Active Crossover to Guitar/Bass Cabs?

[Simon la Grue]

Hello folks, long time reader, first time poster.

I'm a newbie to the world of Rack, but I feel that
with what I've read in this forum over the past
9 months, you guys wont beat me up too bad if
I am a little stupid.

As I consider what kind of rack system I would
like and what kind of unique sound I am going
for, an idea hit my brain that I have not found
discussed in these forums. That idea is to take
my signal and use an active crossover to send
the highs and mids to a guitar cab and take the
low frequencies and send them to, say, a bass
cab with a 15". I'm not sure where the Xover
should be placed... e.g. would I run dual power
amps or what. I'd also have to be sure that
everything was stereo capable, I'm assuming.

I am not sure if anyone does this, or even if it
would sound icky. But I'd love to hear some of
your opinions on this.

Thanks in advance for your input and keep up
the great informative posts; I've learned so
much, yet so far to go!

[Mobot]

i'm interested to see if anyone has done anything like this too.

bump!

[Cornflakeofdeath]

You would need separate power amps for each cab and you would put the crossover last right before the power amps. So in other words everything would be the same as a normal rig except right before the poweramp you would have the crossover to split up the frequencies and then an amp for each set of frequencies (i.e. high and low) for that matter there's no reason you couldn't do it three ways with a horn for the extreme high frequencies(and another amp). If you didn't mind mono you could even use a regular stereo power amp and instead of Left/Right use the two sides for High/Low.

All that said I think it would sound like crap. Unless your going for the ultimate Nu-metal sound....and you don't have a bass player. Keep in mind full range is not always better. There's only so many audible frequencies and you have to share them with the rest of the band.

Who knows though it might sound amazing. Try it and let us know.:D

[Simon la Grue]

Thanks for your input, CFoD!

I had similar thoughts of where it should go, so thank
you for confirming what I was thinking. Each power
amp could then be chosen for its handling of each of
the requencies.

I have similar concerns with invading the space of the
bassist, tho. I think each element should have as full
of a range as they can without stomping on the other
members.