# One Guitar Bands



## Hyliannightmare (May 18, 2011)

sorry if this is in the wrong section or if it's a repost, i promise i searched.

But pretty much my band cannot keep a 2nd guitarist and we are going to just have me play guitar and i was wondering what techniques i could use to make it sound fuller, we play pretty standard metal/coredeath whatever kids call it now days. i've read t use a bit of reverb and a bit of delay along with 2 different cabs to give me a fuller tone. and we recently got a better bassist so i know will help. so any idead about how to fill it out with only one guitar?



Wavedash Through the Onslaught - Band Profile | Facebook

there it is if you care to listen any feedback is much appreciated

sorry for ranting and thanks for reading


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## Cyntex (May 18, 2011)

Ever thought of using a harmonizer or a similar effect (octave maybe)?


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## Adari (May 18, 2011)

Listen to Petrucci taking about Alex Lifeson:


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## Hyliannightmare (May 18, 2011)

Cyntex said:


> Ever thought of using a harmonizer or a similar effect (octave maybe)?


 

a harmonizer would be fun but i know all the tapdancing that veil of maya does would be pretty tough to pull off


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## pink freud (May 18, 2011)

Possibly the ultimate one guitar band:


Lots of things to learn from layering live sound with few people from Russian Circles.


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## TheGraySlayer (May 18, 2011)

I know the feeling 
I have a lazy lead guitarist, I have to write EVERYTHING.
Its fucked up that I can write his solos, yet I cannot play them


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## Jason2112 (May 18, 2011)

In the past (for live shows) I'd feed as much sound as I could through the PA. Not only do you get the sound of the guitar pretty much everywhere but you take advantage of the natural reverb from the venue.

And everything else that Pretrucci mentioned in that video is spot on.


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## Hyliannightmare (May 18, 2011)

Adari said:


> Listen to Petrucci taking about Alex Lifeson:





thank yousome good stuff on there


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## Hyliannightmare (May 18, 2011)

and i cannot believe i forgot about alex liveson and tony iommi, i've strayed far from my roots


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## MFB (May 18, 2011)

pink freud said:


> Possibly the ultimate one guitar band:
> 
> 
> Lots of things to learn from layering live sound with few people from Russian Circles.




I don't know about that, the shit Thomas Erak does is pretty ridiculous since he sings at the same time.


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## Hyliannightmare (May 18, 2011)

never checked out fall of troy before thanks


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## Spaceman_Spiff (May 18, 2011)

^ I love Fall of Troy a lot but I don't think this is a good example of full sounding, layered sound...


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## MFB (May 18, 2011)

Spaceman_Spiff said:


> ^ I love Fall of Troy a lot but I don't think this is a good example of full sounding, layered sound...



I realized this after I went back and READ vs. skimmed the OP


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## Jogeta (May 18, 2011)

get your bassist to dial in a nice dark distorted tone.
it'll make him another guitarist to an extent.


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## Sephael (May 18, 2011)

keyboard recorded backing track.


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## DLG (May 18, 2011)

even though it's two guitars, I remember marten from meshuggah saying that he uses some kind of octaver to beef up the tone to sound like there are still two guitars playing when fredrik does leads. 

Of course, Pantera, Symphony X and old Revocation (they have a second guitar player now). I always loved the sound of Dime's solos when there was just bass and drums underneath them.


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## Mayhew (May 18, 2011)

Ditto to the distorted bass sound. I just saw Cancer Bats last night (for the 6th time) and they always have a kickass full sound with lots of punch. Add a pedal to that bass and it's like having 2 guitars and gives it a nice dirty sound.

You could also add some looping to your effects so you can play over top of that and a harmonizer for leads as well. When one guitarist is MIA the other guitarist will often run their signal through the other rig to get two sounds too.


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## -42- (May 18, 2011)

Make sure the bass complements your sound and makes it beefier, possibly use a bit more reverb or delay to fill out your sound. I would also say more gain, but most guys use too much gain as is.


