Rusty Box EQ

SquareWaves · #1 05-01-2013, 08:12 AM

I was wondering how some of you set your rusty box? I have my gain at around 1 o'clock and couple that with a distortion that's hard on the top end. I've noticed that the treble knob is pretty sensitive and I have mine at around 8:30 which also allowed me to reduce the bass to around 11:30. For whatever reason I'm so used to boosting everything on a pre-amp that I'm somewhat insecure about this. Am I doing something wrong here? I know what sounds right is right but something just seems weird about it.

I should also note that I'm using the pedal as a pre-amp, using the main out into the effects return of an old SWR workingman's 12.

father of fires · #2 05-01-2013, 08:22 AM

Where is your mid knob set?

Weshunter413 · #3 05-01-2013, 08:23 AM

This is a great discussion as I'm getting mine today or tomorrow. Any tips or trick would be great.

skulletwhip · #4 05-01-2013, 09:02 AM

Volume: Unity
Treble: 2 o'clock
Bass: nooner
mid: 3
gain: 11:50

father of fires · #5 05-01-2013, 09:21 AM

Just remember. The EQ is passive and can only cut. It's been a while since I sim'd the eq but I remember the mid eq was a notch filter. Max max would equal no or least cut.

I doubt there is a "flat setting" but I think it sounds great.

Weshunter413 · #6 05-01-2013, 09:40 AM

Does anyone know the the eq frequencies are? Or what the sound like they are?

Toastfuzz · #7 05-01-2013, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by father of fires

Just remember. The EQ is passive and can only cut. It's been a while since I sim'd the eq but I remember the mid eq was a notch filter. Max max would equal no or least cut.

I doubt there is a "flat setting" but I think it sounds great.

Does this apply for all 3 EQ settings? Excuse my ignorance on this topic... does this mean that diming the Bass, Mid, and Treb knobs would be the closest to "flat"? Wondering if I should maximize everything and work down from there, rather than starting at noon as I have been doing.

father of fires · #8 05-01-2013, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toastfuzz

Does this apply for all 3 EQ settings? Excuse my ignorance on this topic... does this mean that diming the Bass, Mid, and Treb knobs would be the closest to "flat"? Wondering if I should maximize everything and work down from there, rather than starting at noon as I have been doing.

Just use your ears. It doesn't matter what flat is. If you must have a starting point, start with everything at noon. That's what the designer intended.

Toastfuzz · #9 05-01-2013, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by father of fires

Just use your ears. It doesn't matter what flat is. If you must have a starting point, start with everything at noon. That's what the designer intended.

Well starting point is usually however it arrived after traveling to the jamspot in a duffelbag haha but yeah good call on that.

sunbeast · #10 05-01-2013, 10:54 AM

I find the Treble on mine to be super bright starting around noon and up (it also starts to get noisy around that point especially if you have the Gain high or other gain pedals before it). I leave my Treble between 10-11 o'clock, Mids around 3-5, and Bass around 2 or 3. I generally use it just above the threshold of audible distortion, so the Gain is set anywhere between 8:30-10 o'clock depending on the bass. This gives me my "skeleton" tone which I build everything else off of- super clear and grindy. It definitely doesn't work like any passive EQ I've ever heard- at least not the Treble, which sounds flatish to me around 9-10 o'clock.

skulletwhip · #11 05-01-2013, 12:21 PM

Its important to note that switching the hi lo switch to lo attenuates the treble slightly as well as gain.

omie · #12 05-01-2013, 02:44 PM

Although you've said that you're using the RB as a true pre. Mine is feeding into the front of my tube-y hybrid amp. I set my amp for a straight, warm, clean tone and then feed it the RB. I really like the EQ because it doesn't defeat my amps tone but does bunches of great OD sounds from vintage to modern and... Other things.

Highs: 12:00 or a hair under
Mids: 11-1:00 depending on how present I am in the mix... I like the slightest scoop.
Lows: 2-3:00
Gain: 9 - 10:00
Boost: My main problem with the boost is TOO much volume. I fixed that by reducing the solo channel volume on my amp to parity when the boost is engaged for my Heavy OD. Delicious.
Input Gain: High

The rusty was less flexible as a true pre to me.. but with a much more unique tone.

I love my Rusty Box!

SquareWaves · #13 05-01-2013, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by father of fires

Where is your mid knob set?

