FB Comb Filter... Where have you been all my life?!

Rinkleton

Member
I just played around with the FB Comb filter on a high gain patch and wow! I've always had trouble getting high gain stuff to sound "professional." It either sounded too thin and fizzy or felt uneven like tubes not being driven enough. Adding the filter after the cab, roll up the depth until it starts to sound good, then roll off the volume and/or low end a bit. It suddenly has that sound I haven't been able to acheive. I was then able to dial back the gain for a more natural sound but it didn't feel like I was losing a ton of presence or saturation.

I am playing direct to monitors and not though amps, so I'm not sure how it would work in live situations. But it does seem like it's a big step to a more record-ready direct sound. I need to play with it some more.
 
I used a lexicon mpx-1 for the comb effect with my axefx’s for years before the FF comb block was around. I agree, A mix of a tiny bit of micro delayed comb-filtering made my string sensitivity feel better and my high gain solos sound thicker/fuller and more polished. I have focal dystonia so it helped me continue to play with having that condition. I’m sure it’s not for everyone but for me it has helped. I always put my FF comb between the amp and cab. About 10-20% mix with 3ms delay, 15% depth and high cut at 3.5k
 
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I'm about to go out of town, so I don't time to make a video clip. But here is the preset I'm playing with. It's basically the Brit Pre preset with a some minor tweaks to the amp, the GEQ block to roll off the low end. The first filter is the one I'm talking about. For me FF didn't have a noticeable impact, only FB. Keep the Delay time at 0 and play with the depth. I like it about 30-65%. The higher you go the more muddy and boomy and louder it gets so as you turn up the depth you need to turn down level. I played with using the low cut to roll off some of the bass, but I didn't like that and added a second filter with a tilt eq as a quick way to remove the mud. So as you play with first Filter block's depth, you'll need to exagerate or de-exagerate the second filter block by adjusting it's gain. It still needs more detailed EQ work to perfect it, but you can tell a difference by switching between presets 1+2.
 

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I love this box. Everyone has their own hairstyle: spiked, titled, chunky, frizzy, phat ... and combed!
 
Comb filtering is something i know nothing about.

This is what it looks like:
qa_2_a_0613-0L36GvGip79cKAEU_xsUYSq8hwxrI1QO.jpg


It can be a result of the phase relationship between electrical signals or standing waves in an acoustic environment. The sounds is what people typically call 'phaseyness' and in most cases it isn't desirable (but if course if you like it you like it and that's cool).
 
I did use a DDL in the early 80's to get this comb filter effect. This would simulate the sound of 2 mics on a cabinet, one close and the other at a short distance, i would get this sound using a very short time delay. You can also try using the time align on one cab in the cab block if you have two cabs active.
 
This is what it looks like:
qa_2_a_0613-0L36GvGip79cKAEU_xsUYSq8hwxrI1QO.jpg


It can be a result of the phase relationship between electrical signals or standing waves in an acoustic environment. The sounds is what people typically call 'phaseyness' and in most cases it isn't desirable (but if course if you like it you like it and that's cool).

Many thanks. I can see how this would be useful clearing up some frequencies.
 
I haven’t ever used come filtering as an effect. I look forward to playing with it. Who would’ve thunk?

I’m only used to having to deal with it from people placing monitors/transducers on the meter bridge (with combed reflections coming right off the desk into your face).
 
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