Bass EQ

pukeorama · #1 01-27-2009, 02:37 AM

Just kinda curious about what kinda of bass EQ settings are used by everyone. What kinda of levels are used live or jamming or whatever or wherever. Whats your favorite or what sucks. I use a Genz Benz GBE 600 with a Genz Benz NEOX-210T enclosure. The low is cranked the low-mid is around 5 oclock, the mids are around 3 oclock, mid highs are around noon, and the highs are around 3 oclock, its a basic solid tone. Throw it all down here folks, thanks.

Nick Kay · #2 01-27-2009, 02:49 AM

Everything at noon. I asked someone how to EQ an amp when I first started playing. He told me to start everything at noon, then adjust it until I liked what I heard. Never really got around to that second step.

kalle74 · #3 01-27-2009, 04:25 AM

depends on the bass (f.ex slap on fretted, fretless etc.), and (more importantly) the context... I have a para EQ to notch out the hollow areas in low mids, and the harshness in mid-highs. the actual frequencies vary...

Jehos · #4 01-27-2009, 08:19 AM

Start with everything at noon and usually have to cut out some low-mids to avoid a boomy sound and some high mids to cut out some harshness.

dougjwray · #5 01-27-2009, 08:32 AM

It varies with the bass, the venue, the genre, etc.
But, yes-- I start with everything flat, and adjust from there. Usually the mids are the frequencies to address (in my case, anyway).

WalterBush · #6 01-27-2009, 08:38 AM

I avoid touching EQ...on a passive EQ I'll find the closest thing to "flat" and leave it. I don't touch graphic or parametric anymore, either.

agedhorse · #7 01-27-2009, 10:47 AM

Looking at what you have set up, you have a LOT of gain going on in your eq section, I would suggest that you drop everything down a bit so that you are not boosting everything but intead boosting the lows and low mids a little bit and then the mids and highs are flat and the high mids are cut from flat a little bit. On most amps with (real) active eq, it's possible when using a lot of boost to overdrive the eq section and this is something to be aware of with any amp.

Do you have the LF boost switch on also? What speaker cabinet(s) are you using? Do you find yourself running out of headroom with so much LF EQ boost? Do you have the limiter switch on (hope so).

pukeorama · #8 01-28-2009, 03:38 AM

Thanks for the reply agedhorse and everyone else. You hit the head right on the nail. In response I have the LF extend boost on at 1 oclock as with the mid scoop at 11 oclock and the HF attack at 4oclock with the signal shapping. The speaker iam using is the one genz NEOX-210T with a speaktron. I dont find iam loosing headroom, everything seems to get through and cut. However; I cant really get it louder without lots of clipping. I do have the limiter switch on as well of course. I did a little tweeking
on the amp inbetween the post and i found with addition with the signal shappin i got the active EQ set to:
Low full cranked
low-mid around 4oclock
mid 2oclock
high-mid 4oclock
high 11oclock
sorry about the rudimentary description of the active eq.
I got the Fet at around 7oclockish the tube and the the tube volume at 9oclock each and the master is at high noon.
So far i got a gnarly sound. It bites through the two guitarists at a good volume however if the master goes any
higher or the tubes or the fet it can clip more. Iam thinking of just easing all the active EQ down a bit and seeing how it works out. Feel free to just add anything at all. Anyways thanks for the good response. You clearly seem to know the fantastic Genz Product.

agedhorse · #9 01-28-2009, 12:23 PM

With the low fully cranked, this is the first indicator that you need "more speaker" for your application. In the case if the GBE-600, you are adding almost 15dB of low frequency eq and frankly no 210 cabinet is going to perform well and any amp will eat up a ton of headroom this way. The fact that you can't get it any louder is because you have eaten up all the power boosting the very lowest frequencies that any 210 is not going to reproduce well.

If you need a really fat low end at high volume, a 210 cabinet (anybody's) is not a good choice and pounding the snot out of it will just get you a blown up pair of drivers.

Take your amp down to a music store and try out some larger cabinets to see what kind of difference it makes. Back off on the low eq before you damage something.

(P.S. For ALL speaker cabinets, the power rating decreases as frequency drops below the design cutoff frequency of the cabinet, The drivers unload below that point and mechanical damage can result. 15dB of boost is the same as applying about 10x the power, and with any shelving low frequency eq, you run a definate risk at that kind of boost of having lots of boost available well below the tuning frequency of ANY 210 cabinet. Even with the HPF built into the amp.)

Hope this helps.

jaywa · #10 01-28-2009, 12:44 PM

If you want to be on friendly terms with soundmen and have a decent shot at sounding good in the house mix, get used to having less "boom" and "woof" coming out of your amp than you might really want. If you have a good P.A. with enough wattage, let those cabinets carry most of the low-end (125 Hz and below) vs blowing it out your bass cabinet. You might think your amp sounds too thin or clanky but if you can get used to it, the full band sound will be better as a result.

Deacon_Blues · #11 01-28-2009, 03:29 PM

Live, I boost the bass and high bass (everything below 200 Hz) and high mids a bit, but for recordings (in my home studio mostly) I prefer a flat sound. Nothing is better than not having to modify the signal once it's in the computer. I hate having to fiddle with my sound. The less work, the better. Btw, I have only passive basses. The only one I wish I had an eq on ois my stingray copy. I need more bass in that sound to feel comfortable with it.

Since I bought my Art tube pac preamp/compressor, I've used it for everything I've recorded. It works perfectly with bass. My flats (that I think I've advertised enough in the strings forum) works wonderfully. I love those strings, they give me just the sound I want.

pukeorama · #12 01-29-2009, 08:58 PM

Thanks for all the wicked information regardin this post. I think iam gonna re work the active EQ to ease off the low and start experimenting with different cabs. I got a super old crate 2 by 15 fridge, hopefully it still works lol, its been a tank so far. The hard part for my situation is there isnt any good sound guys in the bars or the venues for where i play live so creating a good live sound is harder than most situations. Most places i play i gotta use just the amp because there is no DI for the venue (yup i know its super lame but what can ya do). Some other venues there are so i get a better live sound with my gear. So far ive gotten pretty luck with my gear playing live with the little cab and rig i have it definatly delivers without a proper PA setup for the venue even with the lows cranked. Hopefully i can find a better cab that is capable of handling all kinds of situations without pushing hard on the one i have. Thanks again.

lindseyp · #13 01-31-2009, 11:22 PM

pukeorama, are you playing dub reggae? That's the only thing I can think of that can use all that low frequency energy without sounding muddy, but I've never owned a GB amp which I read can handle lows with ease. That said, I leave my EQ mostly flat, maybe cut around 250-500 depending on the amp and its low-mid center. The lows come through, my drummer has some room and I retain punch.