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Low or High Pass Filter with bass overdrive/distortion?

jacoby75

jacoby75

Supporting Member
Mar 11, 2010
5,661
10,716
Coldwater, MI
Disclosures
Endorsing Artist: Mike Lull Custom Guitars, DR Strings
#1
Hey guys,

I'm still trying to work out a way to get rid of some "buzziness" when using drives and distortions direct (or to the amp for that matter). I have read somewhere around here that some users, @JimmyM , for example, use filters on their tone. I've been trying to read up online about which I would use. A low or high pass to cut the buzzy highs, but my brain no worky so well. I has the dumbs. I just don't get it. Some low pass filter pedals that I've seen are more like resonant auto-wah pedals or envelope filters. That's not what I'm looking for.

Can anyone guide me towards which type of filter I'd want, and maybe even suggest where I might find such a thing? The high pass filters on ebay look nothing like a pedal or anything that I could use. I just don't know what I'm looking for.

Thanks
 
#5
Forgot to mention that I use the separate Broughton units because I double on upright and don't want to low pass the upright, but they make a combination high pass/low pass that's excellent as well. Listed on this page:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#6
Thanks, Jimmy. Any chance you know where a fella could find some audio or video clips of a low pass filter in action while using overdrive/distortion on bass? I've only found one video of the HPF/LPF, which is just a clean bass.
 
#9
jacoby75 said:
Hey guys,

I'm still trying to work out a way to get rid of some "buzziness" when using drives and distortions direct (or to the amp for that matter). I have read somewhere around here that some users, @JimmyM , for example, use filters on their tone. I've been trying to read up online about which I would use. A low or high pass to cut the buzzy highs, but my brain no worky so well. I has the dumbs. I just don't get it. Some low pass filter pedals that I've seen are more like resonant auto-wah pedals or envelope filters. That's not what I'm looking for.

Can anyone guide me towards which type of filter I'd want, and maybe even suggest where I might find such a thing? The high pass filters on ebay look nothing like a pedal or anything that I could use. I just don't know what I'm looking for.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I find that both help distortion a great deal. A LPF can really help with buzzy highs and too much treble content, and a HPF can really help with uncontrolled lows and frequencies that seem to muddy everything after distortion. I would get a Broughton HPF/LPF and call it a day.
 
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#14
Does a low pass filter differ much from the speaker sim switch on the vt bass di? Because I use that and it helps, but I still feels like I need more control of the frequencies I’m cutting out. Maybe a graphic eq pedal might help too?.
 
#16
jacoby75 said:
Does a low pass filter differ much from the speaker sim switch on the vt bass di? Because I use that and it helps, but I still feels like I need more control of the frequencies I’m cutting out. Maybe a graphic eq pedal might help too?.
Click to expand...
The VT series has fixed low and high pass filters built into it that simulate the sound of typical tweeterless Ampeg cabs. The frequencies are well chosen but they can't be adjusted.
 
#18
jacoby75 said:
Does a low pass filter differ much from the speaker sim switch on the vt bass di? Because I use that and it helps, but I still feels like I need more control of the frequencies I’m cutting out. Maybe a graphic eq pedal might help too?.
Click to expand...

Speaker sims and pass filters are closely related, as a cabinet is a mechanical pass filter (as opposed to an electrical one). The difference is that there are resonant peaks at the cutoff frequencies. For example, if you looked at the cab sim wave from, you'd see a the pass filter at say 50 Hz, along with a bump in the frequencies just above it, which would then dip down close to flat at slightly higher frequencies. Additionally, you'll get boosts and dips at various frequencies depending on the cab you are trying to emulate with the sim. HPF and LPF will just give you a steep frequency cut at the cutoff frequency selected, which is often 4-pole (48 dB per octave), I believe.

Example of a cab sim range of adjustments:
condor-marshall.png
 
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#19
The benefit of a high pass filter (including a cab sim) is that it filters out the inaudible low frequency string movement which is detected by your pickup and passed through to the amplifier. If you were to pinch a string and slowly wiggle it, that movement would go through to your amp, and your speaker would move, though it would be at too low of a frequency to be audible. Still, that information is being transmitted, and using your amp's watts and straining your woofer.

Many modern amps have some degree of pass filtering built in their circuits even if it isn't advertised as such.
 

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