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Thumpinator: day 1

#61
eddododo said:
Well... I have a theory that the subsonics cause overcompression of the low range- the high energy of low frequencies cause the disproportionate compression that causes the percieved bass loss that necessitated sidechains/dual bands in the first place.. it may be a useless concession, and even if it works well, I would rather use it for my actual signal path, but I'm curious nonetheless..

Hell it may even cause the subsonic say it supposed to be getting rid of to be EXPANDED to critical amounts. in fact that's probably what will happen
Click to expand...

I'm interested to see what happens, too. I suspect with the thumpinator in the sidechain, the sub 30Hz frequencies will pass through the compressor unaltered, whereas removing it from the sidechain would cause the sub 30Hz frequencies to have unwanted effects, such as applying too much gain reduction to the entire signal.

I can't foresee how expansion would happen.

If there are sub 30Hz elements to your signal, I suspect you'd get most benefit/desirable effects from putting the thumpinator before the compressor (errr, that might be very obvious, in which case, apologies).
 
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#62
I wasnt as much considering the sidechain an option as I was looking for some interesting information about either pedal..

I have relegated the idea to the 'stupid' category perhaps, after a little thought
 
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#63
I have a question for all you Thumpinator owners. It's a placement question.

I've had mine for quite a while. After doing some research and reading of all sorts of opinions, I decided to put mine very first in my pedalboard. It's a pretty large pedal board consisting of multiple filters, envelopes, fuzzes, synths, modulations... all of that.

I had read that a good clean signal going in from the very beginning will drive all of these pedals much better.
I had originally thought however, what about all the huge spikes coming from the envelopes and synths?

Someone had said that these pedals would generally not put out anything harmful or frequencies that would be filtered out by the Thumpinator anyway.

But that SYB-5 sure sends a huge thump during the attack of a note that makes my speakers jump rather harshly.

So... should I give it a shot and put it at the end of my chain? Right before my M87 Compressor.
 
#64
Hector, I've been toying with the same exact scenario. Hopefully, there is an answer that helps the most.

I'll have to elaborate on my thoughts later if they pertain, as I don't even have a microThump yet but have been looking at one for awhile.
 
#65
I have some 17 pedals on my board, but use a 7 loop loopmaster, Ive tried it in just about every position in the chain. First, before all the loops, between them, or at the end.

I like it best at the front of the chain.
 
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#66
I just moved it to the end of my board. Well... second to last. My compressor is last.
I too have a Loopmaster. 6 loops.

Now, I really can't tell an immediate difference, but I think I can tell some sort of difference.
Now mind you, I haven't really been able to crank my speakers yet.

It seems like compressor isn't triggering right away now with the Thumpinator right before it. I had to turn the input up a bit for the compressor's LED to start lighting up like they were before.
When I had my Thumpinator at the very beginning of the chain, I'm sure the envelope filters added back some of that massive sub end. Same with the synths.
I'm going to play around a bit more with it in this position. I'll have to wait until practice day when I really get to crank my 410.
Seems like it makes sense at the very end of the chain as well.



All the tech savvy people, would there be any benefits to leave the original unfiltered signal at the beginning of the chain? Do you think that it would be beneficial for the unadulterated signal to trigger synths, envelope filters or other such effects?
Or do you think it's the other way around? A filtered signal without all the subsonic content would better trigger envelopes. Or is the difference so minimal that it wouldn't matter...


Oh and DirtyDuke. Can you please elaborate on why you chose the front of the signal chain for your microThump? What finally made you decide on that position and what differences could you tell?
 
#67
I have my compressor first, so I put the thumpinator after it and found it kept the signal super clean. I do not use an envelope filter, so I can't speak about what they added back in. ANyway, at the front it seemed to tighten the sound up, at the end it seemed almost like another compressor, squashed.

But, after reading your post I tried seperating the compressor and the thump and now that seems to make sense to me. I can't crank it up till Friday but I will let you know. At practice volume it sounds smoother somewhat.

Anyone have an opinion as to seperating the thump and compressor? Maybe thump first, compressor last? or vise versa?

DirtyDuke
 
#70
eddododo said:
It approaches a 'brickwall' filter..
Click to expand...

Nah... looks like 4th order to me.

eddododo said:
Much harder to accomplish than a 1st or 2nd order filter, which 'only' cut 6 and 12dB per octave respectively
Click to expand...

Not really any harder - just get the center frequency and Q right for two 2nd order stages. All you need is about 8 passive components and a couple reasonable opamps.
 
#72
OK, so.............jammed with my new (to me) Eden Wt800 and XST 410 combo. Put the thumpinator first and my compressor last. Speakers seemed to still pump quite a bit (new system, so could be normal). Compressor seemed to trigger a lot less at the same threshold level (markbass compressore)

Moved the compressor (where I usually have it) right after the thumpinator early in the chain. Not sure if its just me, but I prefer them early and together. Really tightened the sound up and speakers seemed to pump less.

Again,totally new system tonight, so I reserve the right to change my opinion at any time I gain more knowledge:)

On a side note (I tried bridging the Eden.......omg, that is a lot of power...............) I think my Ashdown ABM 500-410 combo will be retired.:;)
 
#75
Just got my micro Thumpinator and I'm surprised ... I must admit I was slightly sceptical and prepared to not hear much difference really, but it's very noticeable in my case.

Placed last on my pedalboard it doesn't do much, but placed first it affects the sound more than I thought it would. It's difficult to describe sound, but I hear a much stronger fundamental, less of strange overtones, a bit less fret noise - overall a tighter and more focussed tone.

Why I hear an effect also on higher frequencies I have no clue, maybe it's something about how the other pedals e.g the compressor are affected by the lowest frequencies, plus that my J Retro preamp is quite bass heavy, but regardless what and how it's done I'm really happy with the result.

Next rehearsal is Wednesday, it will be very interesting to hear how this works out in a full band setting.
 
#78
eyeballkid said:
are you using it with an Upright?
I would expect that it would be much more dramatic with an upright than with an electric bass as the natural acoustic tone of an upright goes way lower on the sonic spectrum causing amps to use up way more power dealing with frequencies you never hear anyway.
Click to expand...

I had a micro-thumpinator and the the difference with my upright was very pronounced. The difference was much less noticeable with the electric - still there but nothing like the upright.
 
#80
It's designed to cut low frequencies below that of the B string, not affect the actual sound you want to hear. Maybe you would be helped by an EQ to lower the volume of your lowest notes, or possibly a compressor. Or maybe you actually need a different speaker cabinet that can handle those low frequencies at volume.
 

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