Double Bass Poll: Do you use a high-pass filter?

[skyline_01]

If you do get an upright - especially a real acoustic one - you'll soon learn that very little knowledge of amplifying EB translates to amplifying DB. EUB is definitely easier. But very little of anything EB relates to DB aside from making music.

Not to derail this thread further, but I messed around with the HX Stomp and my DB. I'll spare the details for another thread, but I'd say it's mediocre, but usable. I wouldn't seek it out as a solution for DB, but I might use it in a pinch. There are other much better purpose-built options, depending on your goals.

This is great to know. I'm certainly not opposed to acquiring other gear that might be better suited to DB/EUB, but it sounds like I might be able to get away with the Stomp for a while if I had to.

My first conquest would likely be EUB. The reason is kinda niche; I MIGHT have an opportunity in the next school year to audition for a pit position for a local HS theater department. Their regular guy is retiring and moving away, so I'm planning on inquiring at some point.

He always used an EUB for their productions and it sounded great. I know I wouldn't necessarily be required to use one vs a DB, but the load-in/out would be easier (space is limited in my car and in the pit), and also if it's good enough for the school it's good enough for me.

 

[stefaniw80401]

After using a variable hpf for a few decades, I cannot imagine buying any amp that doesn't include this feature.

It's rare to find an amp with HPF button or variable knob. Not on Markbass, EA iamp500, Kustom KXB500, TE Elf, Acoustic Image Coda series 1, Traynor SB112, warwick gnome, GK MB200, Fender Rumbles, Amoef PF's, and so nany others nada.

So that leaves us with what?

 

[skyline_01]

It's rare to find an amp with HPF button or variable knob. Not on Markbass, EA iamp500, Kustom KXB500, TE Elf, Acoustic Image Coda series 1, Traynor SB112, warwick gnome, GK MB200, Fender Rumbles, Amoef PF's, and so nany others nada.

So that leaves us with what?

Genzler
Mesa
Euphonic Audio
Bergantino
?

 

[Jazzdogg]

It's rare to find an amp with HPF button or variable knob. Not on Markbass, EA iamp500, Kustom KXB500, TE Elf, Acoustic Image Coda series 1, Traynor SB112, warwick gnome, GK MB200, Fender Rumbles, Amoef PF's, and so nany others nada.

So that leaves us with what?

Mesa Subway, and my beloved Acoustic Image come to mind.

 

[JazznFunk]

Yes. I use whatever low-cut shelving setting seems to suit the room best on my Radial ToneBone PZ Deluxe preamp. Usually that's the middle setting, sometimes the full cut setting. From there, I tweak the mids to even things out, and fine-tune on the amp itself. But having that low cut is essential for getting to a good starting point before going direct or into an amp. Even then, I sometimes have to go out front and listen for trouble spots in the direct signal, if the situation demands an XLR output from me vs a mic. Sometimes the concept of what a 'double bass' should sound like in the PA is still lost on some engineers, and I have to be very specific with the additional frequencies that need tweaking.... even when giving them something that I know has been reasonably pre-EQ'ed to remove the usual hot spots.

I'm also thinking of adding an Aguilar DB-316 sweepable mid pedal to my setup for even more flexibility over the sound. Goes from 180Hz to 1k so it should be a good Swiss Army Knife unit.

 

[Ric Vice]

Headway EDB-2 H.E.

Grace Designs Preamp

In many instances a Bass control depending on how its voice can help with room boom. Walter Woods amps had a three way toggle switch that worked in conjunction with the Bass (and Treble) controls. Left of the center position was -10 DB which worked very well as a low frequency control. There are more ways than one to control low end.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

Headway EDB-2 H.E.

Grace Designs Preamp

In many instances a Bass control depending on how its voice can help with room boom. Walter Woods amps had a three way toggle switch that worked in conjunction with the Bass (and Treble) controls. Left of the center position was -10 DB which worked very well as a low frequency control. There are more ways than one to control low end. View attachment 7197503

A shelving EQ is essentially a form of band-pass filtering. A fixed shelving low control at 80Hz rolled off is functioning very similar to the way that an 80Hz HPF functions, although you have more control over the attenuation with the shelving EQ and the slope may or may not be similar. My Trickfish amp has switchable 40 and 80Hz low control, so I can set it to 40Hz and dial the knob back to clean up the sub-40Hz content. Or, if the room is too boomy, I can switch to 80Hz and do the same.

