Class D - where are the graphic EQs?

[coyote1]

I know one of the big points of Class D is their smallness. And that designers have a tendency to want to leverage such selling points.

Both my amps - Hartke 3500 for electric, Crate BX100 combo for upright - have fantastic graphic equalizers. Especially with the upright, it’s that EQ that allows me to tame the acoustic feedback while retaining a sound that’s true to the instrument. And neither of these amps were expensive.

But at some near future point, I’m expecting both will become unserviceable. Enough components within will die that it won’t make economic sense to repair them. At which point I will want new amps. I’m just not seeing the “next phase” amp for me out there. Which is unfortunate, because certainly the weight savings would be a benefit to my aging back.

 

[Aloe]

how many EQ points do you need?

Phil Jones used to make a 12-band EQ and a 5-band EQ. AFAICT they have discontinued the 12-band models, but still make the 5-band ones. they use pots now, but it's still the same EQ that was on 5 sliders before.

 

[ahbass2500]

Buy whichever class D head you want and pair it with a Graphic EQ pedal. If you don’t want to go full pedalboard, there are a few class D heads with pedal power built in or you could go 9v/battery power pack for the pedal (depending on the pedal).

I prefer an HPF and notch filter over a graphic EQ for fighting feedback. Have not used it, but the Empress Para EQ MkII Deluxe is a nice all in one for this.

 

[Clark Westfield]

Class D and slider eq’s,

Darkglass

 

[coyote1]

It’s not merely about the feedback. It’s about both feedback AND sound shaping. 5 EQ points is not enough.

And EQ pedals add noise, while onboard EQ does not add nearly as much noise. And no, the solution to that is not a noise gate.

 

[bassdude51]

Speaking for only myself, I prefer the dial eq..... bass, low mids, mids, treble. Soooo much easier for me to "dial in" what I like than messing with up and down eq sliders!

"To each his own."

 

[coyote1]

Speaking for only myself, I prefer the dial eq..... bass, low mids, mids, treble. Soooo much easier for me to "dial in" what I like than messing with up and down eq sliders!

"To each his own."

While sliders make it easier to see, dials would be fine by me.

As to the Darkglass suggestion: if I see one around I’ll have to try it. But in comparison to the Crate, on the Darkglass everything above 3khz gets just one slider. The Crate has sliders at 8 and 16khz, and those do make a difference on the upright.

The sliders below that have also proved to be at ideal frequencies for my particular setup.

 

[bassdude51]

Once again, speaking for only myself..........with "my sound" being flat wounds and VERY conservative 60s/70s music bass.......HA! I doubt if I even need above 1,000 hz. My tweeter is off and my treble eq dial is only 1/4 up from bottom. Mids carved.

Anyway, some of us "oldie" bass players don't require full EQing with our amps.

Table of Bass Frequencies​

	Fundamentals	Harmonics To
4-string Bass	41Hz-392Hz	~4kHz-5kHz
5-string Bass	31Hz-392Hz	~4kHz-5kHz
6-string Bass	31Hz-523Hz	~4kHz-5kHz

Here's an easy way you can remember the basic frequency range of the bass: 40Hz-400Hz-4000Hz.

The fundamentals range from about 40 to 400 Hertz; the harmonics go all the way to 4000Hz.

 

[Killing Floor]

Rotary potentiometers are the same as linear.

 

[Michedelic]

Graphics on amps have now been deemed ‘not cool’ by whoever decides such things(might be a cost of production issue), but since I use different cabs with a particular head in different situations, not to mention the variety of acoustic environments one might encounter, I want options for tone sculpting. Even with knobs, I like to see a minimum of low, low mid, high mid, and high.
As the ‘distribution center’ of my pedalboard, I have an original Radial Bassbone to adjust/switch between whatever different basses I might have at a gig to start out with. I can never understand the grumpy “I don’t want nothing but a tone knob” or “I leave ‘em all flat” attitude.

 

[frankie5string]

When we had multi-band EQs on bass amps, there were lots of weekend warriors boosting 6-10k on stage... I still can hear that whistle from those Foster horns of the late 90s and early 2000s... Back then a lot of pros seemed to complain rigs were getting too complicated, too. Bass players seem to like relatively broad controls in certain ranges, anyway.

Those sliders also tend to be kind-of delicate and difficult to deal with on poorly lit stages.

 

[31HZ]

Parametric EQ pedal for the win, MUCH more precise.

 

[frankie5string]

Parametric EQ pedal for the win, MUCH more precise.

It's still a usability issue... In most cases semi-parametric, to put that important midrange where you want it, seems like a good compromise lately.
But I do love my racked parametric EQs in the studio. They are problem-solvers.

 

[Ggaa]

Had a 7 band on an Ampeg SVT3 non pro, I don't think fewer bands hit enough eq points, more might be better but 7 was enough for stage work. Seldom had to change it but when I did it was usually lo mids or mids, and seldom after the first couple of tunes. Good way to learn abour freqs too.

 

[WayneP]

Considering the size of most of Class D amps – shortage of front-panel real estate?

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

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[agedhorse]

I did a poll on this topic here last year and the majority of TB members had no interest in a graphic.

 

[Stevorebob]

Perhaps the decline of the onboard graphic EQ was for the safety of the audience — protecting them from compulsory V, smiley and frowny slider sets.

 

[meisi]

I view my class d head more like a power amp of the 90s and my 4 pedal board the paired rack unit.

Everything moved but is still the same.

All in ones while never gone will have their day again.

Re parametric - My wt800 para eq confused the heck out of me for a long time and I lost myself in thr mix fiddling. Too much contour knob.

Imo ymmv etc

 

[DanAdams]

A graphic eq can be glanced at, even from a distance, and you instantly know where it is set.
For that reason alone I believe that sliders are superior to knobs for basic EQ.

Top mounted amp knobs is the other trend that I think is a step backwards.

I think that SWR got EQ control right 40 years ago

 

[jnewmark]

A graphic eq can be glanced at, even from a distance, and you instantly know where everything is set.
For that reason alone I believe that it's far superior.
Top mounted amp knobs is the other trend that I think is a step backwards.

Although I have moved on and do like graphics, that was a plus about using them. One amp I really liked was a MarkBass F1. The knobs were so small and close together that, on a dark stage, I couldn't really see where I had them adjusted. I finally had to magic marker the positions of what I wanted to see from a few feet away.