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## NaYoN (May 18, 2011)

Veil of Maya is 1 guitar. Marc uses a looping pedal, he plays a lead and then has the pedal loop it and plays the rhythms/harmony on top of it.


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## metal_sam14 (May 18, 2011)

When I was in a one guitar metal band, I ran my signal into a 6505 on one side of the stage, and my gsp1101 into whatever was available on the other, and ran a 30ms delay to create the illusion of having 2 guitarists playing the same thing, really fattens it up, sounds huge out front!


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## great_kthulu (May 19, 2011)

just listen to the latest red chord record


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## Triple7 (May 19, 2011)




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## ZXIIIT (May 19, 2011)

We are in the same place, now sticking to me as a single guitarist from now on and got a bass player. 

We had to change some parts around as I did leads and now do rhythm with some minor leads and had our keyboard player incorporate some "beefier" synth patches and notes.

Check out some live Fear Factory, Black Sabbath, Pantera, Mudvayne videos, still sound huge.


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## Scar Symmetry (May 19, 2011)

It works. Psycroptic, Decapitated, Hate Eternal are all proof of this. Bear in mind their guitarists are all ridiculous though.


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## vampiregenocide (May 19, 2011)

DLG said:


> even though it's two guitars, I remember marten from meshuggah saying that he uses some kind of octaver to beef up the tone to sound like there are still two guitars playing when fredrik does leads.



They had three Axe-FXs, two set up as rhythm and one as lead. When Fredrik would swap to a lead, the Marten would take control of both remaining Axe-FXs so they didn't lose any 'presence'.


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## metal_sam14 (May 19, 2011)

vampiregenocide said:


> They had three Axe-FXs, two set up as rhythm and one as lead. When Fredrik would swap to a lead, the Marten would take control of both remaining Axe-FXs so they didn't lose any 'presence'.



you can actually hear it in the mix from the Alive CD, there will be a rhythm track for each guitarist panned L/R and then when a lead comes in you hear the other axe fx kick in on the other side of the spectrum, it is really powerful


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## Infamous Impact (May 19, 2011)

vampiregenocide said:


> They had three Axe-FXs, two set up as rhythm and one as lead. When Fredrik would swap to a lead, the Marten would take control of both remaining Axe-FXs so they didn't lose any 'presence'.


Meshuggah always sounds so huge.... Doesn't Lovgren have a distorted bass sound to keep the guitars from sounding too thin?


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## vampiregenocide (May 19, 2011)

Infamous Impact said:


> Meshuggah always sounds so huge.... Doesn't Lovgren have a distorted bass sound to keep the guitars from sounding too thin?



Yeah he does that too.  It's not too much distortion, just enough to melt in with the guitars a bit more.


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## SirMyghin (May 19, 2011)

ZOMB13 said:


> We are in the same place, now sticking to me as a single guitarist from now on and got a bass player.
> 
> We had to change some parts around as I did leads and now do rhythm with some minor leads and had our keyboard player incorporate some "beefier" synth patches and notes.
> 
> Check out some live Fear Factory, Black Sabbath, Pantera, Mudvayne videos, still sound huge.



If there are keys in your band, I doubt the need for a second guitarist regardless. There is already a whole tonne that can go on sonically. 

Iommi and Lifeson are definitely the 2 that can make stuff sound huge, but as far as raw coolness goes, Lifeson is where it is at. He has such cool arpeggios and such he does, and is really good at sounding like 3 or 4 guitar layers (studio) when there is only 1 or 2 there. Petrucci went over the basics of it in that video, but there are no delay tricks/dependances there it is technique over technology (although Lifesons rig is huge ofcourse).


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## vampiregenocide (May 19, 2011)

Tool sound pretty huge for a one guitar band.


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## ZXIIIT (May 19, 2011)

SirMyghin said:


> If there are keys in your band, I doubt the need for a second guitarist regardless. There is already a whole tonne that can go on sonically.



We had some songs that had different guitar parts (rhythm and a solo) and the keyboards did something different, ala Rammstein.


