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Bass combo as a helix “frfr”


andysimmons
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Hey guys. HX Effects user here with a growing interest in pairing it with a Stomp.

I have a fender rumble 500 bass combo.

If I bypass the combos preamp by plugging into effects return, could I use its power amp and 2x10 speakers as a usable “frfr” for guitar sounds using helix modelling? 

Advice greatly appreciated. 

 

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If it only has 2x10" speakers and no horn then it can't simulate an FRFR box. It will work... and could sound great.... but it won't have anything that represents "full range" without a horn.

 

The first part of of FRFR is "full range". That can be accomplished with anything that has a horn. It could be studio monitors, a PA monitor, a keyboard amp, an acoustic amp... and yes, some bass amps as well. PA's are also full range...

 

The next part of FRFR is "flat response" and this is very misleading. Most cabinets that are sold as FRFR are Full Range only.... flat response is not part of the equation. You would pay a fortune for something that is truly flat response.

 

EDIT TO ADD: I just looked at the specs on that amp and it appears it has a TWEETER that can be turned on/off. If that is turned on, you are extending the range and should be an option for you. 

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It's probably worth a try to see how it would sound for you.  It's not going to be the same as what would typically be referred to as FRFR, but it may be okay.

Just so you understand, the term FRFR in popular usage isn't about whether something has a horn and a simple crossover circuit or not.  It's more about compression drivers, bi-amp designs, and DSP contouring which aren't part of the Rumble bass amp.  Compression drivers work to manage high end frequency response into tweeters, horns, wave guides or even coaxial speakers.  Bi-amp designs replace traditional crossovers to individually amplify low and high frequency ranges to better manage the distribution of amplification between lows and highs (at any given volume level, highs need less amplification than do lower frequencies).  Digital Signal Processing (DSP) contouring is used to manage the frequency response profile, or flat nature of the response profile across it's entire range of frequencies and allows tuning for different placements of the speaker typically.

The "flat response" part of FRFR can be misleading as it's never meant to really be perfectly flat.  It would probably be more accurate to refer to such things as Full Range Natural Response as that's the real target of the designs.  But you can pretty much blame recording studios for promoting the concept of a speaker being being more or less "flat" as that's where the popular vernacular came from and has been used for many, many decades now.

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