I bought both of these UA pedals thinking I would use the Dream for classic rock style noodling around and then switch to the Ruby for my own music which is more early 80s post punk and jangle style. After trying each in isolation I decided to see what combining them sounded like. Had the exact same reaction as you and jumped online to see if anyone else is doing it. Lo and behold. This vid will give me a much more methodical approach to the combo, thanks for the tips
Thank you very much for the detailed way in which to wire up these two UAFX pedals; it is EXACTLY what I was looking for - thank you so much again! and dude that playing it otherworldly. I just love the ethereal soundscape you create.
You inspired me to do the exact same thing (just with the GigRig Wetter box). Absolutely love having the flexibility of getting more chime or more roundness whenever I want. Definitely my favorite way to run these now.
I once did a fill in gig with a band I'd never played with before and the other guitar player used an AC30 and a Deluxe in stereo and it was honestly the best live tone I'd ever heard in my life. I've been chasing that same sound ever since and that was over 20 years ago! These awesome pedals have made getting the sound in my head possible and I just love em! I plug into 2 Fender Tonemaster FR10s and spread em out a bit and the sound is massive but the rig is not!
I had my mind pretty much set on the Walrus Audio ACS1 because you could run the Vox and Fender amps at the same time. I knew about the Ruby / Dream combo but this is my first time seeing the amp blending with the Duophony in true stereo from both amps at the same time. Thanks for sharing this! You sold me on which direction I should go now, and it's this setup you shared, down to the Diso+ which I already wanted to get.
Hi, Mark! I don't know if you'll see this, but thought I'd comment here on the polarity/phase situation you are experiencing. I haven't used the UAFX pedals, but I know that the Benson Boost actually flips the polarity of your signal. I use the Source Audio Collider, and didn't realize it also flipped the polarity of my signal until I used the Benson Boost in my rig and was running stereo. Using the Benson, I thought "this thing is magical! I've never heard my instrument so clearly", and when I showed my findings to an audio engineer friend, they immediately caught it as the correct phase response. I also tried another Benson Boost to be sure it wasn't a faulty pedal; it was not. I know you've found solutions with the Duophony, but maybe this would still be helpful to know if you didn't already.
Great Video! Really enjoy the Dream, but wish I would have went the Ruby route first at this point. This seems like the perfect solution and love the sounds you've been getting!
I really enjoy these type of videos. Discovery, inspiration and workflow. Your tones are inspiring. Would you do a video where you do a mix breakdown of a track you recorded for a demo?
I love my amp sims and use the Laney 112 FRFR for use in my music room. I've been looking at doing something like this for awhile, thank you for this video!
Great video dude. I bought the dream and Ruby recently. I'm current using them one on at a time. So dream for clean tones and Ruby for drive tones. I have an HX effects, my left output goes into the dream and right output into the ruby. Was thinking about trying them in parallel, have one in each of the HX Effects fx loops (1 and 2). I wonder if it would sum to mono OK out the HX Effects left output without any phase issues?
Hello mark!! Loved this idea, bought the duophany to run with my ruby and dream. I found that when I had the circle fully green or blue with only one amp, my stereo wet section was fully wide, but if I brought in the other amp, I would lose the full stereo and it would squish it to the middle. Any advice?
Mark, great video and amazing idea. If this could be accomplished in the AXE FX or Stomp, I’d be smitten. Question: I can’t find a 1/4” TRS male right angle to dual TS female anywhere. Tips?
This solves the exact issue ive been dealing with running the dual amp pedals. Every time you change gains or something it throws the mix off and they dont seem to blend as well. I will be doing something like you are to get that perfect blend
have you considered putting wet effects between the duophony and your direct box? essentially having them "in the effects loop"? Maybe that wouldn't sound to great. idk
Does the Duophony have a preset button where I can switch the split levels on the fly? Would be an awesome feature depending on what type of music I’m playing.
