fdecks HPF, Part II

[MarkA]

Just got my Series III. I put it in the effects loop of my Walkabout. I've only had the chance to try it briefly, at home, at low volume, so take this with a grain of salt, but I do hear a difference, even with the filter rolled down to 35 Hz. It is subtle, and could be due to the extra bits of cable, the different impedance of the fDeck vs. the front end (speaking of which, I haven't tried it between the bass and the amp), and/or expectation bias, but I think I can hear/feel a difference in the low end. Certainly as I dial up the filter a quarter or a third of the way up it becomes audible. There seems to be a tiny bit less thump/cushion underneath the note.

Now, that non-pitched content can be good or bad. Just the right kind/amount helps to add a percussive "front" to the note which I generally like. And I'm not saying the sound is any worse, just (very slightly) different. It seems a bit tighter, too, and, with the filter dialed down, is certainly not lacking any bass.

Two things worth noting:

• Before getting the HPF, I boosted the bass control and dialed in a slight cut with the Walkabout's lowest semi-parametric band, centered at what looks to be 35Hz-40Hz (dialed in by ear 'til the bass register sounded as even as I could get it). Plugging in the HPF with that cut still in, I hear a difference. With that semi-parametric zeroed out, the difference between fDeck/no fDeck seems less.
  
• Only tried it through my Dr. Bass 2x12. Don't know how low that cab or its Faital drivers go. Will try it through my Big E 6x6, which I assume goes significantly lower and has a lot more audible low end (no bass-boost needed for that cab). It could be more revealing in that regard.

Anyway, those are initial impressions only. Doesn't make sense to blab on further until I've tried it at volume and at some more length.

The box itself is classy-looking in an understated way and, at first blush, looks to be well-built. Would work well velcro-ed to the top of the Walkabout, I think! I plan to try it with my other amps, too.

Mark

 

[jallenbass]

I received mine about a week ago. My initial impression was that this box wasn't going to be very useful for me. In my studio at low volumes I could hardly tell any difference that it made. Then I took it to rehearsal and last night's gig. Played with it and then without. Huge difference in clarity. As Mark said it's not one way is better than the other. It all depends on your tone goals. It's just nice to have the choice now. Last night I was in a corner so it was rather boomy and the fdeck was able to clean that up substantially.

 

[silky smoove]

I love the boom reduction, and the speaker pistoning reduction a lot, but seeing how much inaudible low end "stuff" was falsely triggering my compressor is the real magic of this box for me.

 

[kleinenenten]

So you use this BEFORE your compressor? Never thought about that. Is your comp in the beginning or the end of your chain? Mine's at the beginning, and the Fdeck is at the end. Wonder how this would work if I reversed them? Or maybe put this right before the compressor, with the compressor at the end? Hmmm.....

 

[silky smoove]

My board has a loop at the front with all of my effecty effects, which includes some subsonic generating units (octave, envelope filter, etc.), and the HPF-3 immediately follows it. After the HPF-3 is my compressor. After that is a tuner, and them a DI.

 

[eddododo]

I did the same thing, silky

Same thing for envelope filters, clipping etc.

You get so much usable low end back with a little high pass... I tricked my bass buddy because he insisted that cutting lows was unacceptable. I made him go blind-listen to himself while dialing in different high passes I have made. When I did the cuts in the 40 and down range he said 'see? Fat lows all day' I put his lows back in and it went to mud

 

[kleinenenten]

My board has a loop at the front with all of my effecty effects, which includes some subsonic generating units (octave, envelope filter, etc.), and the HPF-3 immediately follows it. After the HPF-3 is my compressor. After that is a tuner, and them a DI.

I don't use any effecty effects, but maybe I'll try comp at the end, followed by Fdeck. Never done experimenting!

I'm thinking I might just use the Fdeck on my big rig, in the loop, since I never really need to crank the others. But I'll A/B the loop/board sounds and see. If there's no difference, I'll keep it on the board for extra protection everywhere.

 

[silky smoove]

I don't use any effecty effects, but maybe I'll try comp at the end, followed by Fdeck. Never done experimenting!

Try it HPF-3 -> Comp. All of the sub lows that you can't really hear or be accurately reproduced by most cabs also makes your compressor work too hard. Putting the HPF-3 in front, really cleans it up. You end up getting the same dynamic range reduction, with less of a compressed sound.

 

[kleinenenten]

Try it HPF-3 -> Comp. All of the sub lows that you can't really hear or be accurately reproduced by most cabs also makes your compressor work too hard. Putting the HPF-3 in front, really cleans it up. You end up getting the same dynamic range reduction, with less of a compressed sound.

Yeah, that's what I meant!

 

[kleinenenten]

Try it HPF-3 -> Comp. All of the sub lows that you can't really hear or be accurately reproduced by most cabs also makes your compressor work too hard. Putting the HPF-3 in front, really cleans it up. You end up getting the same dynamic range reduction, with less of a compressed sound.

Definitely see what you mean! Comp at the end now, between my gate and Fdeck, and my comp LED barely moves! Amazing how much it cleans up!

