Combining Solid State Peavey with Tube Half Stack

[DarkestAsh]

I know this is probably a dumb question, and I'll probably figure it out after some trial and error...but just in case I don't...

I have a Bugera 333XL Tube head connected to a Marshall 1960A cab. This amp sounds sweet...it's real beefy and reminds me of the Mega Boogie Triple Rect, with slightly less hi gain crunch...Some of my newer songs for my project though are leaning on the edge of Industrial Metal and needs a Nu Metal solid state crunch...so now I want to toy around with adding this feisty lil Peavey Special 112 Solo series to the mix...it has a nice tight gain crunch that I want to add to the overall tone of the Bugera...I've hooked up FX loops before but mostly dealing with Delay and Reverb effects, not two amps...when I hook up the Peavey through the fx loop of the Bugera, and plug in the guitar in front of the Peavey, it only gives me the Peavey tone playing out the Bugera stack, not both of course since I'm not plugged into the Bugera input.

So I know logically that I need inputs going through both amps in order to get both tones...would I need a signal splitter box? I'm thinking there's another way I can cheat this by first plugging into the front of the Bugera, then running the "Send" from the back of the Bugera to the input in "front of the amp" on the Peavey, then going out from the Peavey's "Send" back to the return on the Bugera...Leaving only the "Return" input on the Peavey unused...Like I said I'll figure it out by trial and error when no one else in the house is sleeping, and hopefully not blow my Sh!# up, but for now it's boggling my mind...I'm probably just tired and need to take my @ss to bed...in theory the second option should work...can anyone set me straight? Even if I do figure this out, it would be great to have someone give us a rundown of options for hooking up FX loops to keep in the forum archives. Thanks!

[bigsmitty]

If one of the amps has 2 inputs that are in parallel plug guitar into #1 run cord from #2 input to second amp this is the same as using a Y cable.

[DarkestAsh]

both amps have a high gain and low gain input...you mean plug into the high gain and run a second cable from the low gain to either the high or low gain on the second amp?

is there no way to have both sounds coming out of one amp? I tried my other method earlier and ended up with lots of feedback. I suppose the best way live for now is to just get an extra sm57 or e609 and a small mixer, run my own mix into a DI for the sound guy.

[nashvillebill]

You've got several ways to do this. Somewhere along the way you need to make or buy a bypass switch though. Here's one: Standard Loop Switchers - Single Loop Effect Switcher (LED Version) Loop-Master True Bypass-Built Effect Loop Switchers, Pedals, and Loop Strips and here's another Heavy Electronics Rodeo Loop: True Bypass Loops | Guitar Effects Pedals and Accessories at Tone Factor


The basic way I'd try first: Plug guitar into input of tube amp. Put the bypass switch into the tube amp's FX loop. The Peavey plugs into the bypass switch (use the low gain input on the Peavey). The bypass switch then switches the Peavey in, or bypasses it.