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FDeck's HPF-Pre High Pass Filter review

Gmclachlan

Guest
May 11, 2011
135
9
Chicago
I recently bought an HPF-Pre 3 from TB'er fdeck, and I wanted to give a quick review. You can read more from him here:
https://sites.google.com/site/hpftechllc/

First off, I'm in a very loud band, and I've blown quite a few speakers. And in general, projecting clear and focused lows and low mids at high volumes using medium to high gain can be a challenge when using only an 8x10. (I use a GK2001RB and a variety of gain pedals and EQ's)
Another TB'er here recommended the HPF that fdeck makes. I believe fdeck is an upright player and the HPF-Pre is designed with that it mind, however, it has worked out great for my needs and I would suggest it to any heavy or loud player who wants to clean up his/her sound and make their drivers run more efficiently.
The bottom line is that your speakers expend a lot of wattage reproducing frequencies you can't really hear or need, and those frequencies create extra speaker movement that may be cluttering up your sound.
I put the HPF-Pre last in line of my pedals, set the Freq dial all the way down to 40Hz, it's range is 40-135Hz, and just pounded away at low E's, low D's, and low B's while my guitar player slowly turned the dial up. Right off the bat, as soon as I moved north of 40Hz, I could hear the tone slightly tighten, as I believe the speakers weren't working to pump out anything below 45Hz or so. Depending which bass and/or effects I was using I could hear some lows drop at maybe 60? maybe 70?, (maybe some frequency markings could be helpful here, but relying on your ears to find the sweet spot is probably the best practice anyway) but even still not necessarily a deal breaker for that type of music.
I think I settled in with it at around 50-55Hz, and it's made a pronounced difference in my sound, by itself, and in the band mix. For low B, I feel like I can be punchy and hard hitting without worrying that 30Hz is either blowing up a driver or sucking up wattage and driver accuracy.
Fdeck did express reluctance to me about claiming his product offered "speaker protection" so I couldn't say that it does perform that function directly, but if you're turning up, hitting harder, or adding high mids or more gain to be heard in a loud situation, you definitely more likely to cause speaker damage, as I and others can attest to firsthand.
Anyway, if you're having any of the above issues or just want to take a shot at cleaning up your sound, it has worked out well for me.
 
Yes, highly recommended. I used it today with both cabinets, the focused sound was even more pronounced. I kind of can't believe the usage of these things isn't more common. It's a basic step one would take in a studio situation to carve out spots for different instruments and reduce clutter in the mix.
 
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I recently bought an HPF-Pre 3 from TB'er fdeck, and I wanted to give a quick review. You can read more from him here:
https://sites.google.com/site/hpftechllc/

First off, I'm in a very loud band, and I've blown quite a few speakers. And in general, projecting clear and focused lows and low mids at high volumes using medium to high gain can be a challenge when using only an 8x10. (I use a GK2001RB and a variety of gain pedals and EQ's)

Another TB'er here recommended the HPF that fdeck makes. I believe fdeck is an upright player and the HPF-Pre is designed with that it mind, however, it has worked out great for my needs and I would suggest it to any heavy or loud player who wants to clean up his/her sound and make their drivers run more efficiently.

The bottom line is that your speakers expend a lot of wattage reproducing frequencies you can't really hear or need, and those frequencies create extra speaker movement that may be cluttering up your sound.

I put the HPF-Pre last in line of my pedals, set the Freq dial all the way down to 40Hz, it's range is 40-135Hz, and just pounded away at low E's, low D's, and low B's while my guitar player slowly turned the dial up.

Right off the bat, as soon as I moved north of 40Hz, I could hear the tone slightly tighten, as I believe the speakers weren't working to pump out anything below 45Hz or so. Depending which bass and/or effects I was using I could hear some lows drop at maybe 60? maybe 70?, (maybe some frequency markings could be helpful here, but relying on your ears to find the sweet spot is probably the best practice anyway) but even still not necessarily a deal breaker for that type of music.

I think I settled in with it at around 50-55Hz, and it's made a pronounced difference in my sound, by itself, and in the band mix. For low B, I feel like I can be punchy and hard hitting without worrying that 30Hz is either blowing up a driver or sucking up wattage and driver accuracy.

Fdeck did express reluctance to me about claiming his product offered "speaker protection" so I couldn't say that it does perform that function directly, but if you're turning up, hitting harder, or adding high mids or more gain to be heard in a loud situation, you definitely more likely to cause speaker damage, as I and others can attest to firsthand.

Anyway, if you're having any of the above issues or just want to take a shot at cleaning up your sound, it has worked out well for me.

Double tap the return key
 
This thread's pretty old, but I need a fairly fundamental answer. Does this HP Filter go between the bass and the amp to prevent any low frequencies from the bass being received by the amp or should it be located in the effects loop to prevent the mains from receiving any low frequencies from the preamp?
 
This thread's pretty old, but I need a fairly fundamental answer. Does this HP Filter go between the bass and the amp to prevent any low frequencies from the bass being received by the amp or should it be located in the effects loop to prevent the mains from receiving any low frequencies from the preamp?

Wherever it sounds best to you. Mine is in the fx loop of my hartke lh1000 and it works great! Either way it's going to work, its just up to you for placement. Sounds like a quick no thought answer but I tried it both places and it sounded best to me, on my gear, in the fx loop.
 
Wherever it sounds best to you. Mine is in the fx loop of my hartke lh1000 and it works great! Either way it's going to work, its just up to you for placement. Sounds like a quick no thought answer but I tried it both places and it sounded best to me, on my gear, in the fx loop.

+1 on the flexibility factor. I personally use it in front of the amp and it sounds great there as well.

Just my opinion, but for what it is, this piece of gear is in that rare "better than advertised" area.
 
Hey OP, so I have a series one fdeck. I've been using it for about two years. I just put it at the end of my chain and go. Now, my question. I usually keep mine dimed. Do you think it's still tightening up my sound? And also, if you say you're setting it around 50-55hz, where would you say the knob is sitting?
 
I'm really interested in this product, but his site mentions he doesn't ship outside US ?

He doesn't ship to Europe or far off places, I ordered my HPF right from FDeck. I think I have a series 3. I love the pedal but I do not use pedals at home, so it's been a while since I have seen it. I actually didn't even try it until over a year after purchase... I kinda forgot about it. They do show up on the classifieds from time to time, there were two on there in recent memory.
 
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There is TB'error that I know personally, who is reliable and trustworthy, that in the past has acted as a non-profit benevolent middleman for international low end brothers. Since F-DECK is a business, shipping a product internationally means he has to comply with European electrical standards, and while his stuff is awesome, that is a hassle and not worth it to him. PM me if you need one internationally and I can put you in contact with the guy. Maybe he still does it.
 
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