How does one drop super low frequency bombs... ? I have 2 - 18" powered cab.. capable of a lot, with a low freq capability of 8hz At this moment I am playing a 4 string(approx 40z low e). although I own a 5 string (approx 31 hz low b)... But how does one drop the clear tone bomb??? Octave pedals seem a bit gritty and robotic... What is the effect that Phil lesh or Mike Gordon use to get the Uber low vibration... Or anyone else... Subharmonic synth? Thanks in advance
The lowest note on a 5-string bass is about 30 Hz. If you’re looking for lower than that, you need an octave divider, that generates a signal an octave lower than the note you’re playing. As with everything else, I’m sure some EFX units are better than others. If you don't like what you got from a stomp box, I'm sure there are studio-grade processors available. How much are you willing to pay? Regards, Wayne A. Pflughaupt Ecclesia: Unique Arrangements of Hymns, P&W Standards, and Original Tunes Administrator, Pedulla Club #45 Administrator, Tobias Club #133 Fretless Club #943 Big Cabs Club #23 My Rig: Stage and FOH Friendly My Basses
If you read my post again, you will see I'm not asking about money, I am asking about sound.. how does one create a clean fundamental below 31 (low b)... Every sub octave I have heard is not clean.. a bit gritty or robotic.. Do you know what processor will accomplish this? Have you tried it?
That Aguilar octave pedal drops one lower. I have the TC electronic sub n up. It does 1 or 2 octaves low. The 1 octave down sounds awesome and natural. My cab won’t even make a sound for octave -2 on my low string. That may be a good pedal for you to check out
Thanks.. I have not heard that one yet... 4 string bass low e is 40hz.. so theoretically I can get to 10hz 2 octaves down... It's all about the clean and natural part... I like clean earthquakes...
It’s great cause you can blend all the octaves together. And really have a huge foundation, but still have your natural bass on top. I love the pedal
I just watched a video with dry off and 2nd Sub octave down all the way up.. wow.. it was clean and really low.. you may be right, this may work...
I don’t know how loud it is at that freq, but here are the specs... https://bagend.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IPS18E-N.pdf
Yea.. bag end is the bomb... Under 70lbs and just slightly larger than the speaker itself ..... I am going to try a 2 octave down pedal with no dry signal.. see how it does
No mention of THD though. So the total volume may be -3dB for an 8Hz input (I'm skeptical of even that) but that volume is probably comprised mostly of harmonics generated by distortion from the speaker.
Most cabinets can't reproduce sub 40Hz waves, even though the company may quote the frequency response down into the 20Hz territory. Really, anything below 60Hz is almost inaudible rumble. The nice deep sub style bass we're used to is like 80 or 100hz
You'll want to look at the DOD Meatbox and the Mantic Density Hulk. Both are known for literally blowing up drivers with their sub-harmonic abilities.
Who has an amp that goes that low? And how could you tell if it even was even doing anything at that low of Hz? Hire elephants or whales?
I almost fell out of my chair when I read the "Hire elephants or whales?" comment. Haha. Very true though. I've read on the internet (so it must be true right?) that the human ear can hear down to 20 hz. I knew whales could hear much lower, but I wasn't aware of elephants. We haven't booked any gigs at the zoo lately, but maybe we should so we can test the theory?????
I have just built a self amplified woofer that plays 1Hz. The cost is $12000. Results guaranteed. (If you can prove it doesn’t work)
my A/V and studio subs go down to 15hz ... which is already lower than humans can hear ... but i get nice solid audible lows , with a little extra oomph you can really only feel ... which makes sense for Special LFE type stuff , ... but nothing i'd ever wanna bother messing with on a gig ... ??? i've had several different processors for Sub Octave stuff ... DBX 120 SubHarmonic Synth ( the older better model ) , some Lexicon FX unit have ultra low processors , pedals are OK ... analog sounds better , digital works better . if i wanted low lows , i'd use a keyboard , since they have sub oscillators built right in .. !! moogs are fun .. as are most Virtual Analog synths ... even little keys like the Alesis Micron that's in our classifieds ...
You'll need lots of watts. You'll also need to have an amp with no built in pass filtering. This isn't always disclosed, but many amps have them built in to the circuitry. I'd suggest a crossover, if this is to work. Many octave pedals won't track as low as you are trying to go. Many analog ones start glitching between F# and A on the low string. Digital ones supposedly will track better. This is a topic which has shown up from time to time on TB, though not usually as low as the OP is aiming. I don't think I've seen a generally accepted approach, nor a reported successful result. I have seen a bunch of conflict about which devices will or will not work an how or why.