At noon.

father of fires · #14 05-01-2013, 03:06 PM

Ok. So I'm guessing you have a mid cut around 600Hz. So when you lower the treble and bass your moving towards flattening your signal.

Matt Dean · #15 05-01-2013, 06:01 PM

Volume: Unity
Treble: 12:00
Bass: 1:00
mid: 11:00
gain: 11:30

SquareWaves · #16 05-01-2013, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by father of fires

Ok. So I'm guessing you have a mid cut around 600Hz. So when you lower the treble and bass your moving towards flattening your signal.

Can you explain this a little further?

I have a sound I really am satisfied with now (after raising my cab onto a chair and off a thousand times) and it's not far from the setting I described earlier, I was basically having trouble "taming" the treble frequencies because I want note clarity but not grating, shrill highs. I also want enough chunk because I'm currently doing a no guitar band and have a lot of harmonic space to fill.

sunbeast · #17 05-01-2013, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SquareWaves

Can you explain this a little further?

I have a sound I really am satisfied with now (after raising my cab onto a chair and off a thousand times) and it's not far from the setting I described earlier, I was basically having trouble "taming" the treble frequencies because I want note clarity but not grating, shrill highs. I also want enough chunk because I'm currently doing a no guitar band and have a lot of harmonic space to fill.

Does your cab have a tweeter? I think the Rusty would be a bad pairing with a tweeter because of all that aggressive high and high midrange content. I use a Berg NV610 with mine (sealed/tweeterless 6x10) and the Rusty gives me all the brightness I miss with a fairly vintage-voiced cab like that, but through a more modern cab I could see it getting pretty shrill.

For me, I find at lower Gain settings I like the mids turned up just about all the way, which suggests to me that the Mid control at least is a passive design. The more I turn up the Gain, the lower I turn the mid because of all the added midrange harmonics when it starts to get grindy. For clarity without shrillness, the Mid control is where its at for me on the Rusty. At noon on the Mid control, the mids have a pretty pronounced scoop to my ears. Even with the mids all the way up, I feel like you have to cut the Treble and Bass to approach a more "flat" voicing- though "flat" isn't really what I want from the Rusty.

The Treble control seems to my ears to be pretty wide from a frequency perspective, so boosting it to get a little more high mid clarity also brings in alot more of the icepick frequencies above that. I counter this by cutting Treble on my amp or the passive tone control on my bass, both of which are good at rounding the top end without removing too much high midrange clarity. I personally use the Rusty as an always-on tone shaper, and the Treble voicing in my opinion would make it tough to use it as a sometimes-on "effect". (YMMV)

father of fires · #18 05-02-2013, 04:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SquareWaves

Can you explain this a little further?

I have a sound I really am satisfied with now (after raising my cab onto a chair and off a thousand times) and it's not far from the setting I described earlier, I was basically having trouble "taming" the treble frequencies because I want note clarity but not grating, shrill highs. I also want enough chunk because I'm currently doing a no guitar band and have a lot of harmonic space to fill.

I'll try and post some graphs later today.

My name is Mudd · #19 05-02-2013, 09:02 AM

I use mine as a pre and feeding my Epiphone Valve Jr > Markbass 102P Traveler, and used at low volume (this literally is my bedroom rig). It mostly adds a better presence to the upper mids and highs, which still kind surprises me a bit...I'd expected a guitar head to need better low/low mids, but re-tubing it did a LOT to the lower end in general.

Settings...

- gain @ 9
- Mids @ 1'ish
- bass @ 2
- treble @10
- volume @ unity (w/amp volume @ around 9 or so)

An unexpected bonus to the RB was the gain switch/boost side; one of my bass's output is hotter than the other (both are actives), and I've used clean boost pedals to balance the two out. With the RB, I can use the boost on/low gain for the quiet bass and have it match the hotter one's boost off/high gain settings almost perfectly.

SquareWaves · #20 05-02-2013, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sunbeast

Does your cab have a tweeter? I think the Rusty would be a bad pairing with a tweeter because of all that aggressive high and high midrange content. I use a Berg NV610 with mine (sealed/tweeterless 6x10) and the Rusty gives me all the brightness I miss with a fairly vintage-voiced cab like that, but through a more modern cab I could see it getting pretty shrill.

Tweeter is off. I think what set me off is once I raised my cab I noticed the top end sounded really shrill without having to cut through vibration. I guess I'm worried that when mic'd, what will be projected is not the sound I want. I'm really OCD about this because I feel like I've found "my" tone.