Red Sea
Overview, Features, and how to use the Red Sea
- Overview
- Operating the Red Sea
- Routing Options
- HX Stomp - Wet Dry Wet
- Strymon Iridium - Wet Dry Wet
- Walrus ACS1 - Wet Dry Wet
- Kemper - Wet Dry Wet
- Dirty - Wet Dry Wet
- Clean - Wet Dry Wet
- Dual Delay - Wet Dry Wet
- Dirty - Wet Dry
- Clean - Wet Dry
- Parallel - Wet Dry
- Parallel Dual Amp Modelers
- Stereo Parallel FX Loops
- Mono Parallel Effects Loop
- Blend Dual Tube Amps
- Serial to Parallel Effects Loop
- Stereo Analog Dry Thru
- Mono Analog Dry Thru
- FAQ
Overview
Basic overview and features of the Red Sea
Description
Introducing the Red Sea, an all analog signal routing matrix designed for countless stereo and mono signal path routing options.
The Red Sea gives you the ability to run a FULL Stereo wet dry wet rig using only 2 amps or just 2 signals to the FOH, while also giving you complete control over your Wet & Dry mix!
The Red Sea also has two independent stereo FX loops. Use each FX loop to run stereo delay's and reverb's in parallel, where each effect does not interact with each other. Huge soundscapes can be achieved with washy reverbs and articulate delay repeats while being able to blend between each FX loops mix level.
The Red Sea can also do the following routing options:
- Wet | Dry utilizing a single amp
- Clean Wet | Dry | Wet (drives DO NOT run into wet effects)
- Wet | Dry | Wet with dual delays (one in the L channel & other in R channel)
- Parallel Dual Amps (run dual amp modelers in FULL stereo)
- Convert a tube amp's serial FX Loop to a parallel FX Loop
- Stereo and Mono analog dry through (avoid latency in digital pedals)
- And the list goes on, only limited by your imagination...
Features:
- Stereo or Mono In's & Out's
- Studio Grade Analog Buffers on all Inputs & Outputs
- Large Blend Knob for Blending in a Live Setting
- Polarity Reverse Switches for Changing the L&R Polarity on One of the FX Loops
- Cast Aluminum Enclosure for Maximum Durability and Weight Reduction
- Power via Standard 9v 100ma Power Supply (not included)
- Dimensions: 4.82” x 2.62” x 1.425”
Quick Start Guide
Wet Dry Wet Wiring
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Stereo Parallel FX Loop Wiring
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Operating the Red Sea
How to use the Red Sea
Signal Flow In & Out of the Red Sea
The Red Sea can be wired in many different ways but before we dig into each wiring diagram let's go over how the signal can flow in and out of the Red Sea.
Use the Right Input for a mono signal going in to the Red Sea. Your input signal will be copied, split, and sent to all four send jacks (1 thru 4). The input signal can be anything, guitar, drive pedal, eq pedal, or any other mono signal source.
Mono Input
Use both Left and Right inputs to maintain a stereo image routing through the Red Sea. When ran in stereo, the Left Input will be copied, split, and sent to send jacks 3 and 4. The Right Input will be copied, split, and sent to send jacks 1 and 2. The input signals can be anything like dual guitars, 1 guitar and 1 bass, or any stereo effects pedal.
Stereo Input
The signal flowing through the return jacks on the right side (Return 1 & 2) will leave on the Right Output of the Red Sea. The same will apply for the signals flowing through the return jacks on the left side (Return 3 & 4), these signals will leave on the Left Output of the Red Sea.
Return Jack Signal FLow
*** There is one exception to the signal flow in the Return jacks when using the Red Sea in a Wet Dry or Wet Dry Wet setup. When you remove the patch cable from the Return 4 jack, the Red Sea will re-route the signal from the Return 2 jack to both Left and Right Outputs.
Wet Dry Wet Signal Flow
Hopefully by now you can see how your signal will flow in and out of the Red Sea. Later in the manual we will provide various wiring diagrams for different routing options, however using the knowledge above you should be able to create your own unique routing configurations.
Using the Blend Knob
The Blend knob can be used to blend the volume/mix between two parallel effects loops. For instance you want to run your reverb and delay in parallel which will allows for your wet effects to not interact with each other. Rotating the Blend knob counter clockwise will make Stereo Loop A (Return Jacks 1 & 3) louder while simultaneously making Stereo Loop B (Return Jacks 2 & 4) quieter. The opposite is true when rotating the Blend knob clockwise, B gets louder while A simultaneously gets quieter.
It can also be used to blend the overall mix between your dry and wet signals when using the Red Sea for Wet Dry Wet. When rotating the Blend knob counter clockwise, the Wet loop (Return Jacks 1 & 3) will get louder while simultaneously making the Dry loop (Return Jack 2) quieter. The opposite is true when rotating the Blend knob clockwise, Dry gets louder while Wet simultaneously gets quieter.
Using the Polarity Switches
The polarity switches can be a very useful and powerful tool, not only to phase correct your stereo loops, but also provide a stereo widening effect.
When running amp modelers or drive pedals in parallel, often times they will be out of polarity with each other. When this happens various frequencies will end up canceling each other out. When this happens you will experience two things that will affect your tone 1) it is quite common to loose bass frequencies leaving your tone thin and less full sounding 2) anytime frequencies are removed, this results in a volume drop and your signal will not be as loud.
With the Red Sea we fix these issues with our two polarity switches, each switch will invert the polarity for Return Jack 1 & 3 respectively. This will ensure both stereo loops will remain in phase with each other.
***If you are experiencing any of the two issues listed above, flip both polarity switches either up or down while listening to your tone change as you flip the switches.
The polarity switches can also be used to create a stereo widening effect, this trick works in both Wet Dry Wet and Stereo Parallel FX Loops wiring arraignments. Instead of flipping/keeping both polarity switches in the same direction, try flipping just one of the switches and see what happens. You'll notice your dry signal goes from a "center panned" kind of sound to a "left / right panned" sound which will create a huge stereo widening sound effecting removing your dry signal from the middle and placing it in the left and right outputs. There will be some draw backs to using this method, which were mentioned above (loss of bass and volume), however the Red Sea can limit the effectiveness of these draw backs. Since we have two stereo loops, or a Wet and Dry loop, your signal will remain in tact in one loop and inverted in the other loop. As long as the Blend knob isn't turned fully counter clockwise the drawbacks will be less noticeable. Also, as you turn the knob clockwise, the stereo widening effect becomes less noticeable as you are removing the inverted signal from your overall mix.
Routing Options
Wiring diagrams for various signal routing options.
HX Stomp - Wet Dry Wet
Strymon Iridium - Wet Dry Wet
Walrus ACS1 - Wet Dry Wet
Kemper - Wet Dry Wet
Dirty - Wet Dry Wet
Clean - Wet Dry Wet
Dual Delay - Wet Dry Wet
Dirty - Wet Dry
Clean - Wet Dry
Parallel - Wet Dry
Parallel Dual Amp Modelers
Stereo Parallel FX Loops
Mono Parallel Effects Loop
Blend Dual Tube Amps
Serial to Parallel Effects Loop
Stereo Analog Dry Thru
Mono Analog Dry Thru
FAQ
In progress... Please check back soon!