SimonK Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 So if I was building a pedal to split a signal so the lows go to a bass amp and the highs to a guitar amp (playing either a bass or a guitar) roughly what should the cross-over be set at? I was thinking somewhere between 80 and 150? The main thing would be to protect the guitar amp from the lowest frequencies when using a bass, or playing a loop created by one of these? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete.young Posted November 6 Share Posted November 6 (edited) You would probably do better asking this in Amps and Cabs where the builders tend to hang out, but I'd say higher , probably 1.5-2.0 KHz. This is quite hard to do at the signal level and you'd probably struggle to build an analog pedal. It would make more sense to either use a Full-range rig like a PA cab, or buy one of the digital signal splitter pedals already on the market, for example KMA Tyler or XO Variable-Crossover. Edited November 6 by pete.young Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nekomatic Posted November 6 Share Posted November 6 There are a bunch of crossover circuits on Rod Elliott’s site, some with PCBs available although these work out expensive with the shipping from Australia, unless you happen to be in Australia. If you’re building it yourself you can play around with the crossover frequency and see what works best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itu Posted November 6 Share Posted November 6 I have an IE Divaricator and have used a KMA Tyler. I ended up adjusting them both to around 400 Hz. If you check a 4-string fretboard and its frequencies starting from 42 Hz E, you will end up to around 300 - 400 Hz area at the highest frets. I had an idea that the pure fundamental frequency would be a decent start. I really turned the f knob back and forth quite some time, but that 400 Hz has been functional. Fundamentals are solid, while I can push the fx to their limits. Sometimes even too much. But the low bass still sounds really good. If you want to do an easy trial, I think Rolls makes a pretty cheap X-over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonK Posted November 6 Author Share Posted November 6 ...been checking out the Tyler and it seems all may not be what it seems when someone took it apart and checked the components - albeit it is close to the advertised values: https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=30823 We (I can't say I'm doing this on my own!) can manage 44 to 480, or 69 to 1.4k, so may go with the latter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itu Posted November 6 Share Posted November 6 If size is not an issue, maybe a rack X-over could be a good starting point, too. PA X-overs may be on the cheap side, if you happen to find a used one, like Behringer, dbx or similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonK Posted November 6 Author Share Posted November 6 53 minutes ago, itu said: If size is not an issue, maybe a rack X-over could be a good starting point, too. PA X-overs may be on the cheap side, if you happen to find a used one, like Behringer, dbx or similar. ...being a bit more DIY than that! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikay Posted November 7 Share Posted November 7 The venerable GK 800RB amp (with bi-amp capability) has a variable crossover you can set between 100Hz and 1kHz. Which is probably a good guide for a suitable range of x-over frequencies. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted November 8 Share Posted November 8 I did some experimenting with a crossover when I had my Waterstones 12 string; my experience? There's no ideal/set crossover setting. My signal path was bass > crossover > processing (Sansamp BDDI (highs) and VTBASS (lows)) > each side of a stereo Poweramp > cabs. Dependent on my desired settings on the Sansamps determined what I wanted to squirt into them via the crossover. It became fast apparent that there was no fixed setting or sweet spot; tonal characteristics changed constantly. The room, cabinets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonK Posted November 8 Author Share Posted November 8 (edited) 3 hours ago, NancyJohnson said: I did some experimenting with a crossover when I had my Waterstones 12 string; my experience? There's no ideal/set crossover setting. My signal path was bass > crossover > processing (Sansamp BDDI (highs) and VTBASS (lows)) > each side of a stereo Poweramp > cabs. Dependent on my desired settings on the Sansamps determined what I wanted to squirt into them via the crossover. It became fast apparent that there was no fixed setting or sweet spot; tonal characteristics changed constantly. The room, cabinets. It is interesting isn't it - all this talk about different cabs, amps etc. but almost always in the context of full (for bass) frequency reproduction/colouration, whereas in reality the different amps/cab/effects preferences people talk about is linked to how the different systems deal with specific frequencies, so if you can start to route different frequencies to different amps/effects.... one more thing to play with! Mind you my main motivaion here is having a mix of guitar and bass kit and wanting to protect the guitar speakers in particular while still being able to experiment with a bass. Edited November 8 by SimonK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted November 8 Share Posted November 8 22 minutes ago, SimonK said: It is interesting isn't it - all this talk about different cabs, amps etc. but almost always in the context of full (for bass) frequency reproduction/colouration, whereas in reality the different amps/cab/effects preferences people talk about is linked to how the different systems deal with specific frequencies, so if you can start to route different frequencies to different amps/effects.... one more thing to play with! Mind you my main motivaion here is having a mix of guitar and bass kit and wanting to potect the guitar speakers in particular while still being able to experiment with a bass. I'm not saying the whole set up didn't work or anything, this was more a case of there being no fixed settings that worked out of the box every time. Back then I was running Ashdown kit, then Hartke when I had my endorsement with them. In general, I'd route the high frequencies through the BDDI and then into a 2x10", the lows into a VTBassDI and into either a 4x10" or 1x15". All the cabs had HF horns; I'd turn these off for the low frequency signal. Arguably, things got a bit more gnarly when (and I'd forgotten about this) when the highs went through a Tech21 GT2 and the BDDI handled the lows. I wish there'd have been (no pun intended) some crossover in the ownership of the Waterstone and the DP-3X pedal...this should have been the dream setup! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bremen Posted Wednesday at 12:02 Share Posted Wednesday at 12:02 On 06/11/2024 at 20:52, nekomatic said: There are a bunch of crossover circuits on Rod Elliott’s site, some with PCBs available although these work out expensive with the shipping from Australia, unless you happen to be in Australia. If you’re building it yourself you can play around with the crossover frequency and see what works best. His state variable crossover fits the bill nicely, continuously variable f so you can experiment. I've built and use a couple. Very useful. Shipping isn't too bad, well worth the $. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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