I need to try the Duophony. I use the Dream and own the Ruby, but never use the Ruby. Every time i use it i can get clean tones i like out of it, but im not a fan of how my drives sound into it. Its not that they sound bad in the Ruby, but Im just so used to how my drives sound into the Dream that it seems off to me when i use the Ruby. I feel like blending the Ruby and Dream is getting the best of both worlds and would allow me to start using the Ruby more. Plus i love messing around with parallel signal chains. I used to split my clean signal before my drives to blend clean into my dirt until i started using a blues breaker type of circuit which has the polarity inverted and caused me phase issues, so I reverted back to a normal series signal chain. I do miss it though.
I only have 4 input soundcard that I always play thru at home, thought of adding one of these to front inputs using a AB switcher and my Helix on the other. Just to use a different type amp in from another company or merge the two in DAW.
Hi, awesome video, very helpful. I have a dream, a ruby and a diso+ so I went ahead and ordered a duophony after I saw your video. Only question I have is. Where is the guitar/fx input on the duophony? You run straight from you fx rig into the duophony?
I just wanted to come back and say that this is a game changer for my recording rig. My guitar sounds so much fuller now running the Ruby and the Dream in parallel like this. Thank you for sharing this setup with us.
I really appreciate this video and I have bought the Dream, Ruby and Diso+ and am loving the sounds I've been getting. Even my Sweetwater rep said their UA reps were talking about the recent popularity of the "Druby," and I am sure you are partially responsible for that. Apologies in advance for what might be a dumb question, but what is the advantage to running the duophony vs just adjusting the output level of each UA pedal to taste? Thanks again for the great tutorials!
Being able to save static states of each pedal so you know what the values are / are supposed to be on start up and instead being able to use that visual information of the blend control is, imo, preferable. But there's no hard fast rule that says thats the right way to do it.
Sorry for the newb question, but why do you need the DISO+ in this chain? I realize it could be for many reasons, but curious if it's necessary or just icing.
Really nice setup and awesome video… now, I have a question… what would the result if using 2 ToneX Pedals instead of the Dream/Ruby setup, what would happen to the stereo effects (like chorus, delays and reverb) when connecting these to Duophony. The signal chain I am asking for is: MultiEffect Unit (L and R) to TRS Duophony input, then ToneX1 in Loop X and ToneX2 in Loop Y, both Duophony (L and R) to interface/mixer/FOH Thanks man!
After I saw this video. I order everything lol except for the trs cable I cant find the right angle. Can you please tell me where you buy the right angle please
Should i run my guitar into my delay then into the Ruby or into the Ruby then delay? Thanks so much for your work...it has helped me a great deal. Inspiring. I happened upon you a few months back when i was looking for videos on the Habit.
Other options besides the duophony are small pedal board friendly stereo mixers - ART PowerMIX III, Radial Key Largo (which has an effects send and XLR out and doubles as an interface), and the as of yet unreleased Bastle Bestie, or if you have $1k to burn a Teenage Engineering TX-6. These have more than 2 channels, so you can even do wet/dry/wet or do other things with the additional channels like loopers, drums, etc. I'm not sure about the phase correction in unit for those options. Probably the best all-in-one for amp-sim users would be the Radial Key Largo, and you can power it with a Cioks DC-7 (but need a special center positive cable from them).
Hello, I've been trying to wire the whole thing in stereo since yesterday. My signal chain: Drive Pedals via Quatermaster Mono in Douphony Dream - Douphony - Ruby Stereo via TRS Stereo in UA Astra UA Starlite Flint Cloudburst Class D amplifier in FsFr Speaker The problem is that it doesn't work in stereo, only when the input is stereo. Do you have a tip? I don't like the sound when I hang everything in front of the Douphony.
Cool video man! Been thinking of doing this myself but totally a noob to blending amps. Have you tried sending your boost pedal to just one of the amps? Just watched a video from that pedal show about this. Sounded amazing.
Can you use hx stomp fx loop for this? So if we use the case of Uafx Ruby and Dream, we can use Y splitter into ruby and dream (parralel) and Return on L and R on hx stomp. Then we put the L block and R block in parralel, and we can mix it by playing with the volume output on L and R block. Would this count as parralel mixing? On one of the block, hx stomp can even switch the polarity. What do you think?
