The theoretical and experimental investigations of the electrical cross-talk in a four-electrode configuration without faradaic interference were performed. It was shown that the common resistance shared by the two working electrodes plays a major role in the electrical response of the system. In the particular case of the scanning electrochemical microscopy, the transient response of the probe to a potential step applied to the substrate results in two-time constants and the cell-time constant of the substrate governs the attainable time constant of the whole system. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.