A Change of Setup

[Danny Mitchell]

Completely agree with Basil on this point, Davie. Mono in, stereo out. Those lugs on either side of our nappers perceive the world in glorious stereo. "Lush", to quote anyone out of Gavin & Stacey, and "The best of all possible worlds", to quote Doctor Pangloss.
The only downside would be humphing another cab.

[Basil Henriques]

Completely agree with Basil on this point, Davie. Mono in, stereo out. Those lugs on either side of our nappers perceive the world in glorious stereo. "Lush", to quote anyone out of Gavin & Stacey, and "The best of all possible worlds", to quote Doctor Pangloss.
The only downside would be humphing another cab.

NOT if he does what I suggested Danny; a V front cab like the old dominator..That would give an adequate spread, On reflection I may go that road myself..

[Davie Holland]

I`m sorry...not getting it...didnt think 2 x mono made stereo, and to be honest, dont really want to play in stereo. Just want steel to amp to speaker(s).

[Basil Henriques]

Yup, you don't get it, but don't worry, whatever floats your boat, it's not set in stone except for the facts that the effects units, like reverberation, delay and most time manipulation pedals or units all generate stereo ambiences and replicate a stereo environment, the signal of the left and right channels is NOT identical as per 2 x mono. A mono signal fed to them is then placed in this environment which is definitely not 2 x mono.

All commercial recordings use the principal of a mono feed and a stereo return to most instruments and voices with the left and right or off centre positions being treated as though they were located in that position in a real environment. Usually, it's only occasionally that a delay is repeated on the opposite side to a panned input signal, so in all intents and purposes 'Mono in Stereo out' is the norm and has been for 70 years or so..
Every steel guitar you hear on record is in stereo regarding its position in the mix distance from the front and pan position. Since 1963 I have settled for nothing less because I didn't need to or wish to compromise.

[Basil Henriques]

I`m sorry...not getting it...didnt think 2 x mono made stereo, and to be honest, dont really want to play in stereo. Just want steel to amp to speaker(s).

The why do all the major manufacturers have stereo returns on their fx channels ?
Everybody plays in stereo anyway, to the listener; and the exact position of their sound is usually determined by the desk engineer who usually adds reverb or delay to place them back from centre front.
Just check out the left and right parameters on a reverb or delay unit/pedal, they are different values to represent the different shaped environments.

[Malcolm]

Davie, if it helps I am using two different rigs, one is a Joyo American Sound stomp box Pedal acting as preamp, into Digitech RP150 ( just use the left output Marked Mono use) into a Jay Ganz Straight Ahead 500watt class D amp, ( just slightly larger than a normal stomp box for those who have not seen one) into a tweed covered old Nashville 400 cab fitted with Telonics neo 15inch 4ohm. Had absolutely no problem with it, whole lot weighs in around 25 lbs. Second rig is a 12inch 4ohm Sica neo speaker in a small open back cab, (about 20lbs)which I can use for smaller gigs with the Joyo/Digitech/ Straight Ahead , or my stand by amp a GK MB200 which is built into the speaker cab for emergencies, which so far have not happened.

Middle pic is of both cabs when I was using Quilter Steelaire head. I prefer the sound of the 12inch speaker.

[Billy White]

Check out "duophonic" in wiki. May help.

[Malcolm]

Davie, just another thought, the Telonics 15 you have is the same one fitted in the Telonics amps which I believe are 500watts, so can’t see there would be a problem.

[Haddock]

With an instrument amp, I’m always happier with a bigger wattage speaker than the amp, especially if any distortion is getting used. Marshall 100w stacks used to have at least 200w worth of speakers. My wee Fender is 40 watts and I’ve got a 100w speaker in that. I think you’ll be fine and most amps these days can cope with being open circuit so the second channel shouldn’t cause any problems by not having a speaker load on it. I install lots of sound systems where the amp is much bigger than the speaker but usually there’s a system controller that compares the output with the input and looks after the speakers. Guitar amps don’t have this.

I’ll speak up in defence of mono as well. I worked in studios right through the period in the 80’s and 90’s when digital effects were becoming affordable and suddenly everyone wanted to be stereo. Guitarists would have their pedalboards with stereo chorus, ping pong delays and big lush reverbs but by far the worst were keyboards. Even basic piano sounds would be loaded up with reverbs and the first thing I would do is get players to switch them all off. A lot of these sound that folk were making sounded great on their own but if you tried to mix it all together, the result was a mess. Stereo keyboards, stereo guitars, even bass players were into it during that awful period when the bass became neckwear that you hit. And then off course drummers had to be panned right across the speakers so that they could go biddily biddily biddily biddily bosh round the kit! Most ‘stereo’ recordings are actually stereo mixes of a load of mono sources. Listen to the Beatles tracks mixed in mono as they were originally to hear how good they sound. True stereo recording with a stereo mic setup is a different kettle of fish and sounds great but is more common in classical recording.

Just a last thought. Has anyone recorded steel in 5.1 surround?

Cheers
Calum

[Danny Mitchell]

....that awful period when the bass became neckwear that you hit......