Hey there, what an awesome video. I am having a constant whining high pitched noise when i connect my ua del verb's outputs to my ua ruby and my revv d20. As soon as i remove one of the ouput cables, the noise stops. Seems like a ground loop issue. Do you have that at all? Do you have any advice on how i could fix this please? Thanks
My best guess is a “what power are you using” workflow. I’ve never had any noise issues with the UA stuff but I also use isolated power through a conditioner.
@@markjohnstonofficial Interesting. what conditioner do you use? I even get the high whining noise when i connect both left and right from the ua ruby to the 2 inputs in my scarlett focusright. Thanks
Amazing video. Watched it a few times. I am debating doing this exact setup as I just got my Ruby and have had the Dream. What are some possibilities to use this but have the wet effects after the amps? I wish there was an FX loop on these bad boys. Thanks Mark.
Yo Mark, I did it, same idea, but am noticing that i have to DIME my UA pedals to get 1/2 the volume I can get when just running through a lehle splitter to UA pedals and sending each side to one speaker in the power cab. Is that normal? Sound is interesting, but i can't make an actual decision till i can fix the volume ya know? right now i'm running the power cab at 75% and still kinda quiet. thanks dude!
Cool set up. I expected you to be running these two amp in a wet dry wet set up. Any reason you don't opt for that? I'm guessing this just works better for you.
Awesome video. I've often fantasized of going Digital, and loved the Ruby dream combo. The addition of the duophony basically solves my hesitations so when i can actually afford it I think I'll give this a go.
Man this is so good as usual. I wish they did a Mesa in this format, gain and all. This is the reason I am leaning towards the QC still but go back and forth a lot. Would you be able to use this setup with guitar cabs if you wanted in addition to running direct?
The DI box keeps you signal cleaner when going into an interface. There’s more too it, but it’s important to use one. Even if your interface has one built in, usually an external one is better.
It is my understanding that you don't need a DI box unless you're going to go a long distance. If you run a 3-foot cable from the dream or the Ruby into your recording interface you won't need a DI
I bought both of these UA pedals thinking I would use the Dream for classic rock style noodling around and then switch to the Ruby for my own music which is more early 80s post punk and jangle style. After trying each in isolation I decided to see what combining them sounded like.
Had the exact same reaction as you and jumped online to see if anyone else is doing it. Lo and behold. This vid will give me a much more methodical approach to the combo, thanks for the tips
Absolutely amazing. Ive been simulating this tone on my QC, and i think ive finally found the sound ive heard in my head after all these years
Thank you very much for the detailed way in which to wire up these two UAFX pedals; it is EXACTLY what I was looking for - thank you so much again! and dude that playing it otherworldly. I just love the ethereal soundscape you create.
You can by Y patch cables, so you don’t need those Y adapters. They’re not so easy to find, but do make the wiring job neater.
The 27 Cable Method! Yes, something nice and simple for a caveman like me! ;-) Love your work!
You inspired me to do the exact same thing (just with the GigRig Wetter box). Absolutely love having the flexibility of getting more chime or more roundness whenever I want. Definitely my favorite way to run these now.
I once did a fill in gig with a band I'd never played with before and the other guitar player used an AC30 and a Deluxe in stereo and it was honestly the best live tone I'd ever heard in my life. I've been chasing that same sound ever since and that was over 20 years ago! These awesome pedals have made getting the sound in my head possible and I just love em! I plug into 2 Fender Tonemaster FR10s and spread em out a bit and the sound is massive but the rig is not!
I had my mind pretty much set on the Walrus Audio ACS1 because you could run the Vox and Fender amps at the same time. I knew about the Ruby / Dream combo but this is my first time seeing the amp blending with the Duophony in true stereo from both amps at the same time. Thanks for sharing this! You sold me on which direction I should go now, and it's this setup you shared, down to the Diso+ which I already wanted to get.