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## blister7321 (May 19, 2011)

im gonna get shit on for this but oh well 
Creed 
and the first Alter Bridge album


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## Infamous Impact (May 19, 2011)

vampiregenocide said:


> Yeah he does that too.  It's not too much distortion, just enough to melt in with the guitars a bit more.



Ah. I was under the impression it was fully distorted.


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## metal_sam14 (May 19, 2011)

blister7321 said:


> im gonna get shit on for this but oh well
> Creed
> and the first Alter Bridge album



Mark Tremonti has monster tone, nobody can deny that!


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## matt397 (May 19, 2011)

Ahem......














Devin
Fucking 
Townsend 






That mothertrucker knows how to make one guitar sound _*huge

*_​


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## Holy Katana (May 20, 2011)

Use bigger chords (not necessarily full chords, but extended power chords; although full chords are good, too, only harder with extreme distortion, so maybe back down a bit on the distortion if you use a shitload of it). Play in octaves for single-note lines. Play harmony lines on a single guitar (it doesn't work quite as well, and you can't really do much more than pure parallelism, but hey). Use an octave pedal.

There are tons of ways to fill up your sound. Hell, you can be unique compared to every other band.

And speaking of that Petrucci video, Alex Lifeson is a fantastic player to study when you're the sole guitarist in the band. He makes the most of it. I haven't watched the video yet, but I'm assuming Petrucci says the same sort of stuff. Learn a bunch of Rush songs, because he seriously makes a single guitar sound huge. 

Filling out the mix with synths can help, too, although I don't know if you'd be up for that stylistically. A lot of metalcore bands use them, though.


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## PyramidSmasher (May 20, 2011)

This may be archaic and retarded but, have pre-recorded loops come through one amp, and play through the other.


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## Bloody_Inferno (May 20, 2011)

vampiregenocide said:


> Tool sound pretty huge for a one guitar band.


 
 Having 3 simultaneous amps helps a lot, but the real secret is Justin Chancellor. 

It's good that the OP stated that he got a better bassist, because they can really help a one guitar band sound massive. Even without the Tool-esque fanciness, Tom Morello and Dean DeLeo sound massive in their bands. And they use single coils. 

The Petrucci and Lifeson references... that's a given. Again, both sound huge with a great bassist. 

Also, Holy Katana hinted it, but the guitarist sense of arrangement in their playing does help a lot. Your dynamics, what you and your bassist are playing... all that stuff counts. You can sound huge when you have something small to compare it to. 

Random examples:











Chino doesn't play guitar when they play that song live... just listen to the dynamics and how much it magnifies the sound.

EDIT: I guess it's also the kind of live vibe you really want to achieve. Backing tracks are a solution as well, and some bands (Cog) can pull it off. Or you can use some gear (like having 2/3 amps running simultaneously or octave pedals/harmonisers etc... also applies to both you and your bassist), or keep it pure and raw live.


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## Hyliannightmare (May 20, 2011)

Sounds Kim the easiest solution is a delay pedal because my bassist hates distorted bass tone


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## Vyn (May 20, 2011)

Psycroptic and Coroner spring to mind. Both pull it off insanely well. Joe from Psycroptic uses a delay of 20ms running through a second amp for live stuff from memory.


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## CrushingAnvil (May 20, 2011)




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## CD1221 (May 20, 2011)

That Tony dude did alright with just him and some geezer on bass.


And that Page dude did alright.


Oh, and that dutch dude's band was fairly popular for a while.


I think maybe you just have to be really fucking good, and surround yourself with really fucking good bandmates. And then write really fucking good songs. 

...shouldn't be too hard, really. Maybe I should try that.


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## Holy Katana (May 20, 2011)

I forgot to mention: Japandroids. They're a two-piece indie rock band from Vancouver that have a HUGE sound, even though it's just guitar and drums (and both of them on vocals).

There's some Alex Lifeson-style rhythm playing on their (currently) sole album, _Post-Nothing_. At least it reminds me of him. Lots of big chords with open strings and chorus. The chorus probably helps thicken their sound, but it's the chord voicings as well.


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## Soubi7string (May 20, 2011)

could get 2 different cabs and delay one of them about 50ms with a delay pedal


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## Holy Katana (May 20, 2011)

Soubi7string said:


> could get 2 different cabs and delay one of them about 50ms with a delay pedal



50? I'd say 30 tops. 20 or thereabouts is my personal favorite setting for a doubling delay. 50ms is going into slapback territory.


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## SenorDingDong (May 20, 2011)

Voivod, Celtic Frost (in studio), Deftones, Type O Negative, Firewind, Sodom, Faith No More, Destruction, Watchtower... So many great bands.


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## Matti_Ice (May 20, 2011)

So glad someone started this discussion because I've been dying to tell solo guitar bands about this one!

I play guitar alone in my band. Tried other guitarists, tried getting another bass player so the singer wouldn't have to do it, but nothing has worked out. Me being the only guitarist, we work hard to create things that aren't dual guitar oriented, but in the studio we do a lil bit of layering and ALOT of work during the choruses. This is what we found works...

During the parts where there is clearly a need for 2 guitarists (solos, choruses with leads, etc) the bass player moves his notes up an octave (to match the guitars) and plays chords using distortion. Basically, he is taking the spot of rhythm guitar. With the right tweaking on some effects, it sounds EXACTLY like a 2nd guitarist AND with the aid of the bass amp/heavy strings, you still have a bit of low end in there so you don't truly lose your bass tones. Its a perfect idea for bands with 1 guitar player that really wouldn't benefit much from adding a 2nd guitarist!


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## Randy (May 20, 2011)




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## SirMyghin (May 20, 2011)

Matti_Ice said:


> During the parts where there is clearly a need for 2 guitarists (solos, choruses with leads, etc) the bass player moves his notes up an octave (to match the guitars) and plays chords using distortion. Basically, he is taking the spot of rhythm guitar. With the right tweaking on some effects, it sounds EXACTLY like a 2nd guitarist AND with the aid of the bass amp/heavy strings, you still have a bit of low end in there so you don't truly lose your bass tones. Its a perfect idea for bands with 1 guitar player that really wouldn't benefit much from adding a 2nd guitarist!





As a bassist I have played in a bunch of 3 piece bands, I do not use distortion, and rarely used chords and did not ever lack for density, or thickness. Nothing was 'missing'. Just adding this for clarity, it depends a lot on your play style I guess. Playing chords as a bassist is a tricky affair without them turning into mudd balls, especially when you add distortion to the mix. Power chords, at least for me, just don't cut it either.


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## Matti_Ice (May 20, 2011)

SirMyghin said:


> As a bassist I have played in a bunch of 3 piece bands, I do not use distortion, and rarely used chords and did not ever lack for density, or thickness. Nothing was 'missing'. Just adding this for clarity, it depends a lot on your play style I guess. Playing chords as a bassist is a tricky affair without them turning into mudd balls, especially when you add distortion to the mix. Power chords, at least for me, just don't cut it either.


 
It probably depends on style AND what you work on tweaking to perfection. You for example had no use for playing chords on bass or using distortion, so if you were to just start banging out chords with a distortion pedal, as you said it probably will sound like mud balls. However someone who does have use for such a technique would spend the time learning just what not to do and what to do. Using light gauge bass strings, a good quality distortion pedal intended for guitar usage and a lot of time spent dialing in yields good results.

But I do understand where you are coming from. Luckily bass is my primary instrument too and I play for a cover band where I'm required to use no such black magic as chords and guitar distortions on bass


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## SirMyghin (May 20, 2011)

Matti_Ice said:


> It probably depends on style AND what you work on tweaking to perfection. You for example had no use for playing chords on bass or using distortion, so if you were to just start banging out chords with a distortion pedal, as you said it probably will sound like mud balls. However someone who does have use for such a technique would spend the time learning just what not to do and what to do. Using light gauge bass strings, a good quality distortion pedal intended for guitar usage and a lot of time spent dialing in yields good results.
> 
> But I do understand where you are coming from. Luckily bass is my primary instrument too and I play for a cover band where I'm required to use no such black magic as chords and guitar distortions on bass



Naw, I don't shoot muddballs, preferably if I need to use a chord, a 2nd inversion works very nicely. Sorry I was not that clear earlier, was very low on sleep, naps are wonderful. I have written entire tunes using bass chords, so trust me the technique is there, the trick often being to keep your chords within an octave, or octave and a half, but even that can be bent. The lower strings tend to power through a bit more is all. I am assuming you are working in a metal context here, so chords and relatively speaking, consistant rhythms. That would be where we begin to diverge. 

