Planning my new setup

[Keven]

Hi Guys :D

so, some people told me i'm crazy for trying this, but i want an honest viable opinion.

the SD-1 fixed most of my low volume overdrive issues, as we've had quiet band practice tonight and recorded some stuff and the guitar sounds great. cranked up on saturday it'll be better. now the plan.

since switching to a simple setup, i've found myself dancing between switching the OD off and changing the channel to get a clean tone. since, sadly, this is metal we play, the clean tone changes are quite abrubt and not really suited for a guitar volume cleanup, though i could use my volume pedal right after the guitar but it would also lower volume. which would require a compressor to even it out, and that's more pedaling


AAAANYWAY... i have a 100w tube EL34 head (The ycs100h2 I'm a traynor whore, and being canadian, traynor is still made in toronto so i'm sold) the plan is to a) Buy the YCS50 head, which is a 50w class AB with a low power 15w mode. use that for overdriven tones. use my 100w head for clean tones. buy a 1x12 or 2x12 cab (the 2x12 cab traynor sells is filled with celestion 7080... eecch. their 1x12 is vintage30 loaded.) i figure a single 1x12 is enough to handle nice clean tones at a decent volume for metal (interludes and stuff... drum isn't very loud...)

so the 50w head at 15w mode would be running my 4x12 cab for added bottom end. and the 100w head at 30w mode would be running the 1x12. higher wattage for clean for maximal headroom at a sane volume. going from the guitar, the chain would go

                                            A==OD====Amp1(YCS50 at 15w mode on drive)==(FX parallel loop)===4x12cab
Guitar===WAH===A/B BOX
                                            B==COMP==Amp2(YCS100 at 30w mode run clean)===(FX parallel loop)===1x12 cab

what do you guys think, is this a bit borderline insane on my quest for a practical good sounding setup or is this just a clever way of getting switching ease with a bit more dough spent?

also. suggest an AB box which would be able to do the work without any bleed. i'd like passive, but if active is what i need, i'm more than willing to buy that trinket, as you can see from my willingless to buy another head and cab :P

[hamfist]

SOunds like a good plan Keven, if you're prepared to lump around all that gear. If you're not intending to ever want to be playing both amps at once then a true-bypass passive type AB switch will be fine, although make sure that each output is grounded when not in use, to reduce noise on the unused amp.

 On that subject ....  the background noise of your dirty amp, when not in use could be an issue. WHen you are playing some delicate, clean interludey bit on your clean amp, you don't want to be hearing all the background noise from your dirty amp, so noise reduction might be a serious issue.

[Keven]

You have a good point! but  I have a volume pedal in the inline loop (after my preamp into my poweramp) so i can probably find time to quickly roll off the volume on the dirty amp after the first beat or so of the clean part.

Also, i've given this some thought and this doesn't really fix my switching issues in a relatively correct time span, so i was thinking to A/B my poweramp instead until i get two heads

the basic Idea is the same, but involves one amp and two preamps.
                                     ADA MP1 Preamp run clean=====
Guitar ===Wah===A/B                                                      Volume Pedal===PowerampIN
                                     OD===Traynor Preamp=======

Basically i'd need a passive A/B Box, and a Y cable plugged into my volume pedal. I have a poweramp input on my home practice amp to try this out as i'm not too sure a Y cable will work that great on amp stuff, but it might be a good placeholder..