# Dumb Question - Stereo vs. Mono



## Axe Dragon (Aug 21, 2013)

Hi All,

Can someone tell me why I would want a stereo pedal instead of a mono pedal in live and recording scenarios?

Thanks,

Axe


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## Ricktoberfest (Jun 22, 2014)

It sounds nice when you go stereo to 2 amps, and I guess in recording too, but that can also be done on the computer. Other than that, I don't know 


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

You can get the ping pong affect of a delay between two amps, or the left and right tracks of a recording.
I'm sure you can get the wash of a chorus or phase to go between those too.

The beauty is that you can run those pedals mono too. 8)


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Not a dumb question at all.
There are different versions of "stereo", some of which are useful, and others of which are not. Heck, I have a Washburn "stereo chorus"(says so on the chassis) that is one input jack and two output jacks...except one of the output jacks is wired directly to the input and the other just carries regular chorus. You can actually use one of those output jacks as an input!

Another common version of stereo involves two complementary outputs on modulation pedals; typically chorus or phaser. Here, a modulated signal is addedto clean for one output and subtracted from it in the other. The two sound different. The prblem is that when they are combined, they cancel each other out/ As such, they are impractical for live use.

More practical are stereo pedals where the signal is split in a manner that produces two different kinds of outputs, which can then be processed differently. So, a delay pedal that allows for a separate wet and dry output permits separate treatment of them. If your delay lacks the tone you want, simply feed the wet output toa separate amp channel with its own EQ. The pedal may be stereo but that doesn't mean it requires a stereo listening context.

In still other cases, the stereo can be very powerful. My Tonecore Liqui-Flange sweeps the flanging effect across the stereo field in a powerful way. I like to say it's "instant Eddie Kramer"; like Electric Ladyland. The Roland Jazz Chorus amps were cherished because the chorus effect was paricularly powerful when wet and dry were split between separate power amps and speakers.

But the broader overarching question is what is useful on a stage and what is useful in a studio. Many creative and effective uses of stereo pedals in a studio context simply wash out in a gigging context. That doesn't make them useless. It just means one has to be selective. And sometimes, even if nobody else on the stage or in the audience gets to hear the stereo aspect, but you DO, and it inspires you or mkes the gig more enjyable for you, that's not nothing.


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## Axe Dragon (Aug 21, 2013)

mhammer said:


> Not a dumb question at all.
> There are different versions of "stereo", some of which are useful, and others of which are not. Heck, I have a Washburn "stereo chorus"(says so on the chassis) that is one input jack and two output jacks...except one of the output jacks is wired directly to the input and the other just carries regular chorus. You can actually use one of those output jacks as an input!
> 
> Another common version of stereo involves two complementary outputs on modulation pedals; typically chorus or phaser. Here, a modulated signal is addedto clean for one output and subtracted from it in the other. The two sound different. The prblem is that when they are combined, they cancel each other out/ As such, they are impractical for live use.
> ...


Holy!

Thanks!

I will read this a few times. By then I should get it...


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## Ti-Ron (Mar 21, 2007)

Saw that image on the Gear Gods facebook page.
No offense to anyone, it's juste for the joke!


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Yesterday's response had to be hasty. I'll expand a bit here, though it will also be hasty.

Stereo effects can also be annoying. I think the only time I ever forgot lyrics in a gigging context was due to a stereo effect. My guitar was feeding an amp set to slow tremolo on my left and a slow rotating speaker to my right. The movement was, shall we say, disruptive to my concentration. As mind-blowing as effects like the legendary Ibanez Flying Pan can be, they can be similarly disruptive to concentration when gigging, as can autopanners and Ping-Pong echo. In a studio context, they can be useful, wince they can be mixed back I a way that provides the effect without being too distracting.

Another aspect of some stereo units that is often overlooked is reprocessing through the second channel. So, if the unit has channel A and B, with separate inputs and outputs, one can take the output of A, feed it into B, and send the B output to your amp. Sometimes that reprocessing imparts a different kind of sound. F'rinstance, my Echo Park pedal is quasi-stereo in an interesting way. It feeds a processed version of the input signal to _both_ outputs, such that what you plug into channel A shows up in the output of both A and B. If you then run a patch cable from the A output jack to the B input, B's final output consists of something much more complex than simple more repeats. Consider that if the pedal is set for reverse delay, A reverses it, but B_ *re*_-reverses it. However, some of A's output is also crossfed to B's output, and vice versa. It can get interesting. Here's a sample of what it can sound like: http://hammer.ampage.org/files/Re-echo.wma

Not all stereo pedals will behave that way, but I'm just trying to put a bug in your ear for creative and counterintuitive uses of some kinds of stereo pedals.

I've joked with people before that I plugged in a Foxx Tone Machine into one channel of my Liqui-Flange (another stereo-capable pedal), took that output and fed it to my Echo Park, took the output of that channel and fed it to the other channel of the Liqui-Flange, and fed that output back to the other channel of the Echo Park. Hit one power chord, then phone in sick to work, because you're going to be listening to that sucker shape shift for the rest of the day.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

About a dozen years back I ran a stereo rig playing live for a couple of years.
Two amps, set differently, one cleaner, the other with more gain and splitting time based effects like chorus and flange between them. 
It was a complicated setup involving (2) A/B/Y boxes and I eventually decided it was too much work and discontinued using it.
It didn't wash out in a live setting because both amps were mic'd separately.
One channel was panned 75% left on the mix board and the other panned 75% right.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

Stereo in reproduction equipment is essential. Stereo in production equipment is overkill and IME just adds confusion (in operation and sound quality).

I always run my PA mono. And my Meyer boxes are center mounted and splayed in my jam room (single point source). People often question this, thinking stereo must be twice as good. I ask them why? I want the singer to sound like one person and not sound like two people, or one spread across the room. I'm not mixing everything through the FOH, we are coming off the stage in 'stereo' already. If I were reinforcing everything through the PA, then I would rethink that strategy - or hire a sound company to look after it because that would have to be a pretty big gig (to have to reinforce everything).


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