Equalisation?Help!

Equalisation, at an electronic level, is a series of bandpass filters that each are user controlled and allow the amplification or attenuation of separate bands of frequencies.

In more general terms, each of those sliders controls a range of frequencies, usually 32, 64, 125, 250, 500, 1k, 2k, 4k, 8k and 16k Hz for a typical bass 10 band EQ (the stated frequencies being the frequency set in the middle of the band). By increasing or decreasing these individual frequency ranges, unique tone can be created quite easily.

For a good slap tone, I like to have a quite drastic mid cut around 1k, flat lows and slightly boosted highs. You'll get alot of answers to that question, but if I were to arrange a 10 band EQ it would look like this:

Imagine the sliders had levels that ranged from -10 to +10

32 Hz: 3
64 Hz:3
125 Hz:2
250 Hz:2
500 Hz:0
1 kHz:-2
2 kHz:0
4 kHz:3
8 kHz:3
16 kHz:2

Of course, that is just personal preference and has not scientific reason why I like it on slap, just sounds good to mine ears!

Hope that helped,

Woodsbass

 

Good slap sound is 99.9999% in the playing technique. Some people like to use EQ to scoop the mids for slap; this means turning down the mids a little, and turning up the lows and the highs.

If you really want to know the principles of EQ, there are two approaches: reading and experimentation. Just try all the different EQ knob positions and see how it sounds, what it sounds like it's doing. Here's one basic article to read: http://www.ovnilab.com/articles/eqtypes.shtml and Googling "eq basics" turns up a boatload of different articles and videos.

 

Shameless as it may be, I have a Whirlwind Bass Ten posted in the Classifieds presently. It's the one Tony Levin uses on his board with Peter Gabriel. There are others out there to check as well of course, but I settled on this one due to it headroom (18v) and flexibility. When I transitioned over to the RMI Basswitch I just didn't really need it anymore.

Good luck!

 

You might want to look into a parametric EQ, they sound more musical to me than a graphic EQ.

 

Not always. To be honest, I have a 9 band EQ on my Carvin BX1200 that I leave totally flat and I use the three band EQ on my MXR M80 for all the tone shaping I need. To me it is very easy to overdo it using graphic EQs, meaning you hear with your eyes more than your ears. Sometimes simplicity is nice! To me, 10 band EQs and the like are best used with PA systems and stereos, I like my simple ones for bass.

 

More bands lets you tailor the low end for headroom while not messing up tone. Trace Elliot didn't put 12 sliders in just for show.

 

A good amp shouldn't need too much eq. I like to get a tone like Marcus Miller's, nice and punchy across the spectrum but without too much tweaking. I've found that amps like Eden, Ashdown, GK and Glockenklang can be used, to that end, close to 'flat'. To get a punchy tone for thumping i like to push the low mids just a little, perhaps roll off the subs a wee bit to de-mud the tone and crank the treble ever-so-slightly. No tweeter.

 

Er, I would say that's exactly what they did. Players in the 80's demanded a fancy graphic EQ, so TE provided it. Then players started demanding semi-parametric EQ, and TE fell out of favor.

IMO the traditional three bands of non-sweepable EQ is inadequate, but adding just one or two sweepable (semi parametric) bands is big step up, especially if it allows tailoring of the lows like you say. But it doesn't extend to a general "more is better" necessarily.

 

I have 7 band pedal too, nothing like as controllable as the 12 band in the low end.

 

Parametric is another ball of wax which I haven't had much to do with.