Anyone running a wet/dry rig?

[LittleWagon]

Hey all,

Do any of you have experience with two amp, wet/dry rigs? I'm building a new tour rig, based around a Mastermind PBC, so I'm going to have tons of options for signal routing... A tech recommended the wet/dry setup, rather than a two amp stereo rig. He said I would have better "definition" on stage, and the FOH would be happier too.

I always have some reverb or delay on my sound, so the wet amp would be going at all times... My concern is that I might have a tough time keeping my effected signal where I want it in terms of balance with the dry. I'm worried that my tone will sound "drowned" in whatever effect I'm using, and also that FOH could screw up my sound in the fronts...

Is it really a better bet than a stereo, or two amps in mono type of rig??? I'm using a Tweed Super and a Tremolux together.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

 

[stephen sawall]

Absolutely better definition.

 

[cardinal]

FOH can always screw up your sound, but it seems somewhat less likely running wet/dry than with a true stereo rig

When I've run wet/dry, the wet side is really low volume relative to the dry. It doesn't take much to get the delay mixed in.

I preferred running wet-dry/dry, if that makes any sense (the "wet" amp wasn't completely wet. I used a parallel loop, for example).

 

[Geetarpicker]

I haven't run a wet dry rig in a couple years, but mainly for practicality in this era of throw and go gigs. That said it's my favorite way to add reverb, ambience, delays, and even some chorus to the mix.

Two things stood out during my experiments with wet/dry rigs since my first such setups I had in the early 80s.

One is I prefered a smaller cab on the wet side, my typical setup was a 4x12 for the dry with just a 1x12 for the wet. This really helped to keep the wet effects from taking over.

2nd I always prefer the dry sound to be totally raw right off the amp, with no reamping. To me this preserved the best dry tonality. I'd typically tap a effects send right off the dry speaker connections, using a simple two resistor pad I built into a small box or even right into custom cable under the 1/4" barrel. Then off to the effects, powers amp, to the wet cab. In this configuration the dry signal was absolutely pure straight from the amp to cab, and the effects sounded studio quality off on the reamped wet side.

I ran such rigs mostly with Trainwreck amps for the dry and with the added wet side it was/is world class!

 

[LittleWagon]

FOH can always screw up your sound, but it seems somewhat less likely running wet/dry than with a true stereo rig

When I've run wet/dry, the wet side is really low volume relative to the dry. It doesn't take much to get the delay mixed in.

I preferred running wet-dry/dry, if that makes any sense (the "wet" amp wasn't completely wet. I used a parallel loop, for example).

Interesting! Thanks for the feedback... I'm looking forward to trying the PBC system out. I want to see if I have the choice of taking my sound from the wet/dry signals in the line mixer, and do things like put the same mono blend from the mixer into both amps.

It's such a versatile switcher!