Anyway, as you say, there are more ways than one to control the lows. HPFs are convenient and do the job well, and it's nice to have a variable filter in some way (knobs, switches, etc.), but there is plenty of appeal to using the low frequency knob on your amp at times.

 

[tinyd]

I bought an FDeck clone a few months ago and decided that I didn't really need it as cutting bass on the amp seemed to do the same thing. But at the last gig I played, even though it was in the same place, with same amp, settings, bass, pickup, fingers (you get it....) as previous gig, I couldn't get rid of a crappy boominess. So I'm going to bring the FDeck to the next one and roll off the bottom end.

Just a small update for anybody that is interested - I bought the FDeck to my gig last night and it worked great - gave very nice "fine grained" control over the bottom end with the added bonus that I was able to bring the FDeck up close to where I was standing so I could control my sound without bending down and messing around with the amp itself.

For anybody looking to solve this problem I'd strongly recommend an FDeck before trying anything else - as others have said above, they're pretty cheap and simple.

 

[Francois Blais]

Which version do you have?

 

[tinyd]

Which version do you have?

Mine is a version 2, so it has an adjustable HPF from 140-30 Hz and a volume knob. The specific model is this one

https://reverb.com/ie/item/13880879...le-high-pass-filter-phase-switch-custom-color

 

[Francois Blais]

It uses the same circuitry as Fdeck’s?

 

[DoubleMIDI]

The HPFpre version 2 is the one with the battery indicator and volume control. Otherwise the same as version 1.
Version 3 is designed differently.

 

[Francois Blais]

His unit is a Rafferty, as shown on the provided link.
Don't know if it's a rebranded @fdeck ?

 

[DoubleMIDI]

Missed that, but the I/O, controls and filter frequency range lets one assume that it is electrically identical to a FDeck HPFpre version 2.

 

[Jazzdogg]

Just a small update for anybody that is interested - I bought the FDeck to my gig last night and it worked great - gave very nice "fine grained" control over the bottom end with the added bonus that I was able to bring the FDeck up close to where I was standing so I could control my sound without bending down and messing around with the amp itself.

For anybody looking to solve this problem I'd strongly recommend an FDeck before trying anything else - as others have said above, they're pretty cheap and simple.

I have two different models, and they both work well. I no longer use them because I have one built into my Acoustic Image Focus, and one built into my Mesa Subway+ preamp pedal.

 

[dreamadream99]

I have the original Fishman platinum pro bass EQ/DI. There were three things I found invaluable for controlling feedback on the upright:

• The high pass filter
• The phase switch
• Impedance matching

 

[fdeck]

His unit is a Rafferty, as shown on the provided link.
Don't know if it's a rebranded @fdeck ?

It's not one of mine. The Series 2 is discontinued, but here's a pic of the insides of a 2M, which is the same circuit in a metal box.

With that said, I've published my schematics and encouraged people to build their own. A number of people have reported doing so. It's not a complicated circuit, but the JFETs are hard to find. There's also a published layout for so called "tag board," but I've never verified it:

 

[tinyd]

It's not one of mine. The Series 2 is discontinued, but here's a pic of the insides of a 2M, which is the same circuit in a metal box.

With that said, I've published my schematics and encouraged people to build their own. A number of people have reported doing so. It's not a complicated circuit, but the JFETs are hard to find. There's also a published layout for so called "tag board," but I've never verified it:



View attachment 7215576

Yep, apologies for any confusion between my use of the term "FDeck" in the generic sense, and the real @fdeck versions. As far as I know mine is a clone using @fdeck's (very generously) published schematics, but I'm not certain how closely it follows the design, and whether or not there are modifications etc. Either way, it works for me!

 

[tinyd]

I have the original Fishman platinum pro bass EQ/DI. There were three things I found invaluable for controlling feedback on the upright:

• The high pass filter
• The phase switch
• Impedance matching

I have one of those as well - I think it's fair to assume that it does everything the FDeck does and more, but I found the latter a bit more "plug in and go" for me...

 

[BobDeRosa]

I have one of those as well - I think it's fair to assume that it does everything the FDeck does and more, but I found the latter a bit more "plug in and go" for me...

I keep both an Fdeck Series 3 and a Fishman Platinum Stage in my case so they're with me at every gig. I choose one or the other pretty much arbitrarily but find myself using the Fdeck more often because of its simplicity. The Fishman obviously offers EQ and trim controls as well as a fixed 3-frequency HPF and a quality DI, but they both work really well.