HPF questions

[Tom Henry]

Hi, this forum has given me serious cases of GAS, to the dismay of my wife.

I've been looking at the use of high pass filters here, such as the thumpinator, Fdeck, and the broughton audio, and i've been thinking about picking one up.

My basic question though is: Is there a need for one if you are going direct to a sound system that has a HPF on the board?

(The specific board i'm thinking about is the mackie DL32R, but i'm asking in general.)

I mean, c'mon, this is talkbass, i'll probably pick one up anyways, but i was just wondering...

 

[Al Kraft]

You will likely get widely varying opinions on this one, but here is my take on HPF's. I ownn two FDeck HPF-Pre Series 3 boxes. One is always in my small gig bag which goes everywhere, and the other lives in my larger utility bag. An HPF is one of the best tools of all time for live bass work IMO.

If I was only going direct to a mixing desk that had it's own HPF I might not use mine. For any other situation, I will likely have it in line. The nice thing about the Fdeck model is it has two filters, one fixed and one variable. Often times the filter on a mixer has a fixed frequency, may not be optimized for bass guiatr and is either on or off. I really like the adjust-ability for tuning the bass to the room. YMMV!

 

[dreamadream99]

High pass filters don't just help out your sound--they help out all other microphones on stage that could pick you up. Typically, a sound engineer will high pass all Channels at 80 hz, except the bass and bass drum.

 

[Pacodelivery]

Yeah I agree with @Al Kraft , it really depends on whether the hpf on the board is variable or not.

 

[dazmond]

While we're at it, does anyone know the differences between these hpfs?

 

[mmbongo]

While we're at it, does anyone know the differences between these hpfs?

I don't know anything about the Fdeck, but one difference in the Broughton and Thumpinator is that the Broughton is variable while the Thumpinator is fixed frequency.

There's also the VFE Standout which is both an HPF and LPF in one (Broughton has one too). In addition to being variable it has switchable slopes, a gain control, and a blend control. However I went with the Broughton for the simplicity. I just want to set it and forget it.

 

[Noylin]

Most of why I use a hpf concerns my own amp, speakers and stage sound. But, it can be a useful tool if you've got a sound guy who likes to boost too much low bass

 

[Al Kraft]

I don't know anything about the Fdeck, but one difference in the Broughton and Thumpinator is that the Broughton is variable while the Thumpinator is fixed frequency.

There's also the VFE Standout which is both an HPF and LPF in one (Broughton has one too). In addition to being variable it has switchable slopes, a gain control, and a blend control. However I went with the Broughton for the simplicity. I just want to set it and forget it.

Fdeck HPF-Pre Series 3 provides one 12dB/octave filter set at 35HZ. Then there is a second 12/dB octave filter that can be varied between 35 and 140 HZ layered on top of that, so it's always 24 dB/octave below 35HZ. It also has a volume control.