Crossfade between 2 Amps w/ Spillover Delays

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Hoffmancody72

Member
Hey Guys. I'm currently working on a single patch, containing two separate signal amp/chains. I am looking to control the volume of each with a single expression pedal. Toe down=Amp/Chain 1 and Toe Up=Amp/Chain 2. Each amp/chain will have separate delays. One thing I would like to do is have the delays spillover normally over the top when switching to the opposite chain. Any tips on how to accomplish this with the least number of blocks possible?

Thanks!
 
Here's one way:

Put your delays anywhere after your amps. Then attach your expression pedal to the Level parameter of both amps.
 
I tried this once a few months back and had some issues with it. I have a filter block before one amp acting as a volume to control some of the gain, connected to exp 1. For some reason I got a ridiculous amount of feedback when exp 1:gain and exp 2: to control the crossfade were both toe down. I could never quite figure out why.
 
Try a volume block after each amp, linear taper. The amp level controls don't go to complete silence and you might find linear taper gives a more even crossfade. The feedback might have been because you were turning an amp to maximum level if modifier end was at 100%.
 
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Something's not right, then. When you get uncontrolled feedback, either there's a feedback loop somewhere, or there's too much gain. Microphonic pickups can cause it. So can bad cables, cracked solder joints in the guitar, and a host of other stuff.

One major culprit is — gasp! — too much gain. Certain combinations of amp sims and drive pedal sims can cause feedback when things are cranked. If your crossfade takes the Level parameter all the way to max (which you should never need to do), that can contribute to the problem. Check the patch for excessive gain or overly hot levels. Tab your guitar and wiggle your cables, looking for microphonics.
 
The amp level silence issue must be the culprit. Both of these chains/amps I currently have under two separate patches, including what I'm doing with the exp 1 for gain. I literally copied and pasted one chain into the other chains patch and threw in the new modifiers on the level, with the opposite curves. I did check to see how hot the level's were being pushed, which were maxing at the level they were initially set at without the modifier.

Vol blocks sound like the way to go, unless there is somehow a way to accomplish the same effect with one mixer block, in hope to save some CPU. Thanks so much guys!
 
The amp level silence issue must be the culprit. Both of these chains/amps I currently have under two separate patches, including what I'm doing with the exp 1 for gain. I literally copied and pasted one chain into the other chains patch and threw in the new modifiers on the level, with the opposite curves. I did check to see how hot the level's were being pushed, which were maxing at the level they were initially set at without the modifier.

Vol blocks sound like the way to go, unless there is somehow a way to accomplish the same effect with one mixer block, in hope to save some CPU. Thanks so much guys!
 
It's trickier with one mixer. You'd usually need 2 or 4 extra blocks (vol/pan or filter) to keep the tones centered & isolated to each delay. If you're short on volume blocks you can use a mixer instead--one block for each amp still, whether it's vol or a mixer.
 
I have several patches, and while probably not the best option, I simply just attach my Expression Pedal to the Bypass of the first block (amp/wah/drive) that will be active when you are on that Chain. Then set that blocks bypass' input to mute instead of through.

I set it so that toe down is chain 1, and toe up is chain 2. This effectively bypasses each chain as i indicate using the curve and settings of the modifier menu for the blocks i assign it to.

does that make sense? tough for me to describe this early in the a.m. after a late practice and crappy weather here.
 
That's one way to do A/B switching but it creates an immediate switch point, not a crossfade throughout the pedal's range.
 
That is a good point, my apologies for skipping that main detail. I guess the past 8 months I've been playing with backing tracks so I havent had to really do too much fading, but now that we have gotten rid of them I'm going to have to set it back up to do some fades...thanks for reminding me.

I believe when I first tried to do that, I put a volume block on each 'chain' right after where the signal split and ran the curves for the volumes opposite each other to achieve optimum smoothness....

I never could fully figure out the mixer thing....reason being I was using global amps at the time for tweaking ease and i didnt always run global amp 4 as amp block 2, sometimes it was amp 1, which at the time seemed to create issues for some reason using the mixer.
 
Amp 1 vs. amp 2 wouldn't really cause any problems with the mixer. In any case you just need to make sure the level modifier curve intended for that sound (whatever amp # and row produced it) is acting on that sound.
 
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