-chain' like that. Was THAT safe?

And if I buy something other than Fender , what am I likely to face and how can I hook 4 together safely in the general case?

I'm sorry to trouble you, but I know that someone knows this. And I can't believe that guitarists have been using some kind of splitter box for the last 40 years. Thank you so much.

Brian


Top
Profile
Fender Play Winter Sale 2020
Post subject:
Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:37 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist
User avatar

Joined: Fri May 09, 2008 6:35 pm
Posts: 21
Location: Sacramento, CA
Can you give examples of artists you know that use multiple amps in parallel?
I think you might be confusing speaker cabinets for entire amps. In huge venues (like arenas) what you are seeing is just one amp (or one pre-amp and two power amps) running into multiple cabinets.

_________________
"Don't be fooled into thinking there has to be a reason for everything."


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Hooking guitar amps together on stage
Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:39 am
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:44 am
Posts: 7282
Location: Washington
axuality wrote:
Long ago, Fender amps used to have their inputs in parallel and could 'daisy-chain' like that. Was THAT safe?


Yes. That's the way I'd do it.

_________________
Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Image


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:56 am
Offline
Amateur
Amateur
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jun 09, 2008 11:32 am
Posts: 112
Location: Ottawa
Buying cabinet's and a head(or combo) would be more affordable and easier (unless you have a bunch of 212's chilling).
Remember whatever you do don't forget basic connection rules (series/parallel):

Series:
R = resistance (the ohm rating of your loudspeaker)
T = total

THE FORMULA: RT = R1 + R2 + R 3 etc....

If we have 4 speakers, each with a 4 Ohm rating, using the above equation for our example gives: 4+4+4+4 = 16, RT = 16 Ohms

So, in this case 16 Ohms of resistance is presented to the amp, or in other words, the output current of the amp would meet with 16 Ohms of load resistance.


Parallel:
THE FORMULA: 1/Rt = 1/R1 + 1/R2 + 1/R3 + etc.

Most people put enclosures of the same impedance in a parallel circuit (wiring separate enclosures in series is kind of a pain). If you do this it's all just a matter of dividing that impedance by the number of speakers. If you connect speakers of different impedances, the power output will be greater to some, less to others, which means some will be louder than others.
Example; Two 16-ohm loads in parallel = 16 ?= 4 ohms
(Similarly, two 8-ohm loads in parallel = 8 ?= 4 ohms).


Parallel law is the one you need to be most familiar with because when it comes to hooking-up cabinets to combos or heads it is almost always done in parallel.

Let's suppose that you have a Marshall DSL100 head and a Marshall 1960A and 1960B.


1. Make sure both cabinets are switched to Mono operation.

2. Make sure you have two SPEAKER cables to do the hook-up with (NEVER use guitar cables).

3. Plug one end of one lead into the 16 Ohm, MONO input of the 1960A (NOT the 4 Ohm input...remember, there are two due to the stereo option).

4. Plug one end of the other cable into the16 Ohm, MONO input of the 1960B.

5. Since we're hooking two 16 Ohm cabinets to our DSL100 head in parallel, let's plug R1 (16) and R2 (also 16) into our trusty formula:


1/RT = 1/16 + 1/16, RT = 8 ohms


6. Set the 4 Ohm/8 Ohm switch below the two parallel speaker outputs on the back panel of our DSL100, plug the speaker cable ends into said outputs....

7. Switch the amp on, plug in your axe, dial in a tone and rock!!


***Simplified version of the Parallel law is this:****

Whenever you're connecting two cabinets of the same impedance (and let's call that impedance "X") in parallel, the resulting impedance is X/2.


So, a 16 & 16 = 8; 8 & 8 = 4; 4 & 4 = 2, etc...

p.


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:58 am
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2008 12:58 pm
Posts: 7714
Location: Planet Earth
Why would you do that anyway? A Marshall head and a pair
of 4 X 12 cabinets all you need thats the stuff you see on stage.
Just stand in front of a 100watt head and a few 4x12 cabs.

_________________
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 9:51 am
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:40 pm
Posts: 2594
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
(axuality, I moved this thread from our "Lounge" area over to our Amps section. --ForumAdmin)

_________________
Director at Fender. Guitarist & guitar collector. All views/opinions expressed here are my own and not Fender’s.

