Stereo Cab Panned or Centered?

NARPLDR

Member
Ok, I’m Stumped. I can run stereo at some of my gigs and there are times where I can only run mono.

I like the idea of blending two different cabs but if I pan them, I’ll still hear both cabs in my in-ears but one side of the audience will hear cab 1 and the other side will hear cab 2. Should I then center them so that both sides can hear a proper blend of the cabs?

Im asking because I’m seeing a lot of different information mostly saying I need to hard pan stereo cabs.
 
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That quote from Matt from over 5 years ago may need some context. The rest of that conversation is probably important? Maybe the OP was wanting to maintain a stereo image that existed before the cab block? Or there was some comb filtering issues in that particular case? So many variables.

In most typical cases when you just want to blend the sound of two (or more) IRs, and any stereo effects are later in the signal chain, then keeping them all canter panned is fine.
 
That quote from Matt from over 5 years ago may need some context. The rest of that conversation is probably important? Maybe the OP was wanting to maintain a stereo image that existed before the cab block? Or there was some comb filtering issues in that particular case? So many variables.

In most typical cases when you just want to blend the sound of two (or more) IRs, and any stereo effects are later in the signal chain, then keeping them all canter panned is fine.
Here’s the Thread.

Regardless upon searching for an answer throughout the forums I’ve not been able to find a clear answer to my question. But Its sounding like blending both IRs at a center pan will do the trick.
 
Ok, I’m Stumped. I can run stereo at some of my gigs and there are times where I can only run mono.

I like the idea of blending two different cabs but if I pan them, I’ll still hear both cabs in my in-ears but one side of the audience will hear cab 1 and the other side will hear cab 2. Should I then center them so that both sides can hear a proper blend of the cabs?

Im asking because I’m seeing a lot of different information mostly saying I need to hard pan stereo cabs.

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You’re asking a philosophical question but expecting a technical answer. There is no right or wrong here. It’s up to you to choose how you want it to sound to your audience, stereo or blended. That quote from Matt is taken out of context. He was discussing pan law issues.
 
You’re asking a philosophical question but expecting a technical answer. There is no right or wrong here. It’s up to you to choose how you want it to sound to your audience, stereo or blended. That quote from Matt is taken out of context. He was discussing pan law issues.
Let’s forget about that quote. I deleted it from the post. I think you misunderstood my question. I’m not asking which sounds better. I’m asking if center panning both IRs will achieve my desired IR blend so that when playing stereo both sides of the audience will get an equal blend of IRs.

I’m essentially asking if it’s ok to center pan stereo IRs and not have any issues.
 
Some questions. WHY are you creating stereo presets? What's stereo about your presets? What's different about your two IRs?
My 2 Cab IRs, (Delays set to 0% stereo spread) Reverb 100% stereo spread, and Enhancer block.

And I’m creating stereo presets for those aforementioned gigs that ask me to go stereo
 
What's different about the two IRs? Why would you want them on two different sides of your in ears? Why not run the cab block in mono and the post effects in stereo?
 
What's different about the two IRs? Why would you want them on two different sides of your in ears? Why not run the cab block in mono and the post effects in stereo?
Different cabs (212 and 412) and mics chosen to capture the IRs. I only panned them hard left and right before out of ignorance. I could very well just run a mono cab. I have no issue with that. Thats not a hill I’m willing to die on lol. Whatever sounds best. But at this point I’m really just asking for clarification on ONE thing…


Will center panning stereo cabs achieve a proper blend? Or will they need to be hard panned?
 
I'd always split them as wide as possible. Then it's basically a 2 channel setup. The mixer can then decide where to place those channels, e.g. either pan them or center them both.

I have such a 2 channel setup. One output is for my main sound, the other the looped sound when I use the looper. Pretty nice.
 
Personally I wouldn't want to hard pan my core sound (amp/cabs) for live playing. If I'm going stereo it will be strictly the post effects.
 
Will center panning stereo cabs achieve a ... blend? Or will they need to be hard panned?

Cabs that are hard panned are not blended at all.
If you want a blend, you must pan to the center or off-center.
In your particular case, I would recommend that you pan all cabs to the center and set the cab block input mode to Sum L+R.
 
Cabs that are hard panned are not blended at all.
If you want a blend, you must pan to the center or off-center.
In your particular case, I would recommend that you pan all cabs to the center and set the cab block input mode to Sum L+R.
Perfect. That’s the clarification I needed. Thank you.

Side note out of curiosity, what happens if the input is set to stereo but the cabs are panned center?
 
Stereo input mode divides the cab block in half. Half the cabs are fed only the left input signal and the other half gets only the right input signal. In the other input modes, all the cabs get the same input signal in parallel. Panning of the cabs works the same in all the input modes. The difference is at the block input, not the output. In stereo input mode, panning the cabs center still results in a mono blend of cabs, but you have more control over which cabs get which input signal before they are blended.
 
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