Low and High Cut For Live Performance

4406cuda said:
Where are you all setting your low and high cuts for your live performances?

I have been cutting everything above 5500 with a 12db slope in the preamp tab with in the cab block. I am thinking of going down below 5000. I use a lot of fender and Marshall amps with the Marshall and EV 4x12 dynacabs.
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I had struggled with this for a long time, based on what OTHERS were doing.
Seeing many people post their High cuts at 6500 to 8K+, I could never get the tone I wanted. (Marshall type amps)
Then one day I saw a post where a guy was High cutting at about 3800hz, I was blown away by that.
So I tried that range, ~4400hz @ 12db, for me and I am finally in the sweet spot!

I make this adjustment in the cab block, in the preamp tab.
For me by making that adjustment there, I don't have to make 2 individual adjustments when using 2 cabs.
I typically low cut at 80hz.
 
I played a club that hosts great bands (Guthrie Govan, Paul Gilbert, Flotsam and Jetsam, etc.) I spoke with the FOH after the show about how my high and low cuts worked. He was surprised that I had High Cut between 4500 and 5900 as my cleans still sparkled and my gain patches fit/cut nicely. I guess like many things, the numbers we use don't directly translate due to differences in pickups, playing style, IR's chosen and the way the amps are dialed in. I had run down to 3500 (due to Brad Whitford and Andy Woods) for a couple of gigs, but felt that in a 2 guitar band it wasn't quite cutting as well and raised it back up.
 
Don't be afraid to dial those high cuts way down. What sounds muddy and lackluster at bedroom volumes will sound nice and warm with just the right cut, when cranked up (once you find that sweet spot). This is why I use the PEQ block. I leave it off when I'm jamming alone or at nominal volumes. Then turn it on for band jams and live gigs (on top of additional cab hi/lo cuts if needed). The last thing I want is to be harsh in a live situation, but I see that all the time both with modelling guys and tube amp guys. I think it's mainly from dialing in their tones at bedroom levels and never adjusting for the Fletcher Munson effect.
 
There’s no ideal high cut. It depends on the amp, the settings, the ir etc.
For live Marshall I use 6.5k/8k with 6db slope. If I cut more I lose the Marshall tone
 
Years ago, being relatively new to using the Axe as my rig and I was playing a gig and really liked the FOH sound I heard at sound check. I asked the FOH engineer how he set my channel up at FOH. He showed me the eq cuts he did which was 90hz and 5000Khz with a slight bump in around 1100kh. This really helped in setting the sounds up for live direct and changed how I approached creating sounds for live use. It is a different environment that recording or playing at home.
 
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muudrock said:
Years ago, being relatively new to using the Axe as my rig and I was playing a gig and really liked the FOH sound I heard at sound check. I asked the FOH engineer how he set my channel up at FOH. He showed me the eq cuts he did which was 90hz and 50000Khz with a slight bump in around 1100kh. This really helped in setting the sounds up for live direct and changed how I approached creating sounds for live use. It is a different environment that recording or playing at home.
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I think you mean 5000K. Human hearing ends at around 20,000khz (usually 20hz to 20Khz). 50,000Khz is like a dog whistle LOL
 
There’s very little value in 8k for guitar. There isn’t much timbral difference to the ear at that frequency and most of what you are getting is the edge of the pick hitting the strings. It’s pretty similar to a drum stick attack on a cymbal.

Anything above 5-6k can fatigue the audience pretty quickly, so you want to be very selective in how much you put in a PA (or IEM).
 
Mine are @100Hz Low Cut and 8,000Hz High Cut, both with 12dB/Oct slope. I use the 5 Band Passive EQ in the Amp Output EQ to further shape/adjust for live.
 
I just tried setting up the PEQ, last in chain, with blocking at 5k and 36db slope. It sounds great at band level.

You can also adjust your amp settings to compensate.
 
Dave Merrill said:
So where do the all the highs above that that folks want remove come from then?
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A digital modeler will reproduce the full spectrum, and so will a FRFR or PA type speaker. A speaker made for guitar will shave off much of the high end by design, but a full range system will not. It's up to the end use to sculpt their tone accordingly when using any type of full range set up to monitor. If you're using a modeler with a separate power amp and guitar type cabinet, you will likely have to remove much less high end.
 
On the cab block I use 120HZ for the low and anywhere from 5500 to 5800 for the highs depending upon the cab.
On the amp block, I usually will go into the ideal tab and turn on the cut switch to remove too much bottom end from the amp when running direct to FOH. Again, it all depends on the PA we are using and the room we are playing in.
 
jetdriver1775 said:
A digital modeler will reproduce the full spectrum, and so will a FRFR or PA type speaker. A speaker made for guitar will shave off much of the high end by design, but a full range system will not. It's up to the end use to sculpt their tone accordingly when using any type of full range set up to monitor. If you're using a modeler with a separate power amp and guitar type cabinet, you will likely have to remove much less high end.
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Guitar cab IRs mimic the limited frequency response of a guitar cab though.
Why should we need to limit it further?
 
So, I understand the reason for the low and high cuts (to create a more amplike frequency envelope) and do employ these in most circumstances, but I wonder...since our Fractal units are not merely amp simulators, but rather amp + efx simulators, does the 80-6000 hz (or whatever) envelope still provide all the audible information that is produced by the whole amp + effects chain when you attenuate those lows and highs?

Put another way, do the reverbs, filters, delays, etc. sound the same with a lowpass @ 6000hz, or is there an attenuation of important auditory cues as a result? The amp sim might be fine, but what about things like early reflections in a tiled room, etc.? It seems to me that a lowpass, and possibly even a highpass, filter would severely degrade a number of effects, if not the actual amp sim, in a given patch.
 
Dave Merrill said:
Why should we need to limit it further?
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I think because we're still listening with the mic against the grill and amplifying that uncut signal through our PA system.
Do whatever works best for you... but FOH will do their thing: they will make the cuts themselves, or a less experienced PA man might simply put you down in the mix because it hurts his/her ears.
 
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