Follow me on Instagram:
@brad_on_guitar

And on Facebook:
facebook.com/bradonguitar


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:01 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:05 am
Posts: 6
Krelian wrote:
Can you give examples of artists you know that use multiple amps in parallel?
I think you might be confusing speaker cabinets for entire amps. In huge venues (like arenas) what you are seeing is just one amp (or one pre-amp and two power amps) running into multiple cabinets.



Hendrix, Page. In fact most major artists who I see have multiple cabinets AND multiple heads.


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:03 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:05 am
Posts: 6
cvilleira wrote:
Why would you do that anyway? A Marshall head and a pair
of 4 X 12 cabinets all you need thats the stuff you see on stage.
Just stand in front of a 100watt head and a few 4x12 cabs.


Well, four Fender twins have 400w which gives headroom over 100w even tho they're Marshall watts. And I think Fender sound more 'neutral'. I think Marshall has its own sound, which is a wonderful sound, but not the one I want in this case. Good question.


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:05 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:05 am
Posts: 6
phuot wrote:
Buying cabinet's and a head(or combo) would be more affordable and easier (unless you have a bunch of 212's chilling).
Remember whatever you do don't forget basic connection rules (series/parallel):

Series:
R = resistance (the ohm rating of your loudspeaker)
T = total

THE FORMULA: RT = R1 + R2 + R 3 etc....

If we have 4 speakers, each with a 4 Ohm rating, using the above equation for our example gives: 4+4+4+4 = 16, RT = 16 Ohms

So, in this case 16 Ohms of resistance is presented to the amp, or in other words, the output current of the amp would meet with 16 Ohms of load resistance.


Parallel:
THE FORMULA: 1/Rt = 1/R1 + 1/R2 + 1/R3 + etc.

Most people put enclosures of the same impedance in a parallel circuit (wiring separate enclosures in series is kind of a pain). If you do this it's all just a matter of dividing that impedance by the number of speakers. If you connect speakers of different impedances, the power output will be greater to some, less to others, which means some will be louder than others.
Example; Two 16-ohm loads in parallel = 16 ?= 4 ohms
(Similarly, two 8-ohm loads in parallel = 8 ?= 4 ohms).


Parallel law is the one you need to be most familiar with because when it comes to hooking-up cabinets to combos or heads it is almost always done in parallel.

Let's suppose that you have a Marshall DSL100 head and a Marshall 1960A and 1960B.


1. Make sure both cabinets are switched to Mono operation.

2. Make sure you have two SPEAKER cables to do the hook-up with (NEVER use guitar cables).

3. Plug one end of one lead into the 16 Ohm, MONO input of the 1960A (NOT the 4 Ohm input...remember, there are two due to the stereo option).

4. Plug one end of the other cable into the16 Ohm, MONO input of the 1960B.

5. Since we're hooking two 16 Ohm cabinets to our DSL100 head in parallel, let's plug R1 (16) and R2 (also 16) into our trusty formula:


1/RT = 1/16 + 1/16, RT = 8 ohms


6. Set the 4 Ohm/8 Ohm switch below the two parallel speaker outputs on the back panel of our DSL100, plug the speaker cable ends into said outputs....

7. Switch the amp on, plug in your axe, dial in a tone and rock!!


***Simplified version of the Parallel law is this:****

Whenever you're connecting two cabinets of the same impedance (and let's call that impedance "X") in parallel, the resulting impedance is X/2.


So, a 16 & 16 = 8; 8 & 8 = 4; 4 & 4 = 2, etc...

p.


Thanks for all your info. :) Good show.


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:53 am
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Mon Nov 05, 2007 7:15 pm
Posts: 645
Location: I don't even know that!
The reason that they have a couple of stacks is so they have one for clean, one for distortion, and one or two backups.

_________________
2007 USA Deluxe Strat,
2007 Gibson SG Special w/ a Bigsby B5
2006 MIJ Strat,
2008 Champ 600,
2009 Blues Jr.,
TS9
Vox Wah
BBE Soul Vibe
EHX Holy Grail Reverb
BOSS RC-20XL Loop Station
BOSS DS-1
Crybaby Wah


Top
Profile
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 10 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 7 hours

Fender Play Winter Sale 2020

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: