Please help me keep the lows in my own house

[King Louie]

The cheapest, although not terribly effective way to build a room-within-a-room is to drive your car into the garage and practice inside your car (all windows, doors and hatches closed of course). This will add the benefit that the car interior is small and you need a lot less power for the same loudness, but you need a power supply without opening any door even a tiny bit.

 

[Riff Ranger]

The cheapest, although not terribly effective way to build a room-within-a-room is to drive your car into the garage and practice inside your car (all windows, doors and hatches closed of course). This will add the benefit that the car interior is small and you need a lot less power for the same loudness, but you need a power supply without opening any door even a tiny bit.

That also requires getting enough junk out of the garage to fit a car in there. Not sure I can pull that off but I suppose I do have the car for it. Even with four family members all working against me, I somehow manage to keep junk from accumulating in the car (sometimes by relocating the junk to the garage).

 

[grouse789]

Lol. Don't take this the wrong way.
Turn the heck down bro.!!!
If your neighbors are leaving a note. Trust me, you are insanely loud.
You are THAT guy. No better than the dude blasting house music all night. Stop already, your not even in a band.
Go book some time at the local studio if you need to blast off that badly.
I get it, we all love to crank it, but geeze....

 

[grouse789]

Easier solution, place the cab next to your ear. I guarantee you won't annoy any neighbors

 

[Riff Ranger]

Lol. Don't take this the wrong way.
Turn the heck down bro.!!!
If your neighbors are leaving a note. Trust me, you are insanely loud.
You are THAT guy. No better than the dude blasting house music all night. Stop already, your not even in a band.
Go book some time at the local studio if you need to blast off that badly.
I get it, we all love to crank it, but geeze....

Easier solution, place the cab next to your ear. I guarantee you won't annoy any neighbors

Have you read any of this thread?

 

[VolverseLoco]

No. Not the same thing at all.

Your right, I agree, no, not at all the same when viewed on a spectrum analyzer, but to him in his garage, I'm gonna wager no difference to his ear or the neighbors ear between the high pass filter at 125Hz and the $29 EQ pedal with the 125Hz and down sliders all the way down.

 

[agedhorse]

Your right, I agree, no, not at all the same when viewed on a spectrum analyzer, but to him in his garage, I'm gonna wager no difference to his ear or the neighbors ear between the high pass filter at 125Hz and the $29 EQ pedal with the 125Hz and down sliders all the way down.

No, the eq filters are first order and taking 125Hz down 12dB would remove 4x the power at 250Hz and about 1.5x the power at 500Hz. Then at 40Hz, the power would be back to full so that's not terribly effective while impacting the tone a lot.

A 4th order HPF set at 125 Hz would be 1/8 the power at about 60Hz and about 1/30th the power at 40Hz with no effect above 125Hz.

Yes, this is clearly and plainly obvious and in a big way.

 

[VolverseLoco]

No, the eq filters are first order and taking 125Hz down 12dB would remove 4x the power at 250Hz and about 1.5x the power at 500Hz. Then at 40Hz, the power would be back to full so that's not terribly effective while impacting the tone a lot.

A 4th order HPF set at 125 Hz would be 1/8 the power at about 60Hz and about 1/30th the power at 40Hz with no effect above 125Hz.

Yes, this is clearly and plainly obvious and in a big way.

I get what your saying in a technical way, I do, but if he had a cheap 10 band EQ and cut the 125, 62 and 31 down all the way on that EQ, I still don't think he could tell a difference in his garage with his ear and over at the neighbors house verses the high pass filter. I didn't mean just cut one band, I meant cut the 125 and down bands.

 

[agedhorse]

Ok, my comment still applies about the 125Hz band, at -12dB first order, the 250Hz band power to the speaker would be down by a factor of 4 and be down by another 1.5x at 500Hz. IMO, it would be easily audible and sound terrible.

 

[Downunderwonder]

That's the one of the main selling points of a proper HPF. It only removes the stuff below which gives you back your low EQ control and it's no longer doing its hatchet job on your low end

 

[Riff Ranger]

Good news (I think): I finally did the loop a riff/walk around the house/have my wife adjust the volume "test," and I can get a satisfying sound and level in my garage from the 200w 1x12 combo on a stand without disturbing my neighbors (I think).

I suppose I hadn't heard anything since the note arrived because I had turned down more than enough. I still think the tube rig's out for home use; I had it turned up just enough to get into the zone, but that's apparently loud enough that at least one neighbor can feel it in their home. The lead sled rig and the Class D combo can get most of the sounds I want at levels that won't disturb the neighbors or defeat the purpose of playing through a proper amplifier. (To reiterate, I would go with headphones if I had to, but apparently I won't have to at reasonable hours.)

I was very surprised by where the sound travels and where it doesn't. Generally speaking it drops off quickly away from the outside of the garage door (no surprise there) but mostly projects straight out the garage door, 90° to the right of where the speaker faces. I heard almost nothing behind our house or up and down the street running past the garage door (other than immediately in front of the garage door); passing automobiles drowned out the sound completely. The street that essentially starts at my garage door (running perpendicular to mine) gets the most. Oddly enough, the only nearby house in that direction is home to hip-hop-in-the-car, smile-at-me guy, and I doubt he left the note.

I'm still looking forward to seeing how the HPF does—I don't particularly enjoy rattling my own house either—but I think we have sufficiently contained the lows.

Thanks again to all who commented constructively. I hope this thread proves helpful to others, and that we can all get out of our garages soon.

 

[Downunderwonder]

You could turn the speaker 180° inside the garage and it wouldn't change anything about the lows' behaviour outside.

 

[Downunderwonder]

You have a good excuse to go shopping for tube simulating pedals now.

 

[VolverseLoco]

Good news (I think): I finally did the loop a riff/walk around the house/have my wife adjust the volume "test," and I can get a satisfying sound and level in my garage from the 200w 1x12 combo on a stand without disturbing my neighbors (I think).

I suppose I hadn't heard anything since the note arrived because I had turned down more than enough. I still think the tube rig's out for home use; I had it turned up just enough to get into the zone, but that's apparently loud enough that at least one neighbor can feel it in their home. The lead sled rig and the Class D combo can get most of the sounds I want at levels that won't disturb the neighbors or defeat the purpose of playing through a proper amplifier. (To reiterate, I would go with headphones if I had to, but apparently I won't have to at reasonable hours.)

I was very surprised by where the sound travels and where it doesn't. Generally speaking it drops off quickly away from the outside of the garage door (no surprise there) but mostly projects straight out the garage door, 90° to the right of where the speaker faces. I heard almost nothing behind our house or up and down the street running past the garage door (other than immediately in front of the garage door); passing automobiles drowned out the sound completely. The street that essentially starts at my garage door (running perpendicular to mine) gets the most. Oddly enough, the only nearby house in that direction is home to hip-hop-in-the-car, smile-at-me guy, and I doubt he left the note.

I'm still looking forward to seeing how the HPF does—I don't particularly enjoy rattling my own house either—but I think we have sufficiently contained the lows.

Thanks again to all who commented constructively. I hope this thread proves helpful to others, and that we can all get out of our garages soon.

Nice update, a lot of us are interested in this whole thing you got going on. I too found it interesting where there was not sound and you thought there should be, while walking around outside. Yes, the traffic does drown out other sounds but its not like you live right under a 6 lane overpass, so its just sporadic loud traffic noise. I personally think, that you will think, that your high pass filter just destroys the root of what you play, the bass guitar (meaning the lows that we love) and I think you wont like it at all. Hopefully you can get your money back if you think the same, or that you could have achieved the almost same sonic outcome by turning down the bass tone knob all the way on the amp, or, you could prove me wrong.

 

[agedhorse]

I think there are enough players here who have extensive experience with high pass filters to know what they are talking about, and none of them think that a first order eq pedal is the same thing. Perhaps that's why you have the opinion you do, because you are assuming that a HPF and an eq pedal are the same thing?

When somebody complains that a screwdriver does a poor job of driving nails, then assumes that a hammer will do the same poor job, it's an example of a lack of understanding how the two tools differ in the way they work and the results.

 

[Riff Ranger]

You have a good excuse to go shopping for tube simulating pedals now.

I will never stop recommending the Night Owl Industries Edison tube preamp. The Traynor loves the Geddy Pedal (because OF COURSE IT DOES). And while I have established my preference for not playing through headphones, the Loe Sounds headphone amp featuring my daughter's art makes it much more bearable.

 

[Riff Ranger]

You have a good excuse to go shopping for tube simulating pedals now.

So I suppose I came in under budget, as the only piece of gear purchased due to the note was the HPF for 180 USD.

 

[mcnach]

Nice update, a lot of us are interested in this whole thing you got going on. I too found it interesting where there was not sound and you thought there should be, while walking around outside. Yes, the traffic does drown out other sounds but its not like you live right under a 6 lane overpass, so its just sporadic loud traffic noise. I personally think, that you will think, that your high pass filter just destroys the root of what you play, the bass guitar (meaning the lows that we love) and I think you wont like it at all. Hopefully you can get your money back if you think the same, or that you could have achieved the almost same sonic outcome by turning down the bass tone knob all the way on the amp, or, you could prove me wrong.

Before you carry on your anti-HPF speeches, you should really experience them a bit more. Perhaps you'd be surprised at what an adjustable HPF can do to shape the low end in conjunction with the amp's bass control.
A lot of people have very good experiences with them without 'emasculating' the sound, don't dismiss them out of hand. You can use a HPF to turn your bass into a tinny weeny sound, but between that point and no HPF, there's a wide range of options.

 

[Riff Ranger]

My garage rig grows steadily more Canadian: the Broughton HPF/LPF joined the Geddy pedal (manufactured in NYC, but obviously made for one of the Canadian-est of Canadians) and the Traynor this evening.

My wife didn't notice me switching and adjusting from elsewhere in the house just now, but also said it didn't seem obtrusive at any time. (I certainly heard the difference in the room. As I seem to recall @two fingers saying of HPF somewhere recently, psychoacoustics are a powerful thing.) It seems more and more likely that I had misjudged the overall roar of my tube rig on the floor relative to the "acceptable" level she and I had quickly guessed at with the TKO on a stand shortly after move-in (several days before the arrival of the note).

Turning down a bit and raising the speaker a bit seemed to have already resolved the issue, but I still look forward to seeing what this thing can do. I'm glad to have gotten things down to an acceptable level for the neighborhood, but now I want to see just how unobtrusive I can get while still enjoying the oomph in the room, bwahaha

Hopefully I will have an opportunity to loop a riff and walk around outside while my wife twiddles knobs again on Sunday. She enjoyed it last time, as it reminded her of her technical theater experiences in college; I had better take advantage of that while I can

 

[VolverseLoco]

My garage rig grows steadily more Canadian: the Broughton HPF/LPF joined the Geddy pedal (manufactured in NYC, but obviously made for one of the Canadian-est of Canadians) and the Traynor this evening.

My wife didn't notice me switching and adjusting from elsewhere in the house just now, but also said it didn't seem obtrusive at any time. (I certainly heard the difference in the room. As I seem to recall @two fingers saying of HPF somewhere recently, psychoacoustics are a powerful thing.) It seems more and more likely that I had misjudged the overall roar of my tube rig on the floor relative to the "acceptable" level she and I had quickly guessed at with the TKO on a stand shortly after move-in (several days before the arrival of the note).

Turning down a bit and raising the speaker a bit seemed to have already resolved the issue, but I still look forward to seeing what this thing can do. I'm glad to have gotten things down to an acceptable level for the neighborhood, but now I want to see just how unobtrusive I can get while still enjoying the oomph in the room, bwahaha

Hopefully I will have an opportunity to loop a riff and walk around outside while my wife twiddles knobs again on Sunday. She enjoyed it last time, as it reminded her of her technical theater experiences in college; I had better take advantage of that while I can

So what is you ear observation using the filter? Is it kinda just like turning down the bass tone knob on the amp or using a regular EQ pedal and lowering the sliders in the 125Hz position and whatever other bands are to the left of that? Or is the final result of the filter something completely different to your ear than what I just asked?