Tactics for doubling / thickening stereo sound live when only 1 guitarist

FarleyUK

FarleyUK

Inspired
I know there are a few threads around double tracking in a studio or on a recording, but what's everyone's approach to doing it live....?

I'm the only guitar player in a few bands, and what I've tended to do in the past is run 2 amp and cab blocks in parallel. In the second row of the amp and cab I have a mono delay set to 100% mix and between 20-30ms delay. Both parallel rows then merge into a mixer, where I control the second row's mix with a foot controller to bring it in and out as needed. Each row is set to be hard panned as well (with the bottom row hard L and top row hard R):

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Now, to my ears it seems the mono delay is somehow affecting the tone of the top row there, but I'm also curious if there's a 'better' way to get the sound thicker using this kind of approach...? Would, for example, skipping the mixer, hard panning the cabs and using the enhancer block be better?

Appreciate it's all subjective, but any other approached people use would be great to know.
 
Budda said:
How does the whole band sound live? Does it sound better when you run a mono path? Can the bass player help fill things out more?
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Personally, I think it sounds better with a wider guitar sound (and having two distinct tones in the left and right). Bass player does what he can, but I've never thought that it's good enough for me to just go mono.
 
Since you're in stereo, try this: Run two different amps panned hard L / R, into a stereo cab, with two IRs panned hard L / R, and on the align tab in the cab block, turn the align knob for one IR all the way opposite of the other........sounds great through studio monitors anyway.
 
Rock Chalk said:
Since you're in stereo, try this: Run two different amps panned hard L / R, into a stereo cab, with two IRs panned hard L / R, and on the align tab in the cab block, turn the align knob for one IR all the way opposite of the other........sounds great through studio monitors anyway.
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That’s a thought! 🫵🏼👊🏼
 
I've being doing this for years and the method I like the best is to just use one amp but delay one side 20ms. Seems like anything more and it just muddies things up and anything less just isn't enough. The Fractal stereoizer didn't do it for me, at all.

You can download my preset here and try it out if you like: http://www.ChildrenOfTheGraveBand.com/AtomicaHighStereo.syx

My preset is configured for going into the effects return of a tube amp into a guitar cab. If you're going direct, then turn on PowerAmp modeling and pick your favorite cab/IR.
 
Joel.Brown333 said:
I've being doing this for years and the method I like the best is to just use one amp but delay one side 20ms. Seems like anything more and it just muddies things up and anything less just isn't enough. The Fractal stereoizer didn't do it for me, at all.

You can download my preset here and try it out if you like: http://www.ChildrenOfTheGraveBand.com/AtomicaHighStereo.syx

My preset is configured for going into the effects return of a tube amp into a guitar cab. If you're going direct, then turn on PowerAmp modeling and pick your favorite cab/IR.
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Your preset download doesnt work for me - not sure why.
 
I have tried using the Enhancer block live while running in stereo, and it just sounds out of phase out front. Sound great in the in ears though.
 
Yea, definitely check out the Cooper Carter Mimiq trick mentioned above. That said, I run my Mimiq in the loop of my Axe- I mean, I have the darn pedal and it does a pretty great job, so why not. It's all just integrated into my board. Makes everything very W I D E . . .
 
FarleyUK said:
Personally, I think it sounds better with a wider guitar sound (and having two distinct tones in the left and right). Bass player does what he can, but I've never thought that it's good enough for me to just go mono.
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Ok but not personally, how does the band feel about the band sound? Is everyone on the same page?
 
DLC86 said:
That's what the classic enhancer does
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Yeah, but for some reason when I tried the classic enhancer, it didn't sound the same as using a Delay Effect with a Right Post Delay of 20ms. But now that you reminded me, I'm going back and try it again. All I remember is the classic enhancer didn't do it for me.
 
I tend to have two amps with slightly different EQ on each (slightly different gain, one brighter one darker, sort of thing), panned left and right.

Then a Cab block in stereo, and select close'ish IRs for left and right, but not exactly the same (all the Left slots panned left, right slots panned right), then pass it through the Enhancer block in Sterorizer mode with Width set to 100% and Depth between 50% and 100% - this is assuming a stereo rig.
 
Joel.Brown333 said:
Yeah, but for some reason when I tried the classic enhancer, it didn't sound the same as using a Delay Effect with a Right Post Delay of 20ms. But now that you reminded me, I'm going back and try it again. All I remember is the classic enhancer didn't do it for me.
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Well, you need to set depth (which is the delay time) to what corresponds to 20 ms if you want them to sound the same, iirc it's 25ms when it's set at 100%.
 
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