stereo sound out of monaural amp

  • Thread starter Thread starter pchorman
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pchorman

pchorman

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Hi Folks, first posting here:

Can anyone advise me on the "best" way to obtain a stereo-chorus type effect from a mono amp? My amp is a Mesa Nomad which has an effects loop that's mixable with the main signal. Would it be worthwhile trying (or even possible) to feed one output channel of a stereo-chorus into the amp input, and the second output channel into the return jack of the effects loop? I imagine that once combined there wouldn't much sereo sound left, but maybe there's some phasing that takes place between channels that would be captured. Or, if a flanger, phase shifter or delay mixed in with the original signal can accomplish something similar, please advise.

Thanks,
Phil
 
Hi and welcome! True stereo requires that the sound come from 2 sources,like 2 speakers separated by a couple of feet.You'll probably hear the effect of the chorus by doing what you described,but since all the sound would be coming out of the one location(regardless of how many speaks your cabinet has)it will be Mono Chorus.BTW,I own a Nomad 45 2x12,great amp!I also have a Digitech Valve FX and When I really have to have stereo I run 1 side into the Boogie and the other to another amp.Frankly though,most of the time running the 1 amp does me just fine.I know it's more bucks to get another amp,BUT it doesn't have to be another $999 Boogie 'cause you really only need it to give you the other side of the chorus.Cheers!
 
thanks for the feedback (no pun there). I do have another tube amp (a Peavey Bravo 112) and can always do what you've tried, but I considered it a real bother to deal with both, not to mention the difficulty posed when it comes time for footswitching to a dirty channel.

When you use your fx in a stereo mode do you typically pipe only one channel through the amp? Are you satisfied with the sound?
 
The way I've been doing it is to plug my guitar into the Boogie,then run a cable from the Boogie's FX send to the line input on my Valve FX,then a cable from the left output of the Valve FX to the return of the Boogie,and another from the right output of the Valve FX to the other amp.This way,I'm still using the 3 channels of the Nomad as my guitar sound shaper and I can use all the functions on the Nomad footswitch as well,just as it would be if I wasn't using FX,and I have the Digitech Control One footswitch to change programs on the Valve FX.If you are using other equipment(FX) than this,you may have to futz with the send level on your Boogie and the input on your FX to get the levels right,but it does sound cool to have the Boogie tone w/stereo FX...Cheers!
 
I'm not following you around virtual ray - You can create a chorus with a stereo delay unit with delays in the 40 - 100ms (preferably in tempo with the track) with one like 40ms left and the other 80ms right and modulate the delays quite quickly but with not much depth and a touch of feedback.
 
Nice tip Virtual.Ray - I hadn't thought of using the Nomad's preamp in this way. I've had the second amp for just a couple weeks now so the experimenting is about to begin.
 
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