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Flat -> Meaning

#43
Muttleybass said:
I doubt the OP has a frequency analyzer. I'm pretty sure he meant to ask "what's it mean when someone tells me to set my EQ flat". I seriously doubt he meant "what's a flat frequency response".
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Well, here's exactly what he asked:

What exactly does "flat" mean in terms of EQ? What is it precisely and how to achieve it?

No worries if you read that differently than I do. ;^}
 
#44
J.Nuno said:
Some time ago another TBer said that to try out a bass you should set everything to flat.
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I think what this quote means is: When you are trying out a bunch of basses, it is good to use a "neutral" setting on your amp, because then you will get a more accurate comparison of the different instruments' sounds. If you cut all the treble on your amp (for example) then you will not hear the differences in the treble range of the different basses.
 
#47
Muttleybass said:
Respectfully disagree. In the context you are talking and the frequency response of each and every amplifier, there is no such thing as FLAT. That's why some people like GK and some Mesa. They appreciate the frequency response they get from their amp of choice.

In the context that the OP was asking, an amplifier that is set "flat" means the EQ is down the middle.

Even with the respected recording engineers that I have worked with and going direct they all tell me to start with my bass tones set "flat", they set the board EQ "flat", their amp emulators are set "flat". Everything neutral (IE: flat). Then they add the tone/colour as they see fit.
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Sorry, the OP says specifically "What exactly does "flat" mean in terms of EQ?" Telling him that setting a Bassman 135 with all the knobs to 5 is flat is totally wrong and not at all what he was asking. People have made some pains to explain that even if the EQ is set to a flat or a "neutral" (NOT the same as flat) setting that doesn't mean the whole system is flat.

This kind of stuff is exactly why there's so much confusion. Setting all the knobs to 5, or any other arbitrary number does not in any way make things flat. Let's be precise in our terminology so we can avoid chronic mistakes. Let's find some NEW errors!:D

John
 
#50
JimmyM said:
Hey, I'm 5' 11". I'm just way too socially inept to get chicks. Fortunately, one pretty good looking gal found my social ineptness charming, and I married her, proving the old adage, "It's a man's man's world."
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5'11"...they don't even make them that small anymore...


But on a serious note, how does your wife like play bass, get chicks, go home...

I know that Mz. Skies wouldn't dig.
 
#56
grendle said:
Wow way too confusing. Flat in general terms means everything set to the mid point. Nothing boosted or cut. All amp knobs set to 12 o clock, all eq set to zero.
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Better to be confusing, than wrong. On most amps, 12 o'clock on the knobs (or the numeric midpoint of the totally arbitrary scale used for the tone controls) means nothing in particular with respect to EQ curve, as has been stated many times.
 
#59
grendle said:
Flat in general terms means everything set to the mid point. Nothing boosted or cut. All amp knobs set to 12 o clock, all eq set to zero.
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Nope, again setting all your knobs to the mid point is only "nothing boosted or cut" if your EQ is active cut/boost. Many popular and common amps are NOT anything at all near flat at the mid point. That's simply false, misleading, and wrong. It may (or may not) be a neutral setting to build your sound from, but "flat" does have a definition and a meaning in audio, and this is NOT it.

John
 
#60
JTE said:
Nope, again setting all your knobs to the mid point is only "nothing boosted or cut" if your EQ is active cut/boost. Many popular and common amps are NOT anything at all near flat at the mid point. That's simply false, misleading, and wrong. It may (or may not) be a neutral setting to build your sound from, but "flat" does have a definition and a meaning in audio, and this is NOT it.

John
Click to expand...

Lets add to this that many bass players wouldn't know flat if you came up and hit them in the head with a flat something or other.

Amps are so traditionally voiced with a mid-scoop or low-mid hump and higher end roll off, that once you actually hear flat, you're thinking "wow, that's a whole lot of mids". Our ears generally haven't been trained by popular gear or popular music to expect that much mid content.
 

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