Name:    Steve Kennedy
Email:   steve@pacair.com  
Subject: Using 2 Amp Channels Simultaneously!
Thread:  182
Time:    Thu, 4 Oct 2001 19:39:16 UTC

Tim outlined the first three reasons (Fender standard method, multiple players using one amp and the two different sensitivities).


However, the fourth reason is a really cool little-used "feature". This is to tie the two different channels together on a two-channel amp.


This is commonly used on older Marshall heads to tie multiple heads together, but it works in an entirely different manner when you tie two channles of the same amp together!


Plug your guitar into Channel 1, Input 1. Take a short cord (1 or 2 foot cords work nice for this) and connect Channel 1 Input 2 to Channel 2 Input 1.


What this does essentially ties the two channels together in parallel. Your guitar drives both. However, because the channels are RARELY identical, they are usually out-of-phase at the point in the circuit where they sum before driving the output stage.


This means you can get all sorts of tonalities, signal summing and signal cancellation ("phasing") effects. You can make the amp sound crisper, more delicate or get more "body" or punch than you can possibly get with one channel alone. Every controal can have a much more dramatic effect.


You also get access to all the features of both channels. By inserting an effect or pedal in series with the link between channels you can further experiment with a psuedo-parallel effects loop with full tone control!


If you want to use Reverb or another amp effect on the other side of the effect or pedal, just reverse the channels!


The possibilities are almost endless and great fun to explore if you have never tried it! It is one of my favorite "tricks".


Steve