+1 It certainly is, it's a well overlooked aspect of adjusting your tone and attack.
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How do you set your EQ?
- Thread starter FallingUnknown
- Start date
+1 It certainly is, it's a well overlooked aspect of adjusting your tone and attack.
For my own purposes... I start with the volume and tone full on (P Bass w/flats). Then I make the amp too loud and roll off the volume on my bass about 1/3 - so I have some extra, if needed. Then I set the amp EQ to my usually scooped sound but a little too bright and then roll off about 1/3 on the bass tone control - now I have some extra 'sparkle' in my pocket too.
This serves me well in a classic rock/new wave cover band where I sometimes need smooth warm tone (Zep, Beatles, Allmans, etc.) or trebly clank (Billy Idol, The Knack, Robert Palmer, etc.)
For my country stuff, I set the amp (GK400RB) completely flat, scoop the mids with the voicing filter, and play my Jerry Jones (also strung with flats).
This serves me well in a classic rock/new wave cover band where I sometimes need smooth warm tone (Zep, Beatles, Allmans, etc.) or trebly clank (Billy Idol, The Knack, Robert Palmer, etc.)
For my country stuff, I set the amp (GK400RB) completely flat, scoop the mids with the voicing filter, and play my Jerry Jones (also strung with flats).
It's about the same that I do. I try to find the sweet spot on the controls, and from there on it's all about where my fingers go and what they do. I also have one added attraction in that I play with my nails as well. It can get interesting.
My controls are usually highest around 100, scooped a tad around 500, and fairly flat on the highs, maybe a slight boost around 2000 or so, just so I can control it on the bass knob.
I have a two knob eq. I set both at about 9/10: all the way up then roll off a bit. My last bass teacher always said he kept the volume a bit lower for the sound check in case you get eq'ed out a bit.
I have an active bass as well. I do like to "boost" some things past flat on my amp just to give it some obvious punch in that spectrum, but nothing past 2:00 ever. I cut the bass a bit as the hot actives can be really boomy if not careful.
On the bass I keep the bass and mids flat and usually just boost the treble if I need a little grit. My bass has a brilliance control for higher treble boosts, and I use that as well for some sparkle.
On the bass I keep the bass and mids flat and usually just boost the treble if I need a little grit. My bass has a brilliance control for higher treble boosts, and I use that as well for some sparkle.
I leave my bass controls flat and adjust the eq on the amp during sound check. I only use my bass controls for tweaks during the gig.
Flat as possible is probably the best route. To me I don't want any notes to boom or buzz specific. I also agree with the idea of simple EQ sections. The mids, at least to me is where you can actually HEAR your instrument without messing with the guitar much. My EQ is typically bass at 1-2, mids at 2, and treble at 10-11. Mids usually stay at 2, but bass and treble will slightly differ by the room. All switches on my SVT off, no low or high boost, as they cut/add unneeded things to me. I set my mids at 220 Hz for a nice low mid presence which sit perfectly in a mix. Lastly always use your bass's knobs to fine tune and put things where you want them. This worked very well for me cutting through a dark voiced Rhodes, a bass heavier synth, and two guitars. A very dense mix and tricky to cut through in.
I wonder how many people who extol the virtues of running an amp "flat" realizes that it is a very rare thing to have a flat frequency response.... Most amps are actually quite the opposite, with their own voicing even when controls are set to zero. Not to mention the voicing of the cabs coming into play....
Not to rain on anyone's parade, by all means you should start with all attenuation at zero.
But flat isn't really an accurate terminology, and could mislead the unaware.
Yeah, grumpy old man, I know....
Not to rain on anyone's parade, by all means you should start with all attenuation at zero.
But flat isn't really an accurate terminology, and could mislead the unaware.
Yeah, grumpy old man, I know....
I know fully well that my Eden's EQ set flat doesn't mean that I'm getting a flat response from input to the speakers. But it IS flat in that I'm not using the EQ to color it. If the controls aren't boosting or cutting, then they're set flat.
That's partly why I love the Eden preamp- it sounds right to me with no EQ in almost every case. That allows me to use the considerable controls to get that sound no matter what the room is doing. When I had another amp, I had to jerk the EQ around a lot to get it to sound decent in most places, so if I had a problem in the room I was left with few options.
John
