But cabs are not flat from 1hz to 20kHz. Cabs have natural HPF because are tuned. Freq response is (often) +/-3db so below that is a slope which is 12db/oct for sealed and 18-24db/oct slope in ported cabs. So if cab have 50-15k that means 50hz is (+/-3db) and 25hz is -12db to -18/-24db depends on cab build. If you don't boost your bass knob all the way up and don't have cab which is tuned lower than 45-50 you have nothing to do with HPF. It all depends how cab is build and what you do with your eq. It's very hard to blow up cabs these days. You must boost bass A LOT and turn up the volume "at 11" to do that. And still with good cab it's hard to completely damage it. And don't forget that bass have the highest amplitude on 2nd harmonic which still is about 60hz for low B string. Any big distortions are in 20-50hz area so as you can see low B is still above that. Look at that pic below. It;s HPF at 50hz and 100hz 12db/oct shelf boosted 16 DB!!! If you need boost your 100hz bass knob that far you definitely don't know what you do with eq.
You are not understanding what an electrical HPF does or why it's important/useful then. It's used to reduce the low frequency extension to decrease the lowest fundamentals which allow for a better (or more appropriate for most players) proportion of harmonics to fundamental for the lowest notes where the speakers is not really able to reproduce the fundamental effectively anyway. By removing this information, the bass can appear to be more coherent. It also more effectively protects the speakers from the effects of over-excursion which improves reliability... a win-win compromise.
1. Too strong signal? How you can do that from bass guitar? And especially passive one? 2nd harmonic is where amplitude of the note is the highest. Way above subs (even for 5 string bass). It's almost impossible to do that
Do you think that bass cab manufacturers don't know that?
2. Amp won't waste power for useless frequencies if you don't crank them up. Simple as that
3. Shroeder freq. Is way above subbass. Mainly 100-300hz so you don't use HPF that high anyway.
Sorry but to blow away your cab you have try realy hard to make it come true. Same with reduce unwanted freq which bass not produce. Not mention amp. If you don't boost you won't add gain to that frequencies. And bass lives in mids + what I write above. Of course you can use HPF - it's up to you and I'm the last person who will forbid anyone to use it, but as I said above, it's 9/10 useless anyway.
YOUR tastes are really not representative of the more experienced players as a whole, based on my experience dealing with thousands of players. Generally, the fundamental is roughly 40-50% for the lowest 1/2 octave with the remaining 60% being 2nd, and 3rd harmonics plus the harmonics above that. It's not primarily 2nd harmonics. If the power is being used to reproduce frequencies below what the cabinet is capable of (say the F6 point), it's being wasted.
That's why most bass amps have shelf filters with their bass knobs. Just tad of cut and you are in home. Same with bass synths.
Here's where it's clear that you do not understand your own argument (and this is not a language barrier because it's all in the numbers".
A HPF has a steeper slope than a typical shelving bass eq filter, the HPF is usually between 12 and 24dB per octave while the shelving bass eq filter is 6dB/octave. You are comparing a first order transfer function with a 2nd, 3rd or 4th order function, entirely different in its effectiveness of removing unwanted LF signal without interfering with what remains.
But how much you must boost your bass? 10db? 20db? You don't have ears or what?
Which normal human being do that? LOL. Which one recommend using HPF? I never heard anyone of bass amp manufacturer to encourage users to use HPF. IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DO IT'S POINTLESS. IF NOT YOU BETTER LEARN HOW EQ WORKS. And I'm not shouting
Just emphasize obvious thing
Actually, you don't know how eq works or you wouldn't have shouted or emphasized what you posted.
Boosting a bass signal by 6dB multiplies the power required to drive the speaker by 4 times at those low frequencies. This is why it's important to STEEPLY filter out what's unwanted before applying eq, this way if the signal is filtered out, there is no inherent danger of using EQ.
In fact, it opens up the possibility of using the HPF in addition to some bass boost from the shelving EQ to achieve some unique and useful voicings.
Ok. Mesa. Who's next? Nobody! That's the truth. And you still don't get it that if you don't crank everything all the way up you don't destroy your gear. LOL
Actually, MOST bass amps incorporate HPF's, mostly fixed and mostly low enough where they are useful to all players. Some players find that they prefer a higher cutoff frequency, and for those a variable filter is a good choice.
But don't you think that you do that with just don't crank up bass but cut and boost appropriate midrange which will be more usefull for your sound that cut freq which amp cut with built-in HPF and cab won't reproduce anyway? And most bass knobs in amps work like a LSF anyway so you can turn down those sub-bass without drastic thing which HPF is and without phase issues. Most of the amps can hold bass on 12'o clock on full gain and volume settings. I tried it on small combos and on bigger stacks which can be even boosted in low end a little bit and nothing wrong happend. And you can still hear yourself, as you said, in harmonics which are high-bass, mids and high mids! Distortion in low end is about 50hz and below. Most of the cabs have HPF on 45-50-55 and higher. Amps have HPF built-in. And to get good bass tone you need to set your mids first and add bass and treble to complete the sound. That's it. And even though you use HPF you still need freq to cut through which are MIDS. So you need to eq mids anyway. You can use HPF but I really don't understand the idea that HPF is a thing that help you sound better or prevent your gear from damage. It's more complex thing than just "simple' filter box.
I think you would gain some much needed knowledge by learning more about HPF's before continuing your argument. HPF's have been used for decades, in the recording world, in the pro audio world (my home turf), and in the acoustic instrument amplification world in addition to bass amps.
It's a tool that actually can do exactly those things if you care to learn how to use it for those purposes. And like any tool, if not used wisely the results may not be so swell.
Absolutely.
I think that you have to look at a multitrack mix in a digital audio workstation, examining where the frequencies lie to see what is going on. High and low pass filters are typically applied to fit all the sounds together. The bass, kick drum, and keyboards are three things that can overlap. The HPF is a single setting that globally affects the cutoff of your bass frequencies. The instrument and amp tone controls are fine tuning for your sound. I see a HPF as not a tone control but somethng that can help you to better sit in the live mix.
The built in fixed HPF in amps is at a frequency that is lower than what you typically set a manually controlled HPF at. They doing different things.
Correct. Like Charlie said, they are tools and muilt-use tools at that. Different players and different situations will find different ways to use HPF's to improve their sound to their liking. HPF's are also used when building side chain distortion parallel path processing, to limit the amount of low energy buildup that can quickly become non-musical.
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