This is awesome. Other than the fact that it's a $1200 amp sim. Got me thinking about blending my Dream with my Boss GT-1000 for even weirder tones...
Great run down of the flow and how things come together!
Hi, Mark! I don't know if you'll see this, but thought I'd comment here on the polarity/phase situation you are experiencing. I haven't used the UAFX pedals, but I know that the Benson Boost actually flips the polarity of your signal. I use the Source Audio Collider, and didn't realize it also flipped the polarity of my signal until I used the Benson Boost in my rig and was running stereo. Using the Benson, I thought "this thing is magical! I've never heard my instrument so clearly", and when I showed my findings to an audio engineer friend, they immediately caught it as the correct phase response. I also tried another Benson Boost to be sure it wasn't a faulty pedal; it was not. I know you've found solutions with the Duophony, but maybe this would still be helpful to know if you didn't already.
This is ridonkulous! Inspiring sounds as usual, and making me rethink it all again...
Really looking forward to the amp plugins video.
Great Video! Really enjoy the Dream, but wish I would have went the Ruby route first at this point. This seems like the perfect solution and love the sounds you've been getting!
I really enjoy these type of videos. Discovery, inspiration and workflow. Your tones are inspiring. Would you do a video where you do a mix breakdown of a track you recorded for a demo?
I love my amp sims and use the Laney 112 FRFR for use in my music room. I've been looking at doing something like this for awhile, thank you for this video!
Great video dude. I bought the dream and Ruby recently. I'm current using them one on at a time. So dream for clean tones and Ruby for drive tones. I have an HX effects, my left output goes into the dream and right output into the ruby. Was thinking about trying them in parallel, have one in each of the HX Effects fx loops (1 and 2). I wonder if it would sum to mono OK out the HX Effects left output without any phase issues?
Hello mark!! Loved this idea, bought the duophany to run with my ruby and dream. I found that when I had the circle fully green or blue with only one amp, my stereo wet section was fully wide, but if I brought in the other amp, I would lose the full stereo and it would squish it to the middle. Any advice?
Mark, great video and amazing idea. If this could be accomplished in the AXE FX or Stomp, I’d be smitten. Question: I can’t find a 1/4” TRS male right angle to dual TS female anywhere. Tips?
I'd rather use a stereo insert cable like EBS to connect them...but maybe I'm missing something?
This solves the exact issue ive been dealing with running the dual amp pedals. Every time you change gains or something it throws the mix off and they dont seem to blend as well. I will be doing something like you are to get that perfect blend
Thanks for your video, the duophony will be here tomorrow, then I'll rebuild it.
Mark you’re my hero! Seriously one of my favorite TH-camr alive! Lol Any chance you could do a video of WDW with Duophony with Dream and Ruby?
Have a similar setup with two preamp pedals and a gigrig wetter box. Its a great way to use heavy effects without losing clarity.
This is just awesome!! I sold my helix and bough the UA amps and GFI pedal after I saw your GFI video, so, this is really helpful 💯
have you considered putting wet effects between the duophony and your direct box? essentially having them "in the effects loop"? Maybe that wouldn't sound to great. idk
Great video, thanks for putting this together
Does the Duophony have a preset button where I can switch the split levels on the fly? Would be an awesome feature depending on what type of music I’m playing.
I need to try the Duophony. I use the Dream and own the Ruby, but never use the Ruby. Every time i use it i can get clean tones i like out of it, but im not a fan of how my drives sound into it. Its not that they sound bad in the Ruby, but Im just so used to how my drives sound into the Dream that it seems off to me when i use the Ruby. I feel like blending the Ruby and Dream is getting the best of both worlds and would allow me to start using the Ruby more. Plus i love messing around with parallel signal chains. I used to split my clean signal before my drives to blend clean into my dirt until i started using a blues breaker type of circuit which has the polarity inverted and caused me phase issues, so I reverted back to a normal series signal chain. I do miss it though.
I guess the question now is, "Can i capture this in a Tonex?"
