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Favorite EQ Settings

F

fireintheskies

Mar 1, 2009
12
0
35
Huntsvillle
#1
This is my first post so i'm excited, jw what everyone's fav eq's are
mine are as follows
for metal and burton solos i use
Treble: 5
Mids: 7
Bass: 5.5-6
and for classic rock stuff its usually

Treble: 4-5
Mids: 5-6
Low: 6-7

Still playing around with it, brand new amp so haven't played to much on it yet.
 
#2
Thing is your post is meaningless. If all amps used the same EQ sections then it would be possible to compare. If your amp has say a Fender style EQ then "flat" has completely different knob settings than one with Ampeg style or feedback EQs where flat would be about 50% rotation.

Paul
 
#4
My favorite EQ settings are the ones that work for any given room.

Meaning my EQ is different everywhere I play. I mainly play it flat, with a bit of cut in the mids as my cabs are already quite mid-voiced. I don't use an EQ for tone...I use it to control frequencies onstage for any given room I play in.
 
#6
fireintheskies said:
This is my first post so i'm excited, jw what everyone's fav eq's are
mine are as follows
for metal and burton solos i use
Treble: 5
Mids: 7
Bass: 5.5-6
and for classic rock stuff its usually

Treble: 4-5
Mids: 5-6
Low: 6-7

Still playing around with it, brand new amp so haven't played to much on it yet.
Click to expand...


Welcome to TB!


This can be a pretty rough place sometime:) It's hard to talk about EQ settings without a context. Every amp, bass, and cab combination can sound very different, and every head has different voicings, different EQ center points, and even different tapers (i.e., 1 o'clock setting on one amp might be 3 o'clock on another).
 
#7
Yeah, umm...sorry about that. I misread your post...thought it was your first post about a brand new amp.

Welcome to Talkbass.

We'll come across as a smug bunch sometimes (OK, OK, I come across that way A LOT). No offense or bad feelings intended.

Tone controls are typically named Bass, Mid, High, etc. EQ setting usually refer to a specific bass frequency (as in Graphic EQ's...i.e. - 100Hz, 10k, etc.) or a group of frequencies (as in parametric EQ's that control a group of them...200Hz-300Hz, etc.).

EQ's are more for control to keep your bass and amp sounding the same in a given environment. Your bedroom or practice place room will have inherent frequencies boosted or cut by it's shape and size, as will venues where you play live. And they all will be different, so you use your EQ to account for those differences.

Yes, it affects your tone, but it is all about compromises. What gives you a metal or classic rock tone in one place you play may not give you that same sound in another. Also, and this is most important...what settings sound good playing by yourself or along with a stereo, will almost never work when you play with a whole band.
 
#9
mytmous said:
Welcome to TB. First post and already flamed :D
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly :D

Anyway, my new go-to active-EQ amp is set flat except for the treble, which is set at 9:00, equal to -7 or -8. Also, the contour knob is set at 12:00, but I don't know which frequencies it is scooping at this position, although it sounds like the 150-250 Hz range.

Excuse the people who choose not to answer your question but give opinions instead, that happens a lot here. Darn bass players!
:bassist:
 
#10
lindseyp said:
My thoughts exactly :D

Anyway, my new go-to active-EQ amp is set flat except for the treble, which is set at 9:00, equal to -7 or -8. Also, the contour knob is set at 12:00, but I don't know which frequencies it is scooping at this position, although it sounds like the 150-250 Hz range.

Excuse the people who choose not to answer your question but give opinions instead, that happens a lot here. Darn bass players!
:bassist:
Click to expand...

Most people answered his question in the correct manner. Out of context, EQ settings are completely useless.
 
#12
i have to agree with the in context crowd.

some eq settings can sound neat but even those are very dependent upon the bass, the preamp voicing, the voicing of the speakers, the room you are in, etc.

one you are in a live context in a particular room all bets are off.
 
#13
lindseyp said:
Sorry, I thought the question was, "... what everyone's fav eq's are..." since that's what it says in his post.
What context were you seeing?
Click to expand...

OK, I'll play along. I use an Ashdown Superfly.

I have absolutely no tone controls...just an EQ.

My favorites?

Practice at home...flat. Very slight cut at 230Hz, 500Hz, 1K.

At band rehearsal...flat...slight cut at 100Hz and 50Hz.

On the gig last weekend, slight cut at 500Hz. Slight boost at 1K, 2K and 5K.

Next weekend's gig (since I've played there before)...about 6.5 boost at 100Hz, slight boost at 50Hz. Big cut...about -8 at 1K...

Oh, never mind...I don't have time to write all my favorites down. But go ahead and try any of those out if you think it will help. :rolleyes:
 
#15
mytmous said:
No offense intended, I just thought it was a bit blunt. Maybe flamed was the wrong term to use. Being that it was a first timer, I personally would have cut them a little slack and just asked for some details or context. :)
Click to expand...

All I did was simply tell him the truth. To do other than that would be a disservice to him as a person AND as a player no matter how long he has been hanging around here.

If a someone has a question they need answers to, no matter how trivial, it is his/her right to ask it. That's how people learn from others.

Fireintheskies, ask any question that you need answering and I for one, will answer it to the best of my ability.

BTW I enjoyed that movie! :)

Paul
 
#17
Thanks paul :p wasn't the movie that my name was a reference to, actually my favorite ozzy song :p NRFTW is my fav album to.As far as the flaming goes, wouldn't have it any other way :p anyways just wanted to say thanks for the welcome, as far as context goes I play on an Ibanez FMR which is basswood and run through an Ampeg BA115HP, that HP on the end means i have a chromatic tuner in my amp which is really nice to have. and when im practicing i just mess around with eq but the settings posted above are the ones i use to jam with most of the people i play with, who usually scoop their mids so i can cut through a little better by boosting mine.
 

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