Why set Cab low and high cutoffs?

geetarplayer

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What is the reason for setting the low and high cutoffs for the cab block, if the selected IR is accurately representing the speaker behavior? If the speaker is delivering the curve frequency response it's supposed to, isn't that already burned in?
 
I also wonder about this. When I used a tube amp and miced the cab, I never added such filters, because I couldn't. The sound guy of course put in the low cut but apart from that it's the usual EQing. Having that exact signal path with the Axe simulating the amp, cab and mic should ideally produce the exact same signal.

My solution (for now): IRs that require high and low cuts are wrong. Using Mikko to get my IRs is great for this. I move the mic away from the speaker and get what I want. This always sounds much more natural than cutting a closer mic.

But I'm still searching for my ideal IR. Haven't found it yet, with both methods. But I'll get there!
 
I use high and low pass to shape the sound to what I want if I'm not quite getting it. It could be tailoring the sound to monitors that aren't ideal in the highs or lows (cab resonance will help here, too), and when adjusting the amp model doesn't give the desired result. Or if you want the Low B on a five string bass to have a bit more or less low end extension than the default. Almost always the 6db per octave sounds more natural. I really find low passing the highs to be helpful with high gain sounds, or Jensen Speakers (personal taste): and for me there's not even a rule of thumb to go by, because where its set is so dependent on the amp, IR and gain staging: but it really does help finesse the fizz, bite, or air, and how fussy the guitar tone control is in rolling off the highs. Its not going to turn straw into gold: but it can help give a wider sweet spot to the dynamics.
 
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Even if the IR represents the accurate representation of that particular CAB+MIC, both at the studio or on stage they will trim hi and lo frequencies to remove the unwanted lows and nasty highs, or to make the appropriate room to fit the guitar between the other instruments.
 
Its something that soundengineers like to cut in postproduction or live. Here you can do it yourself. Just remember its hard for a soundengineer to add something once it was cut.
 
Yes, but you do know that when a frequency response is said to be e.g. 100 Hz to 10 kHz, that doesn't mean that frequencies like 50 Hz or 15 kHz aren't audible, they are just much quieter! Just like with mics, dynamic mics can also transduce e.g. 20 kHz. It's just much quieter than e.g. condenser mics.
 
These adjustments make the cab customizable to individual tastes and goals for how they want a preset to sound. Not unlike Bass, Mid, Treb EQ adjustments on an amp. "Well, if the amp is a great amp, why would you need to use an EQ on it?" I'm not sure anyone would ask this question, but the High/Low cuts on the IR work the same way.

In fact, I often find myself tweaking the High/Low cuts more than the amp's EQ.

I agree with comments above too. If you're playing through a PA or FRFR, the nasty highs and resonant lows simply don't sound like a real amp to me. Traditional cabs have a very narrow frequency response compared to FRFRs. There are no rules, but if you want your preset to sound as traditional as possible, I don't know how you can get away from the High/Low cuts.
 
Ok, I believe my answer comes from these:
The IR is a representation of a close-mic’d speaker. This means added lows and highs.
Its something that soundengineers like to cut in postproduction or live. Here you can do it yourself. Just remember its hard for a soundengineer to add something once it was cut.

Close-micing sounds like it does in real-life. But that leads me to "so have sound engineers been doing those same cuts to make real amps sound good?". Likely, yes. And then, it makes perfect sense that these distributed IRs err on the side of leaving frequencies there, so you can remove what you want to remove.

That clears it up for me. Thank you.
 
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Do analog mixing consoles have high cuts? I only know of the fixed low cut at 75 Hz IIRC. So how did they, back in the day, do the high cut?
 
Do analog mixing consoles have high cuts? I only know of the fixed low cut at 75 Hz IIRC. So how did they, back in the day, do the high cut?

Tone controls and filters exist since the first vacuum tube radios and record players

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