What about the NAM pedal
Yes... same eq, but far different dynamic, headroom, and details
I only have 4 input soundcard that I always play thru at home, thought of adding one of these to front inputs using a AB switcher and my Helix on the other. Just to use a different type amp in from another company or merge the two in DAW.
Hi, awesome video, very helpful. I have a dream, a ruby and a diso+ so I went ahead and ordered a duophony after I saw your video.
Only question I have is. Where is the guitar/fx input on the duophony? You run straight from you fx rig into the duophony?
I have a Boss LS-2 laying around here somewhere, so I’m going to give this a try.
I just wanted to come back and say that this is a game changer for my recording rig. My guitar sounds so much fuller now running the Ruby and the Dream in parallel like this. Thank you for sharing this setup with us.
Awesome rig 😍🖤 for me just the dream I satisfied, but with the ruby is animal!
I have the Walrus Canvas Stereo pedal, would that work with this setup?
I really appreciate this video and I have bought the Dream, Ruby and Diso+ and am loving the sounds I've been getting. Even my Sweetwater rep said their UA reps were talking about the recent popularity of the "Druby," and I am sure you are partially responsible for that. Apologies in advance for what might be a dumb question, but what is the advantage to running the duophony vs just adjusting the output level of each UA pedal to taste?
Thanks again for the great tutorials!
Being able to save static states of each pedal so you know what the values are / are supposed to be on start up and instead being able to use that visual information of the blend control is, imo, preferable. But there's no hard fast rule that says thats the right way to do it.
Sorry for the newb question, but why do you need the DISO+ in this chain? I realize it could be for many reasons, but curious if it's necessary or just icing.
XLRs make for a more flexible rig if I want to take this from the studio to a live environment or another studio elsewhere.
Awesome! Thank you.
Really nice setup and awesome video… now, I have a question… what would the result if using 2 ToneX Pedals instead of the Dream/Ruby setup, what would happen to the stereo effects (like chorus, delays and reverb) when connecting these to Duophony.
The signal chain I am asking for is:
MultiEffect Unit (L and R) to TRS Duophony input, then ToneX1 in Loop X and ToneX2 in Loop Y, both Duophony (L and R) to interface/mixer/FOH
Thanks man!
After I saw this video. I order everything lol except for the trs cable I cant find the right angle. Can you please tell me where you buy the right angle please
I got mine from Morningstar Engineering
@@markjohnstonofficial thanks so much.
Hello, will ruby + woodrow or dream + woodrow will have phase problem???
Should i run my guitar into my delay then into the Ruby or into the Ruby then delay? Thanks so much for your work...it has helped me a great deal. Inspiring. I happened upon you a few months back when i was looking for videos on the Habit.
Other options besides the duophony are small pedal board friendly stereo mixers - ART PowerMIX III, Radial Key Largo (which has an effects send and XLR out and doubles as an interface), and the as of yet unreleased Bastle Bestie, or if you have $1k to burn a Teenage Engineering TX-6. These have more than 2 channels, so you can even do wet/dry/wet or do other things with the additional channels like loopers, drums, etc. I'm not sure about the phase correction in unit for those options. Probably the best all-in-one for amp-sim users would be the Radial Key Largo, and you can power it with a Cioks DC-7 (but need a special center positive cable from them).
Hello,
I've been trying to wire the whole thing in stereo since yesterday.
My signal chain:
Drive Pedals via Quatermaster
Mono in Douphony
Dream - Douphony - Ruby Stereo via TRS
Stereo in
UA Astra
UA Starlite
Flint
Cloudburst
Class D amplifier in FsFr Speaker
The problem is that it doesn't work in stereo, only when the input is stereo.
Do you have a tip?
I don't like the sound when I hang everything in front of the Douphony.
Cool video man! Been thinking of doing this myself but totally a noob to blending amps. Have you tried sending your boost pedal to just one of the amps? Just watched a video from that pedal show about this. Sounded amazing.
Which episode was that?
Can you use hx stomp fx loop for this? So if we use the case of Uafx Ruby and Dream, we can use Y splitter into ruby and dream (parralel) and Return on L and R on hx stomp.
