Merging and splitting signals?

DonRoos

I alternate between playing my Cort acoustic and my Tanglewood LP for gigs. I have been using two seperate signal paths and have to remember to kill the signal on a guitar before switching. For the Cort the signal is quite simple:

Cort -> Chorus -> DI Box -> PA OR
Cort -> Chorus -> Laney Acoustic amp -> DI out to PA

For the LP I have used:

LP -> Vox Amp -> SM58 -> PA

Now I have a ZOOM G3 pedal that does all kinds of amazing things (including some nice Chorus options that are far more sophisticated than my Chorus pedal) and I am considering something like this to use it on both guitars:

Cort -> -> VOX Amp
A/B Switch -> ZOOM -> A/B Switch
LP -> -> Laney Amp OR

Cort ->
A/B Switch -> ZOOM -> PA
LP ->

The second will probably work as long as I pay attention to levels but am I asking for trouble attempting the first? Will this cause problems with ground, interference, etc.? Has anyone tried anything similar?

AlanRatcliffe

Yeah, I've done both and my current system is far more complex.

Ground loops are always a possibility with any fairly complex signal path. However ground loops are always curable if you just take the time to track down the precise location of the loop.

The second is a far more preferable option for me though. Far less to worry about (and think about ?) during the chaosity of a gig. Dial up acoustic patches for acoustic and electric patches for electric and the only other thing you have to switch is your A/B. If you need on-stage monitoring, get a separate monitor feed back from the desk and use your Laney set pure.

DonRoos

Thanks Alan, I agree with option 2 and using my Laney as monitor (I have done this before using a DI for the acoustic).

I was thinking of option 1 more for smaller venues and doing vocals through the Laney. I built my own A/B/C box and was thinking of building a dual A/B if I can find a 3 pole stomp switch. I could then hit 1 switch and not run the risk of pumping an active signal into the VOX during switch over.

AlanRatcliffe

DonRoos wrote: I was thinking of option 1 more for smaller venues and doing vocals through the Laney.

Could you not just mix the vocals in and use the Laney for everything for smaller switches. Or something like the TC Electronic Voice Solo or other powered monitor that has an additional mic input? The Gear Junkies got the older TC Voice Solo secondhand ATM, BTW).

if I can find a 3 pole stomp switch.

http://www.guitarforum.co.za/classifieds/?sa=view;id=4449

DonRoos

Had some fun rewiring my pedal board today to attempt the second option and it all worked just fine. Even the patches I had created based on Alan's suggestions on another thread worked OK with the acoustic as well as the LP although the muff and tube screamer were pushing the concept a bit far on the Cort ?.

As an experiment I plugged my VOX into the Out jack and the Laney into the DI socket and was able to feed the signal to both amps at the same time! I also had my vocals into the Mic input on the Laney.

So I have now opened up several more layouts for various sized gigs from just the Laney to a full PA system with JBL's. Just a bit of over-kill setting up a 16 channel PA for a solo act! I have used the mini mixer on the JBL's (1 x XLR + 2 x Jacks) before with inputs from Mic, VOX and Laney and the other JBL as a monitor (bit big though). I can now input a Mic and the Zoom output and attempt to daisy the Laney off the JBL as a monitor as a possible solution.

Such fun! ?