[Doug Young]

When the setting is right, this stereo setup based on the Sunnaudio preamp works great for me. The cool thing about this specific approach is that it sounds fine where ever you are in the room. That's different from a stereo sound stage of a band, where you'd have to worry that half the audience can't hear the piano or whatever. The thing that's hard to explain unless you either try it, or dig deep into how it works is that people on extreme sides of a room still hear a good guitar sound. Someone sitting dead in front of the left speaker, for example, hears a fairly standard "dual source" pickup+mic sound. And someone sitting dead in front of the right speaker also hears a standard dual source pickup+mic sound. So there's absolutely no issue with this specific approach that half the audience will be missing something the other side hears. Those in the middle will just hear a more spacious sound - while those dead center will get the greatest effect, it sounds fine throughout the room. I've yet to have anyone say "wow, you're in stereo", they just say it's a good guitar sound.

As far as why it's not done more, I think it's a very specific scenario for starters. It works great for solo guitar when playing thru a PA (singer/songerwriter stuff would work great too). It's not so interesting using it as part of a band. So right there, you've knocked out a vast majority of use cases (I still get the "wait, you aren't going to sing? and where's your drummer and bass player?" thing from people who find it baffling that anyone would play solo instrumental guitar :-), so there's that...) Also, some of the other stereo approaches are problematic, there are pickups that pan every other string, or some that can pan the bottom 3 strings one way and the top 3 another, or people use 2 different pickups and send on left and the other right. Those are all going to result in some odd experiences for the listener. A simpler approach that can work is just stereo reverb, tends to be subtle tho, and probably gets lost in most venues.

It's also the case that not every venue is setup for it. I frequently run into mono PAs. Or sometimes the room isn't shaped right, with speakers in weird locations. I always do a quick eval. Will this work well? Does the sound system support it? Does the sound guy stare at me blankly when I ask if he can give me two channels for stereo? Fortunately, my setup falls back to simple mono dual-source easily. So I'm fine either way, it's just that in a good listening room, the sound can be better, if I can use the stereo. And there's no "extra" gear to carry, I just need a pretty small preamp, and if I have to bring a PA, well, nearly all modern mixers are stereo these days and mine is. I'd bring the same rig mono or stereo.

I certainly see other people using stereo in various ways. Michael Manring has a stereo setup for his bass, based on a stereo chorus, with 2 small amps for himself to hear. Again, no one in the audience is likely to detect "stereo", they just hear that expansive Michael Manring sound. I played a gig a few weeks ago with another bassist, John Lester, and I was happy to hear him request a stereo DI from the sound guy - so I just went "me too!". So it's done, but the situation just has to be right.

BTW, here's an example of Michael Manring's stereo setup from a broadcast I produced for them (I imagine that what he hears himself is much cooler than how it comes out to the audience, and that's fine, if you like what you hear, you may play better):



And here's a live example of my Sunnaudio-based setup in a good listening room with a stereo PA: