Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Is there anyone using the stereo capability to feed two channels through a pedalboard then combine the two signals in a single channel.

If so what type of mixer do you use?

I am thinking of running the neck p/u through an EBS multicomp then the bridge p/u through a Multicomp, and other effects, recombine the two channel through a 2 to 1 mixer pedal (if such a thing exists).

My Orange have a single channel and running two amps is two much of an hassle.

Any ideas?

I never thought of doing that. Sounds interesting. I hope you can post sound clips when you get your rig up and running.
JimK

I'm wondering if you could use a ROS box in reverse to go from stereo to mono instead of the other way 'round. Seems to me I've read about this long ago; I think you may need to re-wire the ROS box to accomplish this, but from what I've heard, the wiring isn't too complicated in there.

Basically, use a stereo instrument cable to your desired effects and then two short cables to the modded ROS box and a single cable from ROS to amp.

As a final thought, lugging two rigs around is a hassle, but man, the sound is great.

Wouldn't an ABY pedal do the trick.

An easy way would be to use a small mixing board (like a PA). Run each pickup into a separate channel of the mixer, set the level and feed the output of the mixer to your amp.

--jack

I do this - kind of. I run separate channels (via Rick-O-Sound jack and a stereo cable) into separate pre-amps (SansAmp RBI/RPM), then run the outputs of those through things like compressors and such. No real effects pedals though, I figured if I wanted those I'd stick 'em in the SansAmp effect loops. Then I mix the signals later with a custom mixer I made.

Anyway, yes, the modified Rick-O-Sound box idea would work, but you don't need to go buy one of those. You might get away with just using a Y cable with 2 mono plugs going to a single mono plug, but this would depend on the design of the output circuits of the pedals. They might end up fighting each other both trying to drive.

A better way would be to make your own passive mixer. This is just like the Y cable I described, but with resistors in line with each input. This is what would go inside the modified Rick-O-Sound box. Something like 5k ohm would probably be fine. You'd lose a tiny bit of output, but not enough to worry about. Might take a bit of playing around to find the right value resistor. Or, you could even put in a couple of 10k pots and have the ability to adjust the volume of each side in the mixed signal...

I am more looking into an active mixing device, preferably in pedal form, than a passive one. Anyone have tried the Boss LS2?

Looks like it may give me what I am looking for. The Morley ABY Mix looks alright too. Though it is a passive design.

The Morley ABY is just switches, which short the 2 inputs together. This is pretty much the same as the Y cable, but with options to select which is connected. As I mentioned before, you might be OK with this, depending on what comes before it. Some pedals may not like their outputs trying to drive against another pedal's outputs directly - might load the output significantly to cause distortion of the sound, and maybe even damage (though that is unlikely, but it depends on the exact circuit).

I haven't seen a schematic for the Boss LS-2, but from the specs and block diagram in the user's manual, it's definitely a buffered unit (1M ohm inputs, 1k outputs) and so should be no issue to whatever you put before it. Looks like it has plenty of routing options too, so should definitely get the job done and give plenty of options for other effects as well...

cjj wrote:The Morley ABY is just switches, which short the 2 inputs together. This is pretty much the same as the Y cable, but with options to select which is connected. As I mentioned before, you might be OK with this, depending on what comes before it. Some pedals may not like their outputs trying to drive against another pedal's outputs directly - might load the output significantly to cause distortion of the sound, and maybe even damage (though that is unlikely, but it depends on the exact circuit).

I haven't seen a schematic for the Boss LS-2, but from the specs and block diagram in the user's manual, it's definitely a buffered unit (1M ohm inputs, 1k outputs) and so should be no issue to whatever you put before it. Looks like it has plenty of routing options too, so should definitely get the job done and give plenty of options for other effects as well...

I am pretty partial to a buffered unit for the reasons you mentioned. As far as pedal, besides the Boss, I also found the FEALab mixer that also looks interesting. Anyway, time to order, try and report.

I find there is a big difference in how a Ric sound when you hook it in stereo. Seems it is responding much "quicker" on transients for the lack of a better term to describe the difference.