Eqing Modulation - Need advice

Hey there.

I've been in very much the same boat as you in regards to difficulties with modulation, so maybe my (limited) expertise can help.

Without going into your current amp and cabinet setup (although it might help a little bit more if everyone here knew what gear you are running, because they are just as important in your overall eq'ing as the knobs on the front of your amp), my suggestions are two-fold.

You might first want to consider how extreme the settings on your flanger or phaser are set. The first things I have done in your shoes is experiment with the resonance and dry/wet mix knobs (if there are any). You are absolutely correct in understanding that the mids are where modulation is most heard/felt, so one way to compensate for cutting your mids is to make the effect more aggressive. Although depending on how subtle you need those effects to be, this may be out of the question.

Second, I used to enjoy a pretty scooped tone myself but was (am ) very big on effects and also had this exact issue. One complex (and slightly asinine, I freely confess) way I got around that was to run all of my modulation in a parallel A/B looper with an eq pedal appropriately boosting my mids back to the desired level after them so that I could freely go from my "clean" to "effected" signals in one stomp. Some people might call that overkill, but I was young and had a decent disposable income from a part time job and no bills, so it wasn't out of the question for me. I will say that by going that route, you run the risk of introducing a decent and potentially intolerable amount of noise into your signal, especially if you have single coil pickups that hum a lot.

Then there is also the third option which would be just finding a way to live with more mids in your tone (this was the least frustrating and time consuming course of action for me, and therefore the one I chose to pursue) but from your post I gather this isn't an option, which won't hurt my feelings in the slightest

Anyway, I hope this helps and if it doesn't, someone who knows way more than I do should be along shortly to help you get it squared away.

Cheers.

 

I use an xotic blender as a modulation loop. The blend section has bass-high EQ and volume controls when activated, I've found that boosting the highs really helps a phaser stand out while maintaining your fundamental bass tone... Blend to taste. If you still need more mids, add an EQ pedal. Although it takes up a lot of space, it can be extremely flexible and eliminates trying to tap dance multiple pedals on at the same time.