croSSed Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 Hey. I have HD500X and am presently using an Electro-Harmonix 44 Magnum digital "stomp box" power amp, which has been great for doing mono live stuff with my HD. However, I'd like to start running stereo as I have 2 two-twelve speaker cabs. The 44 Magnum is amplification ONLY; does not color the sound, and is PLENTY loud for any work I do. What other options do I have for running stereo w/o breaking the bank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pianoguyy Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 why not buy a 2nd 44? Run one left and one right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
croSSed Posted April 13, 2016 Author Share Posted April 13, 2016 why not buy a 2nd 44? Run one left and one right. Mmm, yeah; I could do this. I was thinking of running like a stereo studio reference amp, though. Maybe I'm over thinking... Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pianoguyy Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 I will also toss this out there... It is one thing to run stereo in the pa. But why would you need to hear yourself in stereo as well? I would think that a summed mono is more than adequate for monitoring yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DunedinDragon Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 I will also throw this out there as well. If you're going through a house PA most sound people will resist doing stereo panning on two channels because in a live environment it really doesn't work all that well given the nature of the room and the dispersion of the people to the left and right of the PA speakers. It's not very likely your stereo effect will be heard correctly by most of the audience. Stereo panning effects are generally something best left to recordings where you can be more assured the people or person listening to it are somewhat centered between the speakers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcbeddall Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 That's my experience too, soundguys tend to not like it, for good reason as mentioned by dragon. It can be nice for monitoring yourself but once the novelty wears off you will probably tire of lugging the extra gear around Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinon2 Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 There's really no point in trying to go stereo in a live situation. Aside from the fact that the only person who's gonna get the full effect is the guy who happens to be standing dead center between your speakers, you run the risk of irritating your bandmate(s)...as whomever is on the opposite side of the stage is only gonna hear half of your stereo FX. That can get confusing with a lot of other noise swirling around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiatfan Posted April 15, 2016 Share Posted April 15, 2016 Since I have a similar gear, I´d like to chime in. For the record I haven´t had time to test the setup yet, waiting for some cables. I bought a dead cheap power amp that has been used in a PA system, and will use it just the way croSSed is thinking of. The difference being that I have a 4x12 cabinet, and I´ll probably rewire the speaker elements so that I can run stereo within the 4x12, in pairs of 2. The reason for that is 1: I want to use the balanced outputs from the 500x, and as I understand it there is no way to run them in mono? And 2: The power amp I bought is an enormous overkill effect wise, so I don´t want to run that in bridge mode, instead I rewire the 4x12 and get two channels which will be 16 ohms and can at least turn the volume knobs up a bit....;-) Anyone thinks this could work? When using just a very small portion of the power amps total output, could that effect the sound much? Tommy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexKenivel Posted April 15, 2016 Share Posted April 15, 2016 I used to run a thousand watt Solid State carvin dcm1000 PA power amp to power either by 212 and/or my 412 cabinet before I went to FR speakers. it was plenty loud and didn't color the sound Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
croSSed Posted April 15, 2016 Author Share Posted April 15, 2016 Power amps, by design, are not supposed to color the sound at all. That only happens when you turn them up too far and they start to clip. That's another reason why power amps have so much wattage; they build in headroom so they don't clip. I don't know if I've said this yet, but the 44 Magnum "stomp box" amp, along with the master volume of the HD 500X, gives me PLENTY of volume. I can make it painfully loud if I want to running through a 2 12 cab. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexKenivel Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 But can it hold up against a drummer and another guitar player with a tube combo? I guess it really depends on what kind of music you're playing. You wanted to know if you had any options for running sound in stereo, something the .44 can't do. A two channel solid state poweramp could run two cabinets in stereo but they would both share the available wattage. I had my eye on a Crown XLS1500 after my Carvin crapped out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
croSSed Posted April 16, 2016 Author Share Posted April 16, 2016 But can it hold up against a drummer and another guitar player with a tube combo? Absolutely. I think I'm going to get another one, not so much so that I can run stereo, but so I can run two cabs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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