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EQ settings for country/rock.....suggestions?

M

murpbrad

Dec 1, 2004
45
0
45
Abilene, TX
www.hoggmaulies.com
#1
i know most everyone on here plays rock, so there may not be many replies, but i'm looking for suggestions for good EQ settings for alternative country/country rock type music. alot of people would also call it Texas country music. anyways, i'm using a Fender Highway 1 P-Bass, a Sansamp BDDI, and a SWR Super Redhead. i'll probably be using the parallel out from the SABDDI to the amp, so the tone will be unaffected.

what do you recommend for settings on the amp? the SWR site doesn't have suggested settings for country. are there any other sites out there that do?
 
#2
well i'm posting a link to an eq thread. it's not going to give you "country" settigns but it should give you a good starting point. just remember to use eq sparingly. you can geta lot of sounds just from how you play.
eq thread

by the way, the aural enhancer is cool but remember that it is "flat" when you have it all the way off (left). most players use it around 9 o'clcok to 12 o clock if at all. Another thing to try is using the sans amp regular out put into the swr. if you dont like it you can always turn the blend all the way down. I use mine to warm up my swr from time to time with the blend control up halfway (12 o'clock). It does suck some of the mids out, but it really warms up the "chilly" swr tone.
 
#4
I'm going to try to revive this thread and see if I can get any other suggestions. As mentioned previously, I have a Super Redhead and a SABDDI, but I now am playing with a passive Jazz bass and I have added a 4 ohm Goliath III Jr. 210 cabinet. I'm trying to warm up my tone - which I know isn't what SWR is known for - but I paid a total of $600 for the Super Redhead and the Goliath Jr. so I can't complain about it too much. I'm just looking for a solid punchy warm tone that doesn't sound "hollow" when I play lower notes. Anywhere from the 5th fret on the E string (4 string Jazz) up to the highest fret on the G string sounds amazing to me. But, those first four frets and open E sound "empty" or "hollow" to me. I don't know if that is a good description of the sound, but that's what it makes me think of. I realize 10 inch speakers aren't going to give me the best low end, but we're not talking about a 5 or more string bass here - this is just a regular old 4 stringer in regular tuning (EADG). Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make this setup sound warmer and more full? I really think the Eden tone is what I'm after, but I don't have the money for it right now so I really need to make this setup work. I don't need overdrive, and I don't need wall shaking lows, just thick, full tone that doesn't sound "hollow". Thanks for any help anyone might have.


i went back and reread my original post and thought i should add that i am using the affected output of the SABDDI to the input of my Redhead. also, aural enhancer is all the way off, as well as the tweeters on the 2 cabs.
 
#5
Hmmm...I play a ton of country music. I have a couple of Eden cabinets. I couldn't imagine worse box's for country music. Eden is for when you want to be loud and angry. I have never been able to get pretty out of my Eden cabs and believe me, I've tried.

I also have a SWR pre amp in my main rig. I found a better than stock preamp tube to be a huge help.

But..if you take a little 1k out and leave everything else flat....then plug a Sadowsky into it....welcome to Nashville
 
#6
Get a P bass and roll off the tone :D

But you could also try rolling off the tone control on a J. Aside from rolling off the tone, I setup for country no different than I setup for rock, just not as loud. No complaints yet.
 
#8
i appreciate the comments so far. i have my tone rolled off quite a bit on the bass. i think i'm mainly wondering if i should set the amp flat and let the SABDDI do the tone shaping, or use a combination of both EQs. it may just be my playing, but i do sometimes get finger noise which is barely audible. the 2 things i really want to get rid of are the "hollow" sound on the lowest frets, and a "clinking" (is that a word?) noise from when the string hits the frets. the latter is more my playing i'm sure, but i really need to know how to fill out that "hollow" sound and make it sound as good and full as the frets above number 5 on the E string.
 
#9
This is not an EQ solution, but if you're doing country almost exclusively, it might be worth trying to string your bass up with flats to fill out that bottom register and fatten things up a bit. (I have no recommendations on which flats--its just something I've been thinking about trying myself...)

Mike
 
#11
That "hollow" or "transparent" tone comes from a lack of low mids. The one thing I don't like about SWR amps is that the bass control mostly boosts LOW bass and doesn't bring the low mids up with it. Low mids are what makes a bass sound "thick". If I were looking for a country sound with your rig I'd play the P bass, not the Jazz, I'd run both cabs with a little bit of tweeter ON (a little sizzle really doesn't hurt), and for EQ (all settings as in "o'clock" since the controls are not numbered):

Aural enchancer 9, Bass 1-2, Mid 2-4, Frequency 200hz, treble noon, and I don't think I'd use the BDDI.

If you do want to use the BDDI, make sure you keep the "presence" control way down, and remember that if you have the bass and treble knobs pointing strait up, its still dropping a lot of mids out of your sound. You want your mids.

A little bit of compression can also help fatten up your sound.
 
#13
mikezimmerman said:
This is not an EQ solution, but if you're doing country almost exclusively, it might be worth trying to string your bass up with flats to fill out that bottom register and fatten things up a bit. (I have no recommendations on which flats--its just something I've been thinking about trying myself...)

Mike
Click to expand...
+1 on flats. I didn't mention it since I was talking about EQ, but I use flats on all my basses. Just love that flat sound.
 
#14
I play all country, but I don't have a SWR. I have a G&L L2500.

However, I do boost low mids (200-400Hz), to get it nice and thick. I pull out 800-1600HZ to remove clankiness.

It gives me a nice thick sound with good definition all over the fretboard. Sometimes I even roll off the bass on my amp, but that it due to the G&L's bass-heaviness.

For old country, I'll use the neck pickup in passive mode, and for modern country, I'll use both pickups in active mode with treble boost on.

I use Elixirs, for cost reasons, but also because they're slightly warmer than regular roundwounds.

I have heard som many country bass players (pro, semi-pro, and amateur) with a very indistinct sound in the house. It's just a big boomy sound. You can't distinuish any different notes. This may be due primarily to the bass player's arch enemy, the soundman. Either the soundman boosts the kick drum too much, or EQ's the bass the same as the kick drum. I usually roll off the bass on my DI signal, to minimize this problem.

Joe
 
#15
murpbrad said:
i know most everyone on here plays rock, so there may not be many replies, but i'm looking for suggestions for good EQ settings for alternative country/country rock type music. alot of people would also call it Texas country music. anyways, i'm using a Fender Highway 1 P-Bass, a Sansamp BDDI, and a SWR Super Redhead. i'll probably be using the parallel out from the SABDDI to the amp, so the tone will be unaffected.

what do you recommend for settings on the amp? the SWR site doesn't have suggested settings for country. are there any other sites out there that do?
Click to expand...
er......pull the tone knob back on your p-bass and make sure not to add too much bass or you'll have a reggae tone
 

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