There are always 8 answers to the same question, I just want to make sure that one approach doesn't get a lot of attention over another when the topic starting coming around to bass playing. I like to screw around with 4ths and 7ths so I will tend to pronounce a chord either way throug hmy lines. My band was very heavy, but not metal and this sort of stuff worked extremely well and was almost too dense. 

On bass chords though, if you can pull off a really slight touch of verb on the highs you can get some good shimmer in production stages.


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## Konfyouzd (May 20, 2011)

Triple7 said:


>




Is the guitarist playing an Agile?


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## Hyliannightmare (May 20, 2011)

so if i run 2 amps is should i split my signal into 2 different heads and cabs or from one head into 2 different cavs?


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## Matti_Ice (May 20, 2011)

Hyliannightmare said:


> so if i run 2 amps is should i split my signal into 2 different heads and cabs or from one head into 2 different cavs?


 I'd go 2 different heads each with its on cab, if possible, gives a little more texture to your tone and makes it sound more like 2 guitarists


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## Hyliannightmare (May 20, 2011)

Matti_Ice said:


> I'd go 2 different heads each with its on cab, if possible, gives a little more texture to your tone and makes it sound more like 2 guitarists




Alright I'll strt messing around with that thanks everyone


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## Holy Katana (May 21, 2011)

If you have a delay pedal with a modulated delay setting, that would be really good to use, since the modulated delay gives you a little bit of chorusing that'll make you sound bigger. It can be very subtle, but it'll make you sound a lot bigger, especially if you're running it through a separate amp. The subtle fluctuations in pitch along with the slight delay and the different tone of the other amp will create the illusion that there are two guitarists playing.

If you don't, get one. I'm pretty sure all of Boss's current delays have a modulated delay mode.


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## Bloody_Inferno (May 21, 2011)

Randy said:


>




 

In fact, you can learn so much just by listening to the first 4 Van Halen albums. 









The most striking part is that the bass is very simple... almost contrary to my original post, yet still makes the same great point.


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## Rick (May 21, 2011)

Konfyouzd said:


> Is the guitarist playing an Agile?



In that video, yes. He's now got a deal with Strictly 7 guitars. 

Back on topic, some band called Fear Factory sounds decent with one guitar...


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## COBHC (May 21, 2011)

Not everyones cup of tea, but Ive always thought communic sounded great for having only 1 guitarist.


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## vampiregenocide (May 21, 2011)

I might be wrong, but I believe Josh from Danza has a harmonizer pedal on pretty much all the time.


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## Steve08 (May 21, 2011)

matt397 said:


> Ahem......
> 
> 
> 
> ...


He actually tours with a 2nd guitarist =P

And while he's the only guitarist when recording, he uses GOD knows how many tracks.


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## vampiregenocide (May 21, 2011)

Yeah their touring guitarist uses a PRS Mushok sig and some Flaxwood guitars I think.


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## drmosh (May 21, 2011)

Hyliannightmare said:


> so if i run 2 amps is should i split my signal into 2 different heads and cabs or from one head into 2 different cavs?



whatever sounds better to you man. If you are playing live the answer is obvious, use one head and one cab 


topic: Van Halen and Pantera. The two reasons I started playing guitar. I bow to eddie every day! (not really but you know what I mean  )


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## Hyliannightmare (May 23, 2011)

another question would i run a cable from the "out" in the back of my cab into the head of the 2nd cab or get a cable that splits?


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## Konfyouzd (May 23, 2011)

Rings of Saturn USED to have just one guitar and I think he used a harmonizer. Sorry if they were already mentioned.


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