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An interesting approach to active EQ

T

Toadsmacker

Jun 21, 2009
93
3
Niagara on the Lake, Ontario
#1
I'd just like to share something that I just did while goofing around with my active EQ on my Ibanez ATK300.

I've been GASing pretty hard for a P Bass, but my ATK is my baby and I thought I'd see what I can do to achieve a thick ATK humbucker tone combined with that P Bass bite. Heres a basic step-by-step of what I did:

1.) Flip ATK character switch to the neck ("trad") position. This achieves a sound like a humbucker trying to imitate a single coil, but doesn't quite do it as well as the next few steps will.
2.) FULLY cut bass and mid controls on the onboard preamp, leaving the treble set flat.
3.) EQ'd my Sansamp Para Driver to have a nice balanced level of bass and mids (actually a small bump in the mids for my personal preference), but a little less treble than I would normally go for. Boosting the drive control here just enough to bring up the levels lost by cutting the EQ and adding some more snarl which contributes to the passive "bite."

In effect, I now have no boosted EQ and the treble control on the preamp functions as a cut-only tone control. The reason I lowered the treble on the Sansamp is to not overload and get that horrid "tinny" tone.

It kind of defeats the purpose of an onboard preamp, but that tone... so much passive bite while maintaining that thick, chunky humbucker tone! Definately a unique approach which leaves me the versatility of the active EQ if I need it while at the same time curbing my GAS for a P Bass :cool:

Any thoughts? Anyone ever done something similar?
 
#3
A thinner, sharper bass tone into a fat, grindy rig is a great formula; why do you think Js and rics are so popular for those "kinda overdriven" rock tones?
 
#5
Did this to my old ATK.
-Gutted crappy ATK pickup out, put in Seymour Duncan MM4 for a Stingray.
- Took out the ATK's selector switch, installed new switch to allow for splitting between series, parallel, single coil.

Had to turn the trimpot on the pre down to account for a hot signal, but it sounded light years better than it did with the stock stuff in place.
 
#6
parsons said:
Did this to my old ATK.
-Gutted crappy ATK pickup out, put in Seymour Duncan MM4 for a Stingray.
- Took out the ATK's selector switch, installed new switch to allow for splitting between series, parallel, single coil.

Had to turn the trimpot on the pre down to account for a hot signal, but it sounded light years better than it did with the stock stuff in place.
Click to expand...

Wow! Do you have any samples?
 
#8
parsons said:
Did this to my old ATK.
-Gutted crappy ATK pickup out, put in Seymour Duncan MM4 for a Stingray.
- Took out the ATK's selector switch, installed new switch to allow for splitting between series, parallel, single coil.
Click to expand...

So now it's an Ibanez MM?


To the OP: Good active EQ's can get you close to a lot of classic "known tones", like a wooly P bass or a scooped jazz or even a snarling MM.
 

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