Crossovers & Clean Blends

[Salt on your Bass?]

As normal I've been thinking about my effects path and board. I use fuzz and distortion pretty much all the time and looking at utility pedals like the SFX X&M, wondered how many people use:

• A crossover on their board then full range to an amp
• A crossover and bi-amp set up

I appreciate there's the addition of gear to achieve some of this (cabs an amps on the 'true' bi-amp approach) I guess I was interested in the pro's and cons vs a clean blend in the main. 

I fancy trying a crossover but my concern is the fixed point (even when variable) of a crossover on the limited pedals I've looked at (SFX, rolls) so once you get higher up the register, I assume all the signal goes through the higher level crossover, and would therefore go through my effects line.....

Just interested in peoples experiences and anyone running a crossover at the moment, how you find it, what gear you use to achieve it, did you try a clean blend first etc etc....

Thanks  

[BigRedX]

I used to run a true bi-amp set up when it was part of my multi effects (Peavey Bassfex). It allowed me to put all the effects that suck the presence out of the bottom end on the just on the high part of the signal. This fed into a 350 + 350 watt power amp with the upper frequencies going to a home made 2 x 8 cab (based on my favourite guitar combo) and the low frequencies to a standard 1 x 15 bass cab.

I did however mean that in order to get proper FoH representation of my sound I needed to have two DIs on the bass rig.

[Cuzzie]

Look at KMA audio machines The Tyler.

May provide some usefulness for you

[itu]

I tried this blend stuff for few years but disappointed with every unit. Have two boards with X-overs now.

Active board (it is for active basses) has the Tyler and the passive has Iron Ether's Divaricator. Both are working fine but are somewhat different animals. IE even has some extra effects and is smaller but needs an insert cable (a TRS plug to two TS plugs). Tyler actually took a bit more time to set up but has two adjustable loops (hi & lo) in stead of one. Please take some time to study the manuals to understand their differences.

My choice for X-over frequency is around 400 Hz. Lowest E is 42 Hz, and 4th E is close to 330 Hz. So the fundamentals are not affected but higher frequencies, i.e. harmonics, can be tweaked - a lot! I did not know before that flanger or fuzz knobs could be turned so far right, to south-east.

So the passive board starts with this very small but powerful COG T-16 octaver. In the IE Divaricator loop there is a Spruce Effects OGF and a mooer Pitch Box. After the IE loop there is the Daring Audio Phat Beam (that includes a comp and an effective LPF - especially mt fretless loves this box).

Active board starts with the KMA Tyler. High loop has amptweaker Tight Fuzz - tce SCF - IE Xerograph. Low loop has IE Frantabit, because Franta can be adjusted far more with Tyler's LPF. Then after the Tyler comes an IE Nimbus and a tce HyperGravity. These last two do not need the X-over and I like them to be at the end of the line.

The best thing with the X-over is the possibility to really play with different effects and sounds. All settings can be adjusted far more than ever before. If the band is very small, I think that the effects would give the bassist lots of sound seeking possibilities and new space without ever losing that low end.

[dannybuoy]

A Helix Stomp is worth a look too. If you want a crossover split, lows to a compressor, highs to a Darkglass B7K or a guitar amp, then either mix into a single output or keep the channels separate, it can do it all in one box.

[Salt on your Bass?]

Thanks for the input so far. That Tyler pedal looks really interesting...i fancy giving it a Whirl.... Not cheap though. I need to work out my routing as to achieve certain scenes I set them in a 'non standard' order. Delay first, wah last... Etc

What's the real life benefit of splitting over blending? I blended reviiusly with an ls2 but it underwhelmed me. Clean with fuzz. 

[Cuzzie]

Tyler has a 14 day no quibble money back guarantee, and that’s from the moment it hits your door, and also 3 or 5 year warranty.

So if you really didn’t like it, all you lose is 1 ways postage.

Whatever you want your clean tone to be, the Tyler will keep it, I use a fuzz in the HPF and a Chorus in the LPF, all together, either on its own.

The modulation and distortion run alongside a strong signal, so you can be as subtle or out there as you want. You can also stack pedals in either of the FX loops it has.

[Salt on your Bass?]

@dannybuoy.......thanks for this......I'm starting to wander off down the rabbit hole of the Helix family now...... 

[itu]

What's the difference between blending and using a X-over? Well, think blend as having two signals in the same frequency band. This means that you get possible phase issues and cancellations because of the same "channel" for two different signals (clean + processed).

X-over divides clean and processed to two separate frequency bands = tight bass and effects on top.