 

[silky smoove]

Definitely see what you mean! Comp at the end now, between my gate and Fdeck, and my comp LED barely moves! Amazing how much it cleans up!

Glad it worked for you. It is a wonderful sound when you get the dynamic control that you want from your compressor without it sounding as squashed due to false, or more correctly, inaudible triggering by sub low end that you don't presumably want.

 

[MothBox]

Try it HPF-3 -> Comp. All of the sub lows that you can't really hear or be accurately reproduced by most cabs also makes your compressor work too hard. Putting the HPF-3 in front, really cleans it up. You end up getting the same dynamic range reduction, with less of a compressed sound.

I'm looking at getting the HPF-3 but was going to put it at the end of the effects chain because i assumed some effects such as envelope filters, octave down and maybe the dirt section would be adding some of those below 40 frequencies.

But you've found better results cleaning the initial signal in that all of the "dirt" comes from the initial signal which is normally amplified and utilized by the effects chain?

At the moment i go into a LMB3 because i had spikes in a recording which it removes and gave me a smooth recording. I was looking at the HPF to tighten my speaker response and give clarity to my sound.

 

[silky smoove]

I'm looking at getting the HPF-3 but was going to put it at the end of the effects chain because i assumed some effects such as envelope filters, octave down and maybe the dirt section would be adding some of those below 40 frequencies.

But you've found better results cleaning the initial signal in that all of the "dirt" comes from the initial signal which is normally amplified and utilized by the effects chain?

At the moment i go into a LMB3 because i had spikes in a recording which it removes and gave me a smooth recording. I was looking at the HPF to tighten my speaker response and give clarity to my sound.

No. I think you misunderstood my initial post. All of my effects live in a loop. The first thing downstream of the loop is my HPF-3. After the HPF-3 is a compressor and a DI.

All of my effects that would add sub low end do live upstream of my HPF-3. The compressor is the only effect that lives downstream.

 

[MothBox]

No. I think you misunderstood my initial post. All of my effects live in a loop. The first thing downstream of the loop is my HPF-3. After the HPF-3 is a compressor and a DI.
All of my effects that would add sub low end do live upstream of my HPF-3. The compressor is the only effect that lives downstream.

Gotcha!

 

[kleinenenten]

No. I think you misunderstood my initial post. All of my effects live in a loop. The first thing downstream of the loop is my HPF-3. After the HPF-3 is a compressor and a DI.

All of my effects that would add sub low end do live upstream of my HPF-3. The compressor is the only effect that lives downstream.

Ditto! I've got all my effects, then my Fdeck, then comp, then gate. Actually, now that I have this setup, I can see the natural compression that my distortion and OD give to my signal. The LEDS are almost never triggered when I have anything but my "light" OD on. When I'm clean, I'm at about -5dB, just my B3K about -3dB, and with light OD only -3dB when I'm really digging in. With heavy OD, I'm not getting any LEDS on, regardless of technique. Makes me think about removing the comp from the chain and getting another effect. Maybe the gate, my second fuzz, and "heavy" OD as well. The quest continues...

 

[silky smoove]

Gotcha!

Having it at the end is a wonderful thing. It also provides an end of the chain buffer to compliment my buffered loop at the front. Benefits all over from the HPF-3, haha.

 

[Philonius]

This. It does not stay lit. And remember, it happens when you plug in the OUTPUT not the input. Also, if you have one of the first, it may not do even that. Mine is a proto and does not blink very often. I find it works just the same though.

I picked up a used series 3 recently here on the classifieds, to use with DB. I was having trouble with my Phil Jones Briefcase not sounding happy trying to keep up with the LF component of the attack. It does the trick just as expected.

Since fdeck seems to monitor this thread: The online user's guide I referenced doesn't specify that the battery indicator light flashes when the Output is plugged in. I was assuming it came on with the input..... and thought the light on mine was defective. May I suggest you mention in your reference materials that it's switched by the output jack? To keep folks like me from wrongly thinking they've got a problem. Thanks for a great little gizmo.

 

[fdeck]

I picked up a used series 3 recently here on the classifieds, to use with DB. I was having trouble with my Phil Jones Briefcase not sounding happy trying to keep up with the LF component of the attack. It does the trick just as expected.

Since fdeck seems to monitor this thread: The online user's guide I referenced doesn't specify that the battery indicator light flashes when the Output is plugged in. I was assuming it came on with the input..... and thought the light on mine was defective. May I suggest you mention in your reference materials that it's switched by the output jack? To keep folks like me from wrongly thinking they've got a problem. Thanks for a great little gizmo.

Thanks for the tip, and the kind words!

 

[Rickenmonster]

Yeah, I thought mine had a problem with the light too until someone straightened me out on that.

 

[Jeff Bonny]

I know this has been answered pretty recently but damned if I can find it. What's a Series 3 draw at 9V? I know it's not much but when you're chaining out of 100mA and 200mA circuits its good to keep track and leave adequate headroom.