What do you do with your Bass Frequencies?

nater said:
Great Thread guys... I'm curious about bass freq and FRFR. I haven't decided which way I'm going to go, but if FRFR is supposed to cover about 20Hz - 20kHz, do you really need those bottom 40 - 100 Hz if you're going to cut them anyways? In other words, would a speaker that covers 60HZ - 18kHz be as efficient as FRFR if you're going to cut those low frequencies anyways?

Thanks!
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Not only +1 to what was said above, but don't forget the FLAT RESPONSE part of 'FRFR', which means that all frequencies are as equally represented when given the same energy as possible. Guitar speakers, and most speakers in general, are NOT flat response. Even most of the full range systems available are not flat, and tend to 'doctor' the sound of the system to sound good, and NOT flat. For eg, some well known full range systems actually have the classic smiley face eq. - makes them sound great out of the box, and sell more units.

But to really get the most of what the axe has to offer, especially for recording, you need a system that is NOT hyped in certain frequencies, and will present you with what is actually there, as opposed to what the manufacturer wants you to hear in order to sell more units.....
 
Yeah, that's interesting... but it seems only a few mfg actually advertise the whole FRFR thing, so you're stuck with $900/ea enclosures.... I've got some Mackie and JBL powered monitors that I'm going to experiment with, but they are NOT Flat Response to my knowledge.... but the Freq Range should be "okay". I guess I'll just experiment with how they sound... I'm also considering going direct to our PA, but not sure what the true "flatness" of our PA really is. We've got subs and crossovers etc. so I'm sure the Freq range will be fine.
 
nater said:
Yeah, that's interesting... but it seems only a few mfg actually advertise the whole FRFR thing, so you're stuck with $900/ea enclosures.... I've got some Mackie and JBL powered monitors that I'm going to experiment with, but they are NOT Flat Response to my knowledge.... but the Freq Range should be "okay". I guess I'll just experiment with how they sound... I'm also considering going direct to our PA, but not sure what the true "flatness" of our PA really is. We've got subs and crossovers etc. so I'm sure the Freq range will be fine.
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If going straight to your pa and you use the same system from gig to gig set it up early one day at a fairly neutral sounding venue (not a warehouse for example) and tweak out the bass and any other offending frequencies. I did so with my Ultra and I was the envy of most local players who could not believe I was going direct. Now that I have upgraded time to do the same.
 
jon said:
I usually use the lowcut in the amp - try to eliminate problems at the source, but I use everything else to tweak to taste. I use PEQ especially as I am one of those who is bothered by certain frequencies - I have unusually sensitive hearing (blessing and curse).
I tried using some of the other methods, but the 'flubbiness' of certain amps remained for some reason. Cutting them off at the amp block or before did the trick. I also use an eq block AFTER everything as well to tweak. That and a compressor at the end, and the guitar sits perfectly with any band I play with.
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Jon

Happy New Year

Would you mind to post one of your more complicated presets incl the PEQand or MBC?

Thanks Roland

FAS Crunch would be perfect VOX will do as wewll just for a faster learning curve on cleans-to -crunch
 
Would be glad to post up a preset ;) - ill be honest tho - I only connect to my computer 1-2 times a year (to backup), so don't hold your breath for it! LOLLL!!

I'm just a hardware kinda guy - I use iPad for just about anything these days, so even less reason to connect to the computer, and I tweak everything with the axe - that's why I'm always begging for more buttons! Will also be happy to share any any info on how everything is setup or even make a patch to demonstrate the benefits in a few different styles.....just don't hold your breath for the actual preset! LOL!!
 
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Was feeling bad as I hardly ever connect to a pc to upload presets, so this morning around 3am I decided to make some noise with the ultra and see if I could record some clips to post up here to illustrate how everything works in a band context. I was fooling around with some riffs on preset 22 which is one of my crunch presets I was going to use to record, and flipped the dial by accident -patch 23 - crazy train.

Illustrates almost perfectly some of the concepts, and in a song everyone knows! Check out the amp block - the low cut is set to 502 hz or something! :eek: that's pretty high, even for me! Lol. But it comes off well - try jamming it with a backing track and see how well it falls into place. By itself, it lacks some body, but in the band context, see how well it presents itself!

Check out the graphic eq block in it too - most of the bass is notched down, with slight bumps up in certain frequencies to give it body and some cutting mids. Really good example in a stock preset.

Try lowering the low cut to say, 10hz, so you get that 'amp in the room' kinda vibe, bypass the EQ block, and jam along with some drums and bass and see how it fights them. Also note how the low end starts to get flubby. Mesa owners might dig it tho.

Now restore the patch to what it was and jam with the bass and drums again - hear that clarity? You can hear the drums and bass separate and the guitar separate and stands out.
 
This is really interesting!
What frequencies should a bassplayer cut to not interfere too much with the guitar?
Everything above 100Hz?

Cheers!
- jonah
 
Not all of them, that's for sure. For instance, the region around 1 KHz has a lot to do with note definition on the bass guitar. A mild, broad boost there can help the bass stand out as a note player instead of just a low-pitched drone. It gives the bass some pick attack, which helps reduce some of its reliance on the "mud" frequencies. Those lower frequncies become what they should be: the foundation of the bass's sound, not just the bulk of it.
 
I found even doing a low cut around 80hz having a drive pedal in front of the amp tightened things up a bit to
 
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