Then we put the L block and R block in parralel, and we can mix it by playing with the volume output on L and R block. Would this count as parralel mixing?
On one of the block, hx stomp can even switch the polarity.
What do you think?
Hey there, what an awesome video. I am having a constant whining high pitched noise when i connect my ua del verb's outputs to my ua ruby and my revv d20. As soon as i remove one of the ouput cables, the noise stops. Seems like a ground loop issue. Do you have that at all? Do you have any advice on how i could fix this please? Thanks
My best guess is a “what power are you using” workflow. I’ve never had any noise issues with the UA stuff but I also use isolated power through a conditioner.
@@markjohnstonofficial Interesting. what conditioner do you use? I even get the high whining noise when i connect both left and right from the ua ruby to the 2 inputs in my scarlett focusright. Thanks
I’m using a Furman Pl-Pro DMC. I like it, doesn’t solve for everything though; the power in my studio is very rough.
Thank you for such a great video. What do think where the Milkman 100 W portable amp stand compare to Ruby and Dream amp sim?
Hi Mark can you do the same teste, but combining the dream 65 with lion and combining ruby with lion?
Can you post a link for those TRS splitter cables? Everything I find is 3’ long…
Warwick Rockboard Y-splitter cable or EBS ICY-30
Amazing video. Watched it a few times. I am debating doing this exact setup as I just got my Ruby and have had the Dream. What are some possibilities to use this but have the wet effects after the amps? I wish there was an FX loop on these bad boys. Thanks Mark.
What pedalboard are you using for this setup?
Would love to hear your thoughts about the Dream vs. the Walrus ACS1 v2!
very very very helpful! Amazing thank you for new inspiration
Yo Mark, I did it, same idea, but am noticing that i have to DIME my UA pedals to get 1/2 the volume I can get when just running through a lehle splitter to UA pedals and sending each side to one speaker in the power cab. Is that normal? Sound is interesting, but i can't make an actual decision till i can fix the volume ya know? right now i'm running the power cab at 75% and still kinda quiet.
thanks dude!
🤩🤩🤩🙌🙌🙌 Excellent video as always!
Cool set up. I expected you to be running these two amp in a wet dry wet set up. Any reason you don't opt for that? I'm guessing this just works better for you.
The goal is to blend them into a single tone stack, not use them as wholly separate amps
Awesome video. I've often fantasized of going Digital, and loved the Ruby dream combo. The addition of the duophony basically solves my hesitations so when i can actually afford it I think I'll give this a go.
If I use the Duophony like this with the Dream and Ruby, can I run it directly to a power amp and cab? Or would I still need 2 power amps and cabs?
What size board is this on? Looks like it’s easy to travel with!
Revv G3 demo soon? Yes?
This sounds almost too good to be true. So it'll blend two parallel stereo signals into an incoming stereo signal and output as such?
Man this is so good as usual. I wish they did a Mesa in this format, gain and all. This is the reason I am leaning towards the QC still but go back and forth a lot. Would you be able to use this setup with guitar cabs if you wanted in addition to running direct?
You'd need power amps but yeah
Question for anyone who knows, where did the rest of the pedals run into? The last split wires?
I have the same question. Did you figure it out?
Maybe I missed it, but what audio interface do you use?
Mark uses a UA Apollo, I believe
Dude is serious about it
Why do you have to use a DI box?
The DI box keeps you signal cleaner when going into an interface. There’s more too it, but it’s important to use one. Even if your interface has one built in, usually an external one is better.
Do you possibly have any videos that go into this in detail ?@@JoshBattershell
It is my understanding that you don't need a DI box unless you're going to go a long distance. If you run a 3-foot cable from the dream or the Ruby into your recording interface you won't need a DI
The tonal imbalance between the two amps should be welcomed. It's presumably why you are using two amp Sims as opposed to one in stereo.
I wonder how it would sound to blend one of these pedals with a real amp
video quality no good very blurry
That’s a